How to add foil, embossing, fold-out (peel-and-reveal), or other premium finishes to your Nutribl private label products.
Premium label finishes - foil, embossing, peel-and-reveal (also called fold-out or extended content labels), spot UV, soft-touch lamination, and so on - can transform shelf appeal and let your brand compete in retail and gifting environments. They are not part of our standard in-house printing service but they are a route many clients take. This article explains how it works, what it will cost you to plan around, and how to get started.
How standard label printing works at Nutribl
Before getting into premium finishes, it helps to understand the standard service. Nutribl prints labels in-house on Epson C8000 industrial-grade label printers, on gloss-finished label stock. This is how every label is printed by default. Printing in-house is what allows us to offer flexibility that most label suppliers cannot - no minimum order quantity per label, automatic application to your stock orders by SKU, and dispatch within 4–5 working days. We print labels as we need them, when an order comes in.
In-house printing produces a high-quality gloss finish suitable for the great majority of supplement brands, but it does not include premium finishes such as foil, embossing, or specialist label structures. For more detail on the underlying mechanics see what options are there for different printing effects?.
The premium-finish route
If you want premium finishes, the route is to commission your printed labels yourself and have them delivered to Nutribl for application to your stock. We do not print premium-finish labels in-house, and we do not commission them on your behalf - pricing for these finishes varies so much by specification, volume, and supplier that the client gets a more honest quote going direct.
What you commission yourself
You order printed labels from your chosen print supplier, to the dimensions of the relevant Nutribl SKUs. The supplier produces the rolls, and you have them shipped to our fulfilment address. From the moment they arrive, we treat them like any other client-supplied label stock - applied to private label orders for that SKU under your account.
Recommended print partners
We are happy to introduce you to print partners we have worked with successfully. You are not obliged to use them - any UK or international printer is fine provided their output meets the technical requirements below. Two suppliers we recommend:
- Vale Labels - suitable for most premium finishes including foil, embossing, spot UV, and soft-touch lamination.
- Reel Appeal - suitable for peel-and-reveal labels (also called fold-out or extended content labels), where a hinged outer layer lifts to expose additional information underneath.
We can introduce you to either partner - email design@nutribl.com and we will connect you. Pricing comes direct from the supplier; we do not handle quoting or invoicing on premium print runs.
Technical requirements for any printer you use
Whichever supplier you commission, the labels must be produced in a format compatible with our application equipment. The non-negotiable specification is:
- Wound onto a 76mm core. We cannot accept labels supplied in sheets or on cores of other diameters. If you brief a printer who is not familiar with our setup, "76mm core" is the spec to give them.
- Correct dimensions for the SKU. Use the printed dimensions, file size with bleed, and safe zones held in our Label Sizes spreadsheet. Your design coordinator can supply the exact figures for any SKU you are running.
- Consistent quality across the roll. Premium finishes are unforgiving - small variations in foil registration or emboss pressure are visible on a finished bottle. Discuss tolerance with your printer before ordering a long run.
The cost reality
Premium-finish printing is bought as a one-off run from your chosen supplier. There is no fixed minimum order quantity from Nutribl’s side, but the unit economics drive the practical floor:
The lower the run, the higher the cost per label. Setup costs (plates, foil dies, embossing tooling, print configuration) are amortised across the run. A 100-unit run can carry the same setup cost as a 5,000-unit run, which means a small run produces a high cost per label and a noticeable hit to your margin per bottle.
Most clients who commission premium finishes order in volumes that meaningfully change the maths - typically several hundred to several thousand labels per SKU per run. Below that, the per-label premium can erode the margin advantage you were hoping the finish would unlock.
When premium finishes make sense
- You are launching a hero product or gift-format SKU where shelf and unboxing presentation drive purchase
- You are competing in physical retail where premium-finish brands set the visual benchmark
- You have established sales volume that lets you order in quantity
- Your brand positioning supports a higher retail price point that absorbs the printed-label premium
When standard in-house printing is the better call
- You are launching, testing, or scaling - quick iteration matters more than premium finish
- Your channel is online-led (Amazon, TikTok, DTC website), where finish has less impact than imagery and reviews
- You are operating at low order volumes where a per-label cost increase would meaningfully erode margin
Storage and application
Premium labels you commission are issued in per-job - meaning you supply us with the quantity needed for a specific stock order, not an open-ended allocation we hold long-term. We do not stockpile client-supplied labels by default, because warehouse storage of branded label rolls would push our pricing up across all clients.
If you want us to hold premium labels in stock so we can apply them to orders without you re-issuing each time, that is available as part of our Dropship Light / 3PL service - chargeable separately. Talk to us if this is the model you want to operate.
How to get started
- Decide which finish you want and on which SKUs.
- Email design@nutribl.com with the details - SKUs, finish type, and target run size if you have one in mind. We will share exact label dimensions for those SKUs and, if you would like, introduce you to Vale Labels or Reel Appeal.
- Brief your chosen print supplier. Include the dimensions, the 76mm core requirement, and your full artwork. Ask them to send a sample or confirm tolerances if the run is large.
- The print supplier ships finished label rolls to the Nutribl fulfilment address (we will provide this when you are ready).
- Once labels arrive, place your stock order through the website as normal. We will apply your premium-finish labels to that order in place of the standard in-house print.
Common questions
What’s the difference between fold-out, peel-and-reveal, and extended content labels?
They are different names for the same product type - a multi-layer label with a hinged or folded element that lifts to expose additional content underneath. Used to fit detailed instructions, multi-language text, or extended ingredient information onto a small bottle. Reel Appeal is our recommended partner for this format.
Can I have foil hot-stamped on top of my existing standard label design?
No - foil cannot be added to a label after it has been printed in-house. Foil is applied as part of the original print run by the print supplier, on dedicated foil-finishing equipment. To use foil, the entire label needs to be commissioned through your premium-finish print supplier.
Will premium labels affect my order lead time?
Once your premium labels have been delivered to us and registered against your account, your stock orders run on the same 4–5 working day lead time as any other private label order. The lead time you need to plan around is the print supplier’s - typically several weeks for a finished premium run, depending on finish complexity and supplier capacity.
Can I use different finishes on different products in my range?
Yes. Premium finishes are commissioned per SKU, so you can run premium finishes on hero products and standard in-house printing on the rest of your range. Many clients do exactly this - premium finish on the flagship, standard print on supporting SKUs to keep cost-of-goods sensible across the range.
What if my premium-print supplier wants to send labels to me instead of to Nutribl?
That works too - receive the labels yourself, then ship them to our fulfilment address with a clear reference to your account. We will receive them and register them against your SKU.
Have a question we have not answered?
Email design@nutribl.com for advice on premium label finishes, including dimensions, partner introductions, and how a specific finish would work on a specific SKU.