How to create a care, content and sizing tag for clothing

Roland Russwurm [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]*

Deciding what information to include on a hang tag or a garment's care and content tag can be frustrating. There are certain legal requirements for care and content tags of items sold in the United States and that can be found at the Federal Trade Commission website.

Let's start with the care/content tags. Let's assume that you have complied with all of the legal requirements. What else should go on your care and content tag? The answer is as little as possible. The tag has a finite amount of space, and it must be legible. But there is some critical information that will help the consumer pick just the right size.

Sizing information is one of those things that should be on the tag. For children's clothing it helps to put not only the size but also the weight. It would be nice to also include the height, but I rarely see this done in the US. I have seen the sizing information arranged different ways. For example, it could read like this: 0-3M (7-12lb).

This additional bit of information is very important to consumers. Even though we use a size system that designates an age, children come in all shapes in sizes at each stage of life. Ever hear of a newborn weighing 9lb? A newborn weighing 9lb at birth will weigh 12-15lb at about 3mo, and quickly move into 6mo clothing. Including the weight on a tag helps take out the guess work for the consumer. And don't forget every children's company breaks their sizing down differently. A 3mo outfit from one company will not be the same size as a 3mo outfit from another.

If there isn't room on a care/content tag for additional information, then it is helpful to include it on a hangtag. BabyGap has sizing information available on a card that is the size of a business card and it can be stuck in a wallet. What a great service for the customer! Not to mention, it probably helps reduce returns.

Most moms know the height and weight of their baby. They are given this information when they visit their pediatrician. The doctor will compare the baby's height and weight with a growth chart to make sure the baby is growing properly

If you have an online store, a size chart that includes basic height and weight information will greatly help your customers.

*Photo Credit

Creating a grading standard for children's clothing

Before I can move on to the grading question, I must make a couple of comments on my previous post. The best time to determine a sizing standard is at the very begining of your company. If you have been in business for 30 years, for example, it will be very difficult to change things around. So please, please do your homework.

Another thing, you can make your sizing standard anyway you want. Even though I am suggesting a simplified sizing standard, it may not be appropriate for you. If your intended customer is a big box retailer, it may be too simple. In fact, they may not like it. They are accustomed to choosing from a lot of different sizes. If you become part of a private label program, they will tell you what the sizing standard should be anyway. If you have something similar already set-up, there will be less stress for your patternmaker. Again, the sizing standard suggested in the previous post would be more appropriate for a company targeting specialty boutiques and small retailers.

Ok. Now the grading questiong...

"Can't we use the 3mo size for our base size and grade everything up from there?"

The motivation for this question is to save some work. In essence you make your pattern only one time and let the grading take care of all of the other sizes. While the idea is good, it presents some problems.

First, it is important to know how a child grows. A very good description and diagrams are shown in the book Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Armstrong. In my second edition of the book, it is on page 674. Up to about age 3 children are cylindrical in shape. There is little differentiation between chest, waist, and hips. At about age 4-5, girls start to develop a waist. At age 8, there is more definition and curves. Boys and girls are similar in shape up to about age 8.

Because there is a change in body shape at regular intervals, a patternmaker will break-up the sizes like this:

0-3M to 24M, 2T-4T, 4-6x, 7-16

By breaking up the patterns into these size ranges, a patternmaker would then make base size patterns in a 12M, 3T, 5, and an 8 (or whatever sizes are chosen). You could sample your initial style in any size you prefer - hopefully a middle size. When the design is approved and read to go into pre-production, the patternmaker will then make patterns for your style in each of the other base sizes. Those patterns are then graded for each range.

Some manufacturers will go to the trouble of sampling their style in each range. Retailers like to look at more than one size range because they have to "see" how to merchandise their floor areas. It is possible you will end up making a lot of sales rep's samples if you plan on selling the whole range. These extra samples are called sisters or brothers.

Even with our simplified sizing standard, you would still break up your sizes like this:

0-3M to 3, 4-6, and 7-16

Now some design entrepeneur's may still insist on having only one base size and grading everything off of that. What will happen is you will introduce errors into your patterns in the extreme ends of the range. The grading will be more complicated. The fit will be off in the transitional sizes between infant to toddler, young child to older child. For organization sake, your patternmaker/grader will greatly appreciate having things broken down into simpler groups.

Also, you will be bucking industry standards and not playing by the rules. Walk into any department store and look at how the children's clothes are arranged. You will notice that the clothes are arranged together in the size ranges we talked about above - infant, toddler, young child (4-6x), and older child (7-16). Your order form should have your styles broken down similarly.

By this point you are probably thinking that it is still a lot of work to make that many patterns for each base size. If you have a CAD system with nifty pattern drafting and grading capabilities, it isn't really that big of a deal. Even if you had to do it by hand, it should only take a day or so. Your patternmaker will be just repeating the same drafting process over and over again. If you make dozens of styles every season, you may seriously consider investing in a CAD system.