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Who among us has worn a shirt for the first time only to be distracted by the tags scratching at an uncomfortable place on your side? The obvious solution to such a nuisance is to quickly remove said tag. However, if one snips a tag, the important information provided on it is lost. Traditionally the tag located on the left seam of a garment is the wash care label. This label includes important information regarding the advised washing, drying, and ironing methods for the piece of apparel. Instead of a physical tag, consider the benefits of pad printing the wash care label information directly onto garments.

Wash Care Label Requirements

Quick knowledge check!

Which of the following pieces of information does the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) require on most articles of clothing:

a) Country of origin

b) Fiber content

c) Marketer or manufacturer identity

d) Wash, bleach, dry, iron, and warning information regarding care

e) All of the above

If you answered all of the above, you’ve done your research! On top of the information to be included on the neck area, the FTC has a Care Labeling Rule that must be closely followed. The FTC requires importers and manufacturers to attach care instructions to most garments that can be worn, with the exemption of shoes, gloves, and hats and excluding handkerchiefs, belts, suspenders, and neckties.

The FTC’s focus on the requirement of having a care label is to alert consumers to the best practice when it comes to caring for a garment. There are five elements in total that must be addressed on the wash tag: washing, bleaching, drying, ironing, and warnings. All of the information provided must be in good standing. The FTC specifies that the information can be directly printed on a garment.

Therefore, why not pad print the information directly onto a t-shirt, cocktail dress, or athletic joggers?

Pad Printing for Tagless Applications

Pad printing for tagless neck labels has already become common practice for many companies. Tagless wash care labels could be the next big trend.

Tagless label printing has so many pros when comparing it to other methods. It also really shines in the eyes of Mother Nature as it is a sustainable option limiting waste compared to similar practices such as heat transfer or tear-away tags.

Pad printers such as the B100, Brite Care Label Printing Machine, or B150 make for great options when it come to tagless applications. The B100 and B150 differ by size of image; the B100 printing images up to 3” and the B150 printing images with a diameter of 5.5”. The Brite Care pad printer is perfect for businesses wishing to print light ink on dark apparel.

Pair a Brite pad printer with our SB Brite Opaque Garment Printer Ink and gone are the days of dull prints on dark colors. The powerful duo will ensure excellent durability and the most opaque print possible by a pad printer. SB Brite inks come in three colors; Brite White, Brite Pink, and Brite Yellow. However, the Brite Care Label pad printer can be used both for high opacity inks as well as a regular pad printer, opening the door to numerous other ink colors.

If you already own a pad printer, great! To include wash care label requirements on your tagless label you must decide whether to add the information below your tagless neck label information or if you’d prefer to print it elsewhere inside the garment. We have found success in including the wash care information at the bottom of the current label.

Is Pad Printing Wash Care Labels a Good Fit?

When deciding whether pad printing care information is right for your business it might make sense to first consider what you are printing on. Is your main product a t-shirt? Considering t-shirts are a much more robust piece of clothing compared to fine cocktail attire, one may seamlessly incorporate wash care symbols to a tag of a t-shirt. Whereas, the cocktail dress may require specific or lengthy information such as, “Dry clean, petroleum solvent,” which specifies a solvent that would not harm the garment.

What Makes Tagless Inks Special?

Tagless pad printing inks are specially formulated for garments. Have you ever owned a home-made screen-printed shirt? Often the inks used on these are so thick and dry hard. Can you imagine having that rubbing against your neck all day? Of course not. That is why there is so much importance to creating specialized inks for tagless applications such as neck tags. These garment inks all show soft-hand properties, which means that it goes unnoticed upon touch.

Our most recent addition, SB Eco Series pad printing ink is an eco-friendly ink for apparel tags that is the most sustainable garment ink available on the market today. This ink will not crack, and notably will adhere to 98% of fabrics.

Pad Print Wash Care Labels

All of the technology has been perfected, the inks are ready, and the opportunity is available. Pad print your wash care labels directly onto your apparel rather than having your customers search the apparel for a tag with teeny tiny print containing the information.