Greek Label Association formed

Leading converters make announcement at Finat’s 2012 Athens Congress

The recent Finat conference in Athens, Greece, saw the official launch of the Greek Label Association. The announcement was made by Dimitris Skordakis, president of Greece’s longest established label converter, E. Skordakis & Co. (Hermes).

The move followed an invitation from Turkish Label Association president Aydin Okay for Greek label converters to attend the Turkish Association annual congress in January. Okay also worked hard to involve Greek design students in the Finat logo competition and designed a Finat membership badge for Greek association members.

‘We did try to form an association three years ago, but without success,’ said Avgerinos Chatzichryssos, general manager at leading Greek converter Forlabels. ‘But following the visit to see how the Turkish association worked, we invited 20 companies to agree the formation of a Greek Label Association.’

Association members will visit converters in Northern Greece to invite them to join. ‘We must think positively and not as in the past, simply as competitors,’ said Dimitris Skordakis. ‘We want to open up to the world.’ There are estimated to be around 45 dedicated PS label converters in Greece.

The formation of the Greek Label Association was welcomed by Finat president Kurt Walker, who praised the warm welcome Finat delegates received from their Greek hosts at the Finat Athens Congress.

As well as being represented by Finat on the global L9 group, The Greek Label Association will also be invited to attend the half yearly meetings of Finat's National Associations' Board, bringing together the national label associations in Europe. One was held on May 29 which was attended by organizations from Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Turkey normally attends these meetings but was held back by a strike at Istanbul airport.

Pictured: Dimitris Skordakis, president of Greece's longest established family-run converter, announces the formation of the Greek Label Association at the Finat 2012 congress

This article was published in L&L issue 3, 2012