Hub Labels was founded in 1978 by Bud & Mary Dahbura in Hagerstown, Maryland. Having founded their first label company in El Salvador in Central America in the mid-1960s, this was their second venture into the label industry. Bud, a mechanical engineer with a Bachelor’s Degree from The University of Texas at Austin, had identified a market opportunity in Central America (where some of his relatives had settled), so he decided to try his hand at label printing. After several years of label success in El Salvador, Bud and Mary realized the country was on the verge of civil war and decided to move back to Hagerstown. In the mid 1970s, Bud resumed his work as a mechanical engineer, but he started a small label operation in a local storefront, which Mary ran during the day.

The single press they started with soon turned into two and then four presses, with a growing number of employees. After growing out of two locations, Bud & Mary built their first dedicated facility in the mid 1980s. Bud continued to work as an engineer and moonlight at Hub Labels for several more years before going into Hub Labels full-time. The existing location has been expanded four times to its present size of 110,000 square feet and the number of presses has grown to over twenty.

Hub Labels has always been on the forefront of advances in the label printing industry, having been among the first to introduce four-color process, computer-to-plate technology, digital printing, servo-driven presses, and many other innovations. The customer base has grown from a handful in the 1970s to over 650 active customers today, with several multinational accounts and customers based all over the USA. While Hub has grown to be one of the largest label companies in the US, it steadfastly maintains its family-owned tradition and dedication to quality and service that has made it one of the industry’s success stories.