LABELLING REQUIREMENTS

‘It is not a legal requirement to put a textile care label into a garment, although it is clearly in the interest of the retailer to do so as damage incurred by the consumer through incorrect washing could leave the retailer liable for compensation. (Jackson and Shaw, 2001. Page 87)

CARE LABEL

Care labels are sewn into the left-hand side seam of the garment, and include all of the instructions on how to wash and care for the garment. Figure 16 shows an example of a Bershka care label in a t-shirt dress. The care label includes: • Washing instructions, for example. Wash at 40 degrees, do not iron and do not tumble dry. • Fabric composition • Sizing information • Fire warnings • Country of Manufacture • Item code Figure 15 (Etsy 2021) Swing tags are attached to the garment just before it is packaged to be sent to the warehouse, and Bershka uses a white swing tag with the words ‘JOIN LIFE’ on. The front swing tag is very simple and is in a monochromatic colour palette. The swing tag behind this has more information about the type of fiber used to create the garment, and shown in figure 12 this particular garment is 100% ecologically grown cotton. The tag then has some information about this, and a QR code to take the customer straight to this product on the Bershka website. On the reverse of this swing tag will be the size of the product, the sizes it is available in and the product code for the use of the retailer. The tag will also show a barcode to be scanned by the cashier, and the price. Bershka print prices in multiple currencies on all of their swing tags so that they do not have to change this depending on where the garment is going to end up. Figure 12 (Bershka 2021)

Figure 16 (Author’s Own 2021) FLAT LABEL

Figure 13 (Author’s Own 2021)

BERSHKA

EUR 38 UK 10 MEX 40

This is a mock-up of the flat label, figure 13 shows a photograph of a flat label in a t-shirt dress.

• Design feature • No garment production information • Used only on tennis skirts • Usually have a quote or brand logo on • Mimicking a professional tennis skirt • Sewn into centre waistband or neckline • One of the very last steps of production • Used to show sizing - in Bershka’s case this comes in multiple measurements for the different countries they sell to