Labels

Did you know it's actually illegal to sell clothing without fiber content and care instructions? There is a lot of information that has to be permanent within the garment, meaning it shouldn't fall out with bad stitches or wash away when laundered. I've been experimenting with making my own labels, but it's not an easy or quick process.

I've been using printable fabric. It's 100% cotton and uses an inkjet printer. I can fit 24 labels to one letter-sized sheet. Once printed, it has to be ironed, rinsed, then ironed again to make it colorfast. Then, I have to cut them apart, fold them in half, press the crease, then match them with the correct garments, and sew them in.

It's a lot of steps which is not ideal, but it works for my samples. I will have to find a quicker solution for when I have heavier production, but I must say, they look damn good. They’ve made my garments look "real" and complete. This label makes all the difference between something homemade and a professional piece.

I’ve used basic labels and logos in my garments before; they helped to finish the piece, but they still were missing that extra little bit professionalism. But these labels, with the logo, the size, the fiber content, the care instructions, and the laundry symbols… they show that these clothes were professionally made. Every tiny detail was designed and planned and thought-out from concept, all the way down to the care label. And yes, these labels took a ton of planning and design work. Each label had to be designed for each individual garment dependent on the size and fabric(s). In the future, this shouldn’t be quite as tedious; everything is already designed, and I should be able to print or order larger quantities of each label to have on hand. But limited sheets of printable paper, and limited stock of inventory meant I had to be careful about each and every one.

Red Label

I’m so happy with how these turned out and how they look sewn into my collection!