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A heat transfer label is a tag free label that is heat transferred onto clothing or fashion accessories using a heat press: the heat and pressure of the press transfer the markings to the garment. Heat transfer labels are also called tag less labels, or sew free and stitch free labels, because the heat transfer bypasses stitching and sewing work. They answer a comfort problem — a woven label sewn into the back neck area of a shirt can cause a tickling or itching sensation — and they are aimed at giving tag free comfort to the person wearing the garment. Some suppliers print the labels on a high quality polyester film, and the labels are also occasionally referenced as heat seal labels.
Heat Transfer Labels by Apparel Search - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry
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The tag free label is heat transferred onto clothing or fashion accessories using a heat press. This heat press process is why technically it is called a Heat Transfer label. Basically, the heat and pressure of the press helps transfer the markings to the garment. Heat transfer labels are also called tag less labels or sew free / stitch free labels because the heat transfers bypass the stitching or sewing work.
Most garment factories and apparel manufacturers are using the woven / stitch labels which are sewed onto the clothes. When place on shirts (typically sewn into the back neck area) the woven labels can cause a tickling or itching sensation. When consumers are itching from labels, they are certainly not happy consumers.
The heat transfer labels or tagless labels are aimed at giving "tag free comfort" to people purchasing product. For the last few years there is a significant shift towards tag free garments. Most seen in underwear, sleepwear, and t-shirts. More and more manufacturers of clothes in many countries are now moving or have moved from regular woven labels or embroidered labels to tag free heat seal labels. This is certainly a growing trend in the apparel industry.
Some suppliers of heat transfers print the labels on a high quality polyester film.
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Heat Transfer Labels are also on occasion referenced as Heat Seal Labels.
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More and more clothing manufacturers in many countries have moved, or are moving, from regular woven labels and embroidered labels to tag free heat seal labels, and the shift is described as a growing trend in the apparel industry. The logic is straightforward: the information a label carries — brand, size, fiber content and care — does not require a separate piece of fabric to carry it. Printing that information on a film and transferring it with heat and pressure puts it directly on the garment, where it cannot flap, fray or itch.
The categories that adopted heat transfer labels first are the categories worn closest to the skin and for the longest stretches: underwear, sleepwear and t-shirts. In those garments a sewn neck or side label is in constant contact with the wearer, so removing it has the clearest comfort payoff — which is why “tag free” became a selling point printed into the garment itself.
A label applied to a garment with a heat press instead of stitching. The heat and pressure of the press transfer the markings onto the clothing or accessory, so the finished garment carries its brand, size and care information with no sewn tag.
Comfort. Woven labels sewn into the back neck can tickle and itch, and unhappy, itching consumers are the result. Heat transfer labels give tag free comfort, and there has been a significant shift toward tag free garments — most seen in underwear, sleepwear and t-shirts.
Tagless labels, sew free or stitch free labels, and heat seal labels. They replace the woven and embroidered labels that most garment factories and apparel manufacturers have traditionally sewn onto clothes.