How transparent are garment labels? Five realisations

Everyone talks about transparency in the fashion industry but is it a
reality? Hang tags for example, the small, annoying things that feel
scratchy at the neck or lower back. They are useful and the first source of
information for a potential customer in the store (unless he or she already
found information online beforehand). But how much information do they
actually reveal when it comes to the country of production, suppliers and
other information? In an informal check, FashionUnited looked at garment
tags of fashion brands at an average mall in Europe. Here are the findings
in five realisations.

The eye test

The first realisation: Please take a magnifying glass or reading glasses
with you because most of the tags sport such fine print that even customers
with the best eyesight would have difficulty deciphering them. One
exemption were clothes by Superdry – the brand’s tags were readable even
without glasses; otherwise, no points for brands here.

The search game

Much text but little information. That is what the labels revealed. Much
could be read but the question to most of the brands would be – where is
the relevant information about the country of production? Because one has
to look for it, among care instructions, company offices and the like. An
exception was Superdry again – the brand did not hide this information but
displayed “Made in” proudly in an extra label attached to the collar. Orsay
as well – though the brand places this information on the care instruction
label, at least it is prominently displayed on the first page (yes, care
labels are like little booklets with various pages). Otherwise, no points
for brands here either.

The language test

Many brands do not only hide the information about the country of
production on the care label, which can be sewn in on the side and whose
closer inspection draws the attention of store personnel – but also among
the same information in many languages, often dozens. As useful as this may
be if one wants to learn a foreign language, as irritating it is when one
just wants to find “Made in” information quickly. No points here either.

The geography test

How well did you do in geography in school? Because you will need all
your knowledge when scrutinising labels for production countries –
everything is there from B for Bangladesh to V for Vietnam – China, India,
Cambodia, Morocco, Myanmar, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tunesia and Turkey to be
precise. And this was a list of garments found in an average mall – which
means, it is not complete.

To be fair, it should be mentioned here that the country of production
alone is no indicator of production conditions. In China, for example,
wages of garment workers have risen in the last five to ten years, often
reaching a living wage. And there are garment factories with , India, Pakistan, etc. But when one takes different
factors like country of production and price (see below) together, then the
label is a good indicator: If a t-shirt made in Bangladesh costs 2,99
euros, then one can guess at the production conditions and that no margins
remain under this time and pricing pressure.

The lie detector test

FashionUnited did not carry a lie detector, of course but we did not
have any scruples to look at garment closely and find all tags, even the
most inaccessible ones. Particularly clever: Pilini. The brand tried to put
wool over consumers eyes with – handwritten – labels that promised “fully
made in Italy” (even for t-shirts, which should arouse the suspicion of
even the most naive or well meaning customer). A further look at the care
label revealed: “Made in PRC”- China. Some brands trie to avoid the issue
with labels that point to the design instead of the production, “Designed
in Italy”, for example, or “Crafted in France”. What is next,
“Conceptualised in my bathroom in Tuscany”? But seriously: It is worth
reading labels carefully.

The price check

One piece of information is easy to find and that is the price. It can
mostly be located on the hang tag attached to the collar or at the waist.
Or sometimes it screams from neon-coloured signs in the store: “three for 19.99
euros“, “t-shirts: 4.99 euros“, “get 3, buy 2“ or something like that. When
dealing with dumping prices – especially when it is not a seasonal sale –
one should be careful because no money is left for profit margins here
either; especially none that could be reinvested into better wages and
working conditions for garment workers.

Conclusion: One should look closely when buying clothes! Consumers
should invest time, in any case to read labels carefully, when they want to
make an informed choice. Or target clothes of brands and retailers that
start with transparency from the labels themselves, for example German
fashion brand or Swedish fashion company (not to be confused with Arket), which
mentions the country of production for each part of a piece of clothing
like buttons, yarn, cloth, etc.

Labels of the following brands were randomly selected: Esprit,
Guess, Housebrand, LC Waikiki, Mango, Marc O’Polo, Orsay, Pilini, Sinsay,
Superdry, Tally Weijl, Tezenis und Tom Tailor. They were selected based on
a visit to a randomly chosen mall in a medium-sized European city, thus not
aiming for completeness.