We say our name labels are 100% waterproof. This summer, we decided to stop saying it and start proving it – in the most ambitious way we could think of.
So, we built a rowing boat with no hull. No planks, no fibreglass, nothing to keep the water out except a skin of My Nametags waterproof name labels stuck one over the other. Then our CEO, Lars Andersen, climbed aboard and pushed off into the River Thames.
The whole point was simple. If a few thousand name stickers can keep a grown adult afloat on a river, then keeping your child’s water bottle labelled through a year of dishwasher cycles is, frankly, the easy part.
Here’s how it went – and what it means for the labels you put on your children’s kit.
The idea nobody could talk him out of
The brief from Lars was short: “Our labels are 100% waterproof. To prove it, I want to cross a river in a boat made of them.”
We begged him not to. HR pleaded. The rest of us quietly wondered who’d be fishing the CEO out of the Thames. He was undeterred – and to be fair, he had a point.
Parents trust our labels to survive washing machines, dishwashers, lunchboxes and the bottom of a school bag. Our whole promise is that a name goes on once and stays put. A river, when you think about it, is simply a bigger, colder and far more public version of that same test. If the labels could keep the water out of a boat, no dishwasher was ever going to trouble them again.
So, the plan was set: build the boat, cover it in nothing but name labels, and find out whether it would float or flop.
The boatbuilders who made it possible
A boat is only as good as the people who build it, and for this we wanted the real thing rather than something knocked together in a warehouse. We turned to the brilliant team at Alan Staley Boat Builders in Faversham, Kent – traditional wooden boatbuilders and spar makers who have been crafting boats by hand for decades.
Wooden boatbuilding is a genuine heritage craft – all shaped timber, hand-cut ribs and an enormous amount of skill built up over a lifetime. Watching the frame come together in their workshop, each rib fitted by hand, was a lovely reminder that some things simply can’t be rushed.
We did give them a slightly unusual request: please build us a complete set of wooden ribs and a frame, primed and ready – but leave the outer planking off entirely.
Building a boat with no skin
That open lattice of ribs is what you can see taking shape in the workshop: a perfect boat-shaped skeleton with gaps everywhere the water could get in. Beautiful, and completely un-seaworthy. On its own, it would sink in seconds.
Normally, this is the point where a boatbuilder would plank the hull and seal it – the part that actually keeps a boat afloat. We asked them to stop right before that step and hand the boat over to us. The most important job of all, keeping the water out, was going to be done entirely with name labels.
Thousands of stickers, one very important job
Back at the office, the real work began. We prepared the labels in their thousands, then set about turning a see-through frame into a watertight hull.
We worked in layers. First, we built up large sheets of stickers to cover the big open panels between the ribs; then, working patiently over the frame, we pressed individual name stickers on top, overlapping each one like the scales of a fish, until every piece of wood had disappeared beneath a bright, colourful mosaic of names.
Overlap was the secret. A single sticker keeps water off whatever it’s stuck to, but line up hundreds of them edge over edge and you create one continuous waterproof surface, with no obvious way in for the water underneath. It’s exactly the same principle that keeps a name readable on the side of a lunchbox long after a marker pen would have smudged away.
Then came the moment of truth before we went anywhere near the river. We carried the boat into a blacked-out room and shone a bright light up through the bottom. Every tiny chink of light was a gap the water would happily find – so every chink got another sticker, and then another, until not a single glimmer came through. Only then did we call it watertight.
By this point the boat wasn’t really a wooden boat with stickers on it at all. It was a boat made of stickers, with a little wood for support – kept dry entirely by waterproof adhesive.
We weren’t quite brave (or reckless) enough to go straight for the main event, either. First, we built a small model boat out of nothing but name labels and floated it as a dress rehearsal. It survived beautifully, and that gave us the green light to scale things up.
Why a name label can waterproof a boat in the first place
It sounds slightly absurd that a sticker could keep a river out of a boat, so it’s worth explaining why ours can actually manage it.
Ordinary labels are made of paper, and paper turns to mush the moment it gets wet. Ours are made from a durable PVC that water simply cannot soak into. The names and designs are printed with a waterproof, fade-resistant ink, so they stay bright and readable rather than smudging away. And they’re finished with a strong adhesive that grips smooth surfaces and holds on through heat, water and constant handling.
Just as importantly, our labels are waterproof all the way through, so they don’t depend on a laminated top layer to survive – the sort that tends to lift at the edges and let water creep underneath. That combination is what lets the same little sticker shrug off a dishwasher, a washing machine and, as it turns out, a stretch of the Thames.
Launch day on the river
We picked a bright, still morning on the Thames – early enough for calm, flat water and good light for the cameras. Lars suited up: lifejacket, a captain’s hat for morale, and – naturally – a My Nametags label with his name on it stuck to his lifejacket. If you’re going to test your own product, you commit.
The team carried the boat down to the water, careful to keep its delicate sticker hull off the gravel, and set it gently down. One camera crew filmed from the bank while another followed from the water. There was a fair amount of nervous laughter. Then Lars stepped in.
This is the moment a boat made of stickers is supposed to glug quietly to the bottom.
It didn’t.
The labels held. The water stayed out. The boat sat calmly on the surface with a grown man and a pair of oars inside it – and Lars, grinning under his captain’s hat, picked up the oars and started to row.
So... did the name labels pass?
Watch the full film and judge for yourself – though the photographs rather give it away. A boat whose only waterproofing was waterproof name stickers carried our CEO out onto the River Thames and brought him safely back again.
From a river to your kitchen: the everyday tests that really matter
A river crossing is the showing-off version. The tests your labels actually have to pass happen every single day, in your kitchen and your child’s school bag. Happily, if the labels can handle the Thames, they take these in their stride:
- The dishwasher – water bottles, lunchboxes and beakers, cycle after cycle after cycle
- The washing machine (up to 60°C) and the tumble dryer – school jumpers, PE kit and the socks that never come home
- The microwave and steriliser – toddler cups, weaning bowls and bottles
- A proper British summer – rain, splashes, paddling pools and muddy water bottles abandoned at sports day
Waterproof name labels for water bottles and lunchboxes arguably have the hardest job of all, sitting in hot, wet dishwashers’ day after day – which is exactly why we test them the way we do. Waterproof name labels for clothes work a little differently: our stick-on clothing labels go onto the garment’s washing-care label rather than the fabric itself, and our iron-on labels bond permanently into the cloth. But the promise is the same across all of it – the name goes on once, and it stays put.
A serious point behind the silliness
There’s a genuine reason we care this much about labels that last. Every year, an estimated 1.4 million school uniforms are lost across the UK, and a great many are simply replaced and thrown away – adding up to something like 354 tonnes of plastic sent to landfill annually (My Nametags, 2020).
A name that survives the wash is a small thing, but it’s often the difference between a lost jumper finding its way back to its owner and ending up in a bin. Building a boat was the fun part; helping families waste a little less is the part we’re genuinely proud of.
Watch the full test
See the build, the nerves, the launch and the verdict for yourself. And if you’d like your own labels to survive everything short of a river crossing, you can design your own waterproof name labels here.
Frequently asked questions
Was the boat really made only of name labels?
The structure was a hand-built wooden frame from Alan Staley Boat Builders with the outer planking deliberately left off. Every bit of the waterproofing – the part that actually kept the water out – was My Nametags waterproof name labels, layered over one another and checked for gaps with a torch. Take the labels away and you’d have a very elegant colander.
Are My Nametags labels actually 100% waterproof?
Yes. Our name stickers are 100% waterproof and are designed to survive the washing machine (up to 60°C), tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwave and steriliser. The boat was simply the most public way we could think of to prove it.
Did the CEO sink?
You’ll have to watch the film – but the photographs of Lars happily rowing a sticker-covered boat down the Thames are a bit of a spoiler.
Can you put waterproof name labels on water bottles and lunchboxes?
Absolutely – it’s what they’re made for. Stick them onto a clean, dry, smooth surface, press firmly, and leave them 24 hours before the first dishwasher run so the adhesive can cure. After that, they’re ready for daily school life.
Do waterproof name labels for clothes actually stay on?
They do, as long as they go in the right place. Our stick-on clothing labels are designed for the garment’s washing-care label rather than the fabric itself, while our iron-on labels fuse permanently into the material. Both are made to last through the school year and well beyond.
Can I get waterproof name labels with custom designs for my kids?
Yes. You can choose the name, colours, fonts and a little icon or design – which is especially handy for younger children who can’t read yet but can spot their own picture in the cloakroom.
Where can I get waterproof name labels like these?
The same waterproof name stickers we used on the boat are the ones we make every day for water bottles, lunchboxes, school supplies and clothing. You can design your own here – and if you’d like help choosing the right type for each item, see our guide to choosing the right waterproof name labels for your child’s kit.
