Etymology

white label

Today it means: Being a generically manufactured product, rebranded with the marketer's or retailer's trade dress: synonym of private label. Full definition →

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The story

US, 20th century. Originally used for musical vinyl records whose labels had been torn off or covered with a white label by competing DJs to conceal which records they were using.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.