Why Relabelling Clothing Is Good Practise for Company Clothing

There are many reasons why different people and companies choose to alter, customise and relabel clothing. For some, people do it as an act of creative expression. Others do it mark themselves as being part of a group. Others do it to advertise a specific course or organisation. 

Whatever the reason they are plentiful, and the act of refashioning clothes towards more individualised ends has become very venerable indeed in 21st century fashion. Relabeling clothing, iron-on transfers and embroidered patterning have been making their way around for a very long time, after all.

Some longer than others.

But enough info-dumping. Let’s count some of the ways different people may look into relabelling clothing and what such efforts may achieve if done well. Doing so may hopefully inspire you in turn towards your own cloth redesign efforts.

1)      Security

Every now and then you will lose a t-shirt or two during your lifetime. In certain situations this pretty much means the end of your ownership of the shirt, but in some cases relabelling clothing so that it has some sort of name or identity tag can help it be returned to you faster. This is especially useful if you find yourself in a position where clothes can easily be mistakenly taken by other people, such as if you work a job that requires frequent changes of clothes.

This also includes adding additional information about washing and drying the shirt in question. If a redesign done on it means the original instructions are no longer suitable, then adding a new label is necessary to ensure the clothes are being washed properly.

2)      Group Identity

Labels can also be used as a way of marking out groups together through their clothing. This is a lot more subtle than actual images and logos on the clothing itself, but can certainly be noticed and appreciated by those who use the clothing themselves.

Sometimes there’s little more gratifying than being reminded that you’re a part of something slightly bigger than yourself, however small it may be on the grand scale of things.

3)      Advertising

If you frequently make a habit of redesigning and selling new clothes, relabelling clothing is an excellent way to get out some extra advertising and awareness of what you do. It’s a small, cheap yet highly effective way of making your mark on the fashion scene. Thus if someone buys a piece of clothing you’ve designed and likes it enough that they’d like to purchase more, they can easily so who the designer is just by checking the hems of their clothing.

4)      Commemoration/Symbolism

Finally, some people like to add labels holding some sort of significant symbol or commemorative event or figure on their clothing. Labels are a lot more hidden and discrete than other methods of using symbols in clothing, and as a result the connotation is more intimate and personal. Common examples are the names of parents or loved ones, religious or political symbols, or great tragedies and life-events.