中文The linerless label format is moving from niche curiosity to a serious sustainability and efficiency play, and the industry’s gathering place for it is returning to the United States. AWA Alexander Watson Associates will host the fourth edition of the AWA International Linerless Label Conference & Exhibition on 19-20 November 2026 at the Hyatt Centric Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois.
Linerless labels — pressure-sensitive labels produced without a silicone release liner — eliminate the waste stream and handling cost associated with traditional labelstock. For logistics, parcel and high-volume packaging operations, removing the liner reduces material consumption and the volume of backing paper sent to landfill or recycling. The conference exists to accelerate adoption by convening the entire value chain around the commercial, technical and sustainability case.
According to AWA’s own market intelligence, linerless labels currently account for roughly 6 percent of the global pressure-sensitive label market. That modest share is precisely the point: it signals substantial headroom as brands and supply chains hunt for more sustainable, more efficient labelling options. The association’s thesis is that broader understanding plus visible end-user success stories will convert cautious interest into specification.
This year’s programme opens with a keynote from Karel van den Brink, a procurement and supply chain specialist, who will share practical insights on driving linerless adoption across logistics and packaging applications. His perspective matters because linerless has historically stumbled not on print quality but on application engineering — dispensing, rewind, perforating and variable-length cutting at line speed.
Beyond the headline session, the conference draws contributions from across the linerless ecosystem. Participating organisations include Avery Dennison, Optimum Group (Belona), ETI Converting Equipment, Iconex, TSC Printers, MAAN Engineering Group, UPM Adhesive Materials, Mondi Group, Appvion, Flint Group Packaging Solutions and other leaders. The agenda spans materials science, converting and printing technologies, automation, sustainability, RFID integration and the road ahead for linerless in mainstream packaging.
For attendees, the value is both breadth and access. A comprehensive conference programme is paired with a tabletop exhibition and structured networking, giving converters, substrate makers, equipment vendors and brand representatives a rare chance to close the loop in one room. The format deliberately favours dialogue over monologue, reflecting AWA’s role as a market-research and event bridge between suppliers and buyers.
The commercial logic is becoming harder to ignore. Linerless reduces the weight and cube of incoming labelstock, trims freight and storage, and sidesteps the disposal question that plagues liner waste. As e-commerce and parcel volumes keep climbing, those savings compound across millions of shipments. Equally, regulators and retailers pushing reusable and recyclable packaging formats are sympathetic to labels that shed a difficult-to-recycle component.
AWA’s Chicago event also reflects a geographic rebalancing. With linerless momentum building in North American logistics and retail, bringing the conference back to the US market gives domestic converters and end users direct exposure to European and Asian learnings where the format is more mature.
For label printers weighing the investment, the message from the value chain is consistent: the technology is ready, the materials are maturing, and the economics now favour early movers. The 2026 Chicago edition of the AWA International Linerless Label Conference is positioned as the forum where that case gets made in detail.
Source: Labels & Labeling (labelsandlabeling.com), article “AWA to host linerless event in Chicago,” published 5 October 2026.
For substrate and adhesive suppliers, the conference is a chance to demonstrate that linerless is no longer a science project. Improvements in tack, convertibility and printability have narrowed the performance gap with traditional labelstock, and the presence of majors like UPM and Mondi on the programme signals that the materials pipeline is maturing fast enough to support mainstream adoption across retail and logistics.
The strategic prize is large. Removing the liner trims incoming material weight and cube, lowers freight and storage cost, and eliminates a hard-to-recycle waste stream that has long complicated sustainability reporting for label converters. As e-commerce and parcel volumes keep climbing, those savings compound across millions of shipments, making linerless less a niche green option and more a structural cost lever for high-volume operations.
The event’s timing also reflects a geographic rebalancing. With linerless momentum building in North American logistics and retail, returning the conference to the US gives domestic converters and end users direct exposure to European and Asian learnings where the format is more mature, compressing the adoption curve for late movers.
For label printers on the fence, the Chicago edition offers a low-risk way to benchmark. Seeing live demonstrations of dispensing, rewind and variable-cutting at line speed helps converters separate genuine linerless readiness from vendor hype. That clarity is exactly what the segment needs to convert cautious interest into capital investment.
Taken together, the Chicago edition is less a trade show than a coordination event for an entire emerging category. By putting materials makers, converters, equipment vendors and brand representatives in one room, AWA reduces the friction that has slowed linerless uptake and gives cautious buyers the confidence to specify it. That role — convening rather than selling — is exactly what a young, fast-growing segment needs to cross into the mainstream.
