Clothing label mistakes are expensive because they are discovered too late: when a thousand pieces have already been woven and the garments are waiting on the sewing table. Most of them repeat over and over, whether the brand is brand new or has years of experience. We've gathered the ten most common mistakes we see in woven and printed label orders, each with a concrete fix. Read the list before you send your next design.
Mistake 1: text that is too small
On screen everything looks legible; you can zoom to 400%. In weaving, however, every letter is built from yarns, and below a certain size the letters merge. As a rule of thumb, text under about 6 pt is hard to weave legibly, and thin serif fonts lose detail even sooner.
Fix: use a simple sans-serif font, at least 6-7 pt for secondary text and noticeably larger for the brand name. If you need to fit a lot of information, switch to a printed label or a separate care label.
Jacquard woven label LBL 0041 4.5 x 3.5 cm – branded design with woven letters, soft premium style, with logo
Satin label 14 cm x 5 cm - satin print
Metal tags E-2302 Nickel 1.5 x 1 x 1 cm – Triangular 3D shape, for laser brandingMistake 2: a raster logo instead of a vector
A JPG from your website or a photo of a business card isn't a production file. A raster image breaks into pixels when enlarged, and the manufacturer has to redraw it, which takes time and can change the proportions.
Fix: send your logo in vector format: AI, EPS, a PDF with vector paths, or SVG. If you don't have one, ask the designer who created the logo.
Mistake 3: gradients and photos in the design
Gradients, shadows and photographic detail can't be woven, because the loom works with separate coloured yarns, not smooth transitions. The result is either coarse banding or lost detail.
Fix: simplify the design to 2-4 solid colours. If a photographic effect is essential, choose a printed satin or canvas label.
Mistake 4: the wrong size for the fold
A 50 x 20 mm label with a straight cut and a 50 x 20 mm centre-folded label look completely different in the garment. With a centre fold, the visible part is half; with end folds, each end loses a few millimetres.
Fix: always state the size of the finished, folded label, and separately the type of fold. Ask for a drawing or a sample if you're unsure.
Mistake 5: forgetting the seam allowance
When a label is sewn into a seam, part of it disappears inside, usually a few millimetres on each side. A logo placed right up to the edge gets swallowed.
Fix: leave at least 3-5 mm of clear space around the design on the sides that go into a seam. With a centre fold, allow stitching room on both sides.
Mistake 6: incorrect fibre composition on the care label
Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 requires exact textile fibre names. One of the most frequent errors is "bamboo" when the fabric is actually viscose made from bamboo cellulose; the correct name is "viscose". Other common slips are trade names instead of the generic name, and percentages that don't add up to 100%.
Fix: take the composition from your fabric supplier's specification, use the legal fibre names and give percentages by weight. The label must be in the language of the country where you sell. The full text of the regulation is available on EUR-Lex.
Mistake 7: care symbols that don't match the garment
Copying symbols from another style is risky. If the label says 40 °C wash and the fabric shrinks or bleeds, the complaint is on you.
Fix: set the care regime for each fabric, ideally with a wash test, and use ISO 3758 symbols in the correct order: washing, bleaching, drying, ironing, professional cleaning.
Mistake 8: no spare stock
You order exactly as many labels as garments. Then a few get sewn on crooked, a few go to samples and the photo shoot, and the last garments end up without a label.
Fix: add 3-5% spare. If it is your main brand label with no season on it, a larger quantity makes even more sense, as you'll use it in the next collections too.
Mistake 9: ordering at the last minute
Labels are often ordered last, after the fabric, buttons and zips. But a custom woven label needs file preparation, approval and production. Ordering in the final week delays the whole run or forces compromises.
Fix: order labels together with your other trims, such as buttons, zippers and elastics, as soon as the collection design is approved. The main brand label can even be ordered earlier.
Mistake 10: too many variants
A separate main label for every style, colour and size looks like a good idea until you realise the minimum applies to each design. In our catalogue, custom woven and printed labels are ordered from 1,000 pieces per design.
Fix: one main brand label for the whole collection, with size and composition on a separate small label. The order is cheaper, your stock is tidier and your brand is more recognisable.
Quick checklist before you send your artwork
- Vector logo, no gradients.
- Text at least 6-7 pt, simple font.
- Finished label size and fold type.
- 3-5 mm clear margin for the seam.
- Composition per Regulation 1007/2011, symbols per ISO 3758.
- Quantity including 3-5% spare.
- Order placed several weeks before sewing starts.
Tip: before approving the final design, print it at 1:1 scale and lay it on the garment. You'll see straight away whether the text is legible and whether the size fits the seam.
Bul-tex manufactures woven, satin and printed clothing labels to your design and checks artwork files before production. To avoid these mistakes, send us your design and we'll tell you what to change before the labels go on the loom. You'll find more useful material in our label guides.
