Acrylic emulsion pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) films generally have much lower shear holding power than that of their solvent-borne counterparts for the same peel and tack. This is due to their discrete microgel morphology in the film. In contrast, film cast from solution-polymerized acrylic PSA forms a continuous network as a result of crosslinking acrylic acid and aluminum acetyl acetonate (AAA) in the film following the solvent evaporation. Novel acrylic emulsion PSA was made by copolymerizing less than or equal to1 wt % isobutoxy methyl acrylamide (IBMA) in the polymer backbone. The IBMA grafted the linear portion of the acrylic polymer with the microgels upon heating the film, which resulted in a significant increase in the shear holding power.