The Direction of Label Winding – Explained Simply

Have you ordered labels only to find they don’t fit on the machine? Often, the problem isn’t with the material or the print, but with a detail that’s easily overlooked: the winding direction.

This determines how your label feeds off the roll and whether it works properly in subsequent processing. In this article, we’ll explain briefly and clearly what matters – so your labels feed exactly as they should.

But what exactly is the winding direction?

The winding direction describes how your labels are arranged on the roll: in other words, the orientation in which they are unwound from the roll.

The key factors here are whether the labels run off the roll from the outside or the inside, and how the design is aligned. Depending on the setting, your label can, for example, be aligned ‘head first’, ‘tail first’ or sideways. This may sound technical at first, but in practice it’s quite simple: the winding direction determines how your roll label enters the machine – and that’s precisely why it must be suitable for the application.

External winding? Internal winding?

Depending on the application, labels can be wound onto the roll in different ways. The basic distinction is between outside-winding and inside-winding – that is, whether the label lies on the outside of the roll or faces inwards.

Then there is the orientation of the design. Here, we talk about ‘head first’, ‘foot first’, ‘word start first’ or ‘word end first’. Which combination is ultimately the right one always depends on how your machine or that of your contract bottler processes the labels.

We have summarised all the variants for you in the following overview:

And it’s really simple for you: every option is numbered on our site. Just select the relevant number in the calculator.

What you should bear in mind when placing your order

The winding direction may sound like a minor detail at first – but it determines whether your roll labels can be processed properly.

Above all, it is important that the winding direction is compatible with your machine. After all, your roll labels will only feed through as they should if the alignment and unwinding are correct.

Checklist for your order 

To ensure everything is just right with your order, we basically just need a few details:

Inside or outside wrapping

Orientation (top, bottom, start of word or end of word first)

If you’re still unsure, just get in touch – we’re always happy to assist you and help with your label project.