Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
What is a clothing label? Labels come in many forms and can be differentiated by the label's fabric, its position in the garment and the information it carries. This page is the directory's hub for the subject: main labels that carry the brand, care labels that carry the washing instructions, woven labels and printed labels, clothing label factories, garment labeling requirements, RN numbers and the wash care label system. From here the subject branches in every direction a label can go — legal, practical and decorative at once.
Clothing Labels by Apparel Search - Terms of Interest to the Apparel Industry
Fashion Terms Fashion Terms Directory Fashion Terms by Category Labels Care Label Clothing Label Factories Garment Labeling
What is a clothing label?
Labels come in many forms and can be differentiated by the labels fabric construction, label function, label shape etc. Their are many different types of labels that are used on apparel and fashion accessories. Some of which maintain legal requirements (care & content labels) and other types of labels are placed on the garments strictly for appearance or as identification of the fashion brand.
One of the most common uses of a garment label is to aid a fashion designer develop brand recognition. The clothing brand label is generally placed some where inside the garment to identify the brand. Brand labels are also often placed on the outside of clothes to make the brand easily visible.
Other labels provide tracking information such as lot labels. These are typically utilized to keep good record of particular elements in the production process. For example, if a company is manufacturing jeans in multiple clothing factories, they may wish to add a lot label to help identify each garment with a specific code. This will allow the manufacturing company to track which facility produced which garment. In other words, if four different denim jean factories are sewing "Apparel Search Brand Jeans", we may have each of the sewing factories use a unique lot label in the garment produced at their facility. If we later find that sewing had been done incorrectly, the lot label will allow us to track back to figure out which of the four facilities had produced that particular garment. Lot labels are used for other purposes as well.
When discussing labels, two primary label categories come to mind. The "brand label" which allows the consumer to learn the brand of the garment and the "care label" which provides content information and details regarding the best way to care for the garment during the cleaning process. The care label is often referenced as the content label or washing instruction label (as well as a few other terms). The care label will also often times have the size of the garment. Their are many rules and regulations regarding the use of the care label. We suggest you read more at our care label section. That section does not contain all of the rules, but it may point you in the proper direction.
Below are a few terms that you will often hear when discussing labels.
Fashion Labels
Brand Labels
Garment Labels
Custom Labels
Iron On Labels
Tagless Labels
Sewing Labels
Care Labels
Content Labels
Care and Content Labels
Size Labels
Satin Labels
Damask Labels
Taffeta Labels
You can read additional information about clothing labels from the clothing label definitions provided to Apparel Search by BCI.
Thank you for taking the time to read this clothing label information written by Apparel Search. You may also have interest in learning about wash care labels.
The term "clothing label" can also refer to a fashion collection or clothing line. A clothing label can signify a clothing brand. It does not specifically have to mean an actual garment label. If you are interested, you are welcome to learn more about clothing brands.
ML111007 Clothing Labels
You may also want to learn about a clothing line.
The Apparel Industry has many different types of labels. Some labels are directly attached to the garments and other labels are used for shipping or warehousing purposes.
In this section we are primarily talking about labels that go on actual garments. We are not talking about the apparel industry labels that are used on polybags or shipping cartons. The RFID labels, ASN Labels, UPC Labels, etc. will be discussed in other areas of the Apparel Search website. This particular section is regarding clothing labels that are sewn onto garments or heat sealed onto garments.
A piece of material attached to a garment that carries information about it — the brand, the fiber content, the country of origin, the care instructions, or the maker's registered identification number. Labels differ by fabric, placement and purpose, as this page sets out.
Main labels (the brand label, usually at the neck), care labels (washing and care instructions and symbols), woven labels, printed labels and tagless labels — each has its own term or page linked from here, along with label factories and labeling rules.
A registered identification number issued to a business in the textile trade, used on labels in place of the company's name. This page links to the RN number lookup and to the manufacturer label resources that explain the system.