EP6: Marloes Evers, EE Labels, Sustainable through Generations

For this episode, we welcome Marloes Evers from EE Labels, Van Engelen & Evers BV, a 121-year-old company that shares insights on 3D weaving, digital labels, sustainable packaging, and thinking beyond generations!

Marloes Evers is 5th generation at EE Labels, a family company active in the textiles industry since 1900. While other factories closed down or moved away, EE labels maintained their own factory in The Netherlands. Starting from a focus on labels, EE labels grew into a company that thinks beyond generations, not only for themselves but also for their customers.

Today, they focus on offering future-proof solutions like 3D weaving and going digital with your labels to the most sustainable choices in packaging. All with minimum impact on the environment, protecting it for the benefit of the next generations. A future-proof concept based on sharing knowledge, collaborating, and innovation in the production process.

Summary:

EE labels is not your ordinary labeling company. Active since 1900, they keep innovating in order to build a future-proof business and assortment. Some highlights on how a family company is diversifying itself from the competition and new innovations in the labeling industry.

Product Innovation

  • Local production
    • It has been a very conscious choice to keep a factory in The Netherlands while many companies moved to the Far East. Allows to act fast and experiment, try new techniques, new materials, and new trends.
  • Trends in Labels
    • QR labels: connect physical and digital space.
      • Communicate about the composition and the way to recycle
      • Special machine to generate custom QR codes
      • Start now: already add the labels add more information later
    • NFC – RFID: connect physical and digital but in another way.
      • Near Field Communication: Scan NFR
      • RFID: Interesting for logistics services; keep track of stock
  • Trends in materials
    • New Life: made from recycled PET bottles
      • More than 100 colours in stock: biggest colors are already replaced
      • If a new colour gets out of stock we replace it with a more sustainable variant
    • Organic Cotton label
      • Focus on mono material products, cotton labels in a cotton t-shirt
      • Better for recycling
      • Thicker yarn, fewer details, other look and feel
    • Recycled Denim Yarns
    • New yarns available – try on how to implement it
  • Transparency
    • Use the labels as well to communicate about sustainability efforts
  • Instructions
    • Use the label to explain how to recycle a product, and engage in storytelling.
  • Sustainable Packaging
    • Lots of questions came from the customers, dove into it, and made some guidelines
    • Degradable packing: this can be a good solution for products that end up in landfill, but it is difficult!
    • Recycled Materials > also design your stickers in the same materials
      • 100% recycled content is not possible from post-consumer waste
    • Natural bags, tote bags made in collaboration with the social economy
    • Peptic: nonwoven materials, made from renewable content, categorized as paper

Business innovation

  • Started with a webshop, as a service to customers but also to optimize the process of smaller quantities in the factory
  • Jacquard and 3D weaving, on a width of 1,5m on the machine, opened up many new opportunities
    • Can weave photos, graphics,…
    • You weave in special layers
    • In the beginning, it was exclusive artists, and nowadays also more requests from more commercial brands, looking for production nearby.
    • Produce a product directly from the machine, apply characteristics directly on the fabric
      • Weave a product even with pockets included
      • Cut out the transport for confection
      • Design so there is no waste from the fabric
      • Sell own designs in collaboration with designers