It is an art practiced for millennia, an art practiced by the commoner, the farmer and the
aristocrat alike. Referred to as “Modsite” by the French, “Cáiféng” by the Chinese, and
“Tailoring” by the English. The simple, yet infinitely complexing art of fashioning attire
out of humble sheets of cloth is familiar to all cultures. In the United States of America,
17,270 tailors were licensed in 2021 (statistic provided by statistica.com), with each
tailor having a distinctive reputation and tailoring method. Hence the question arises,
how does an individual distinguish between the attire created by a renowned tailor, and
a novice tailor? Undoubtedly, there is a need for a “tailor inscription”, this “tailor
inscription” is known as a tailor label.
Tailor labels are generally inscribed in one of three forms: Woven labels, Fabric labels
and Textile labels. However, it must be noted that tailors enjoy the leisure of designing
their own labels. Each of the three aforementioned labels are inscribed using unique
techniques. The Techniques for each inscription are as follows.
Woven Labels are fabricated using two, or three different colored threads interweaved
together to form words letters or designs, these labels generally showcase little or no
extensive designs, primarily due to the constrained use of dyes or colored threads. Such
labels tend to be more practical, and are easily distinguished, when compared to other
labels.
Fabric Labels, also known as printed labels and created when cloth, polyester or thin
plastic is painted and treated using a variety of different types of dyes. Labels created
using this method feature remarkedly intricate designs, and are surprisingly, much
cheaper to manufacture when compared to other labels, and are therefore the go-to for
most novice tailors.
Textile Labels are characterized by their minimalistic use of two different colored
threads to weave inscriptions, not more than two threads can be used. However, it must
be noted that despite the lack of color availability, most of these labels tend to be eye
catching as a result of high contrasts created using two colors only. Another distinctive
features of such labels, is that they tend to be made of the materials used in the attire
itself, for example polyester, cotton or spandex. In some cases, the rear side of the label
tends to have a label on the materials used in the cloth.
As technology continues to advance, it must be kept in mind that that tailor labels may
not be as timeless as many have thought so previously. With the advent of new
technologies, such as RFID tags, which can be used to identify tailor-made clothing, the
use of tailor labels is thought to greatly decrease in the future. However, it would be
foolish to assume that tailor labels would be replaced completely, mainly due to the fact
that tailor labels are much cheaper to produce, tailor labels really don’t need to be
maintained as much as most technological tags or labels , also labels are user friendly.