GINETEX History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of GINETEX, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
GINETEX is not a clothing company at all; it is the association behind the small symbols printed inside almost every garment. The historical record identifies it as the International Association for Textile Care Labelling, established in 1963 by the professionals of the textile-garment-care chain, with its head office in Paris, France. The GINETEX care symbols are registered with the WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, as international trademarks. Because the symbols are trademarks, they must be used in respect of the regulations for the marks together with the technical information on which they are based - a point the filing stresses for professionals who print labels.
The Principles Behind the Symbols
The care labelling system rests on principles the filing lists one by one. Uniform use of the symbols is carried out in the interest of the consumer; the symbols were introduced to avoid any misinterpretation by the consumer; they are simple enough to be understood in all countries irrespective of the language spoken, while providing as much information as possible on appropriate care treatments to prevent irreversible damage. Professionals are responsible for choosing the care treatment for their articles. The symbols cannot be used separately and refer to all treatments in a fixed order: washing, bleaching, tumble drying, ironing and drycleaning. Finally, the code is adapted whenever technical and economical evolution requires, but changes are limited to essentials so consumers are not confused.
That fixed five-step order is the detail most worth carrying away. A care label is a sentence read left to right in symbols, and GINETEX owns the grammar. The routes on this page are the directory's care cluster - care labels, care symbols, ISO care symbols and wash care labels pages - which together form Apparel Search's own explanation of the system this association governs.
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References & Further Reading
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