Before 1953, “state-of-the-art” plant identification was a white plastic stake and a magic marker. Then along came Economy Label Sales – inventor of the Slip-On tag. While the technology awed and amazed, decades later it became even more impressive when Economy introduced thermal printed plant tags, a process which truly transformed the landscape of horticulture marketing.

Meanwhile in Japan, Yo Sato, who established SATO in 1940 to manufacture and sell packaging machinery, was developing his own innovative technologies including one of the first hand labelers in 1962 and the world's first thermal transfer label printer in 1979. Today, SATO America manufactures innovative, reliable auto-identification systems and offers complete solutions to businesses by integrating hardware, software, media supplies and maintenance services.

From the beginning, both companies were on parallel paths to leadership in their respective industries: Economy in horticulture and SATO in printing solutions.

Over the years, tagging and labeling has grown to critical proportion for horticulture production and marketing requirements. Today, tracking, shipping, merchandising, marketing and the transactional accounting of plant material are synonymous with profitability.

So, it seems only natural that two industry leaders would come together under the Horticultural Division of SATO America, LLC.

And the rest is history. Economy Labels & Tags – a SATO Brand – specializes in developing and perfecting the solutions that help retailers and growers to flourish, including but not limited to:

• Slip-On Tags, Pot Tags, Labels, Signage
• Affordable Thermal Printers and Software