Custom care labels printed on soft satin

Custom care labels do two jobs at once. They tell your customer how to wash the garment, and they tell them who made it. Get it wrong and you get returns, faded print and a garment that looks cheap the first time someone checks the collar.

Our custom care labels are printed on 100% polyester satin using thermal transfer. The ink is fused into the satin surface rather than sitting on top of it, so the text and symbols stay legible through repeated hot washes. Edges are welded closed, not cut, so they do not fray in the drum.

Super Label Store produces custom care labels from 100 pieces for £35. Add your own logo or a QR code, choose sew-in, sew-on or centre fold, and download a free 1:1 PDF proof before anything goes into production.

What has to go on a clothing care label in the UK

In the UK, fibre composition is the part that is legally required on textile products. Under the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations, textiles sold in the UK have to carry the generic fibre names with percentages, listed in order of weight. For example: 80% cotton, 20% polyester.

In short: in the UK your care label has to carry the fibre composition, and in practice it also carries washing symbols, size and often the country of origin. Rules differ per market and change over time, so treat this as a starting point rather than legal advice, and confirm the current requirements for every country you sell into.

Worth knowing if you also sell into the United States: the rules there are stricter and different, requiring care instructions, fibre content, country of origin and the identity of the manufacturer or dealer. A label built for the UK is not automatically compliant in the US.

One requirement applies everywhere: the label has to stay attached and legible for the useful life of the garment. A printed care label that fades after ten washes does not do its job, however correct the wording was on day one. That is the whole reason we print these the way we do.

Which washing symbols belong on your label

In the UK and Europe, care symbols follow the ISO set used by GINETEX, which is a different system from the one used in the United States. If you have been given a symbol sequence by an American supplier, check it before you print.

The symbols are standardised, but which ones belong on your specific garment depends on the fabric, the dye and the construction. Our guide to care label symbols explains what each symbol means and how the washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional cleaning families fit together, so you can build the right sequence before you start designing.

Specifications

In short: Super Label Store prints custom care labels on OEKO-TEX certified polyester satin, in 60 x 20 mm or 70 x 30 mm, sew-in, sew-on or centre fold, from 100 labels at £35, produced in 8 to 12 working days.

Satin, acetate or woven: what care labels are made of

Super Label Store prints care labels on 100% polyester satin. Satin describes the weave rather than the fibre: a smooth, dense face that takes fine print without the weave breaking up the characters. That matters more than it sounds, because a row of care symbols, a fibre composition line and a country of origin have to fit legibly inside 60 x 20 mm.

Acetate care labels are the traditional alternative and you will still see them offered. Acetate is a cellulose-based fibre with a softer, more fluid hand than polyester. The trade off is heat and wash resistance: acetate is less tolerant of high temperatures and repeated hot washing. Since a care label has to stay legible for the working life of the garment, and goes through every wash the garment does, we print on polyester satin instead. If you have been quoted an acetate satin care label elsewhere, that is the difference.

Woven care labels are a different product, not a better one. A woven label builds its design from coloured yarn on a jacquard loom rather than printing onto a surface. That is ideal for a brand mark and poor for care information: small type, long fibre percentages and a sequence of symbols all sit below what thread can resolve cleanly. The practical answer is to use both, which is why most garments carry a woven label at the neck and a printed care label in the side seam. For the neck label, see our custom woven labels.

Why thermal transfer survives the wash

Thermal transfer uses a heated printhead to move pigment from a ribbon onto the satin, where it bonds to the surface. There is no wet ink sitting on top of the weave waiting to crack, and nothing to bleed into neighbouring fabric the first time the garment gets washed with something dark.

• No fading. Symbols and fibre composition stay readable after repeated washing at high temperature.
• No bleeding. The print does not migrate into the garment, which matters most on light-coloured fabrics.
• No fraying. Welded edges seal the satin instead of leaving a raw cut that unravels in the drum.

This is the difference between a washing label that still does the job at wash fifty and one that is an illegible grey smear by wash ten.

Choosing between the two sizes

60 x 20 mm. The compact option. Comfortable on lightweight garments, kidswear and accessories where a larger label would be felt against the skin. Fits a row of care symbols plus a short fibre composition line.

70 x 30 mm. The working size for most brands. Room for care symbols, fibre composition, country of origin and a small logo, or the same information in two languages.

If you choose centre fold, plan your layout around the finished size rather than the flat size. Folding halves the visible height and gives you two printable faces, so a 70 x 30 mm label finishes at roughly 70 x 15 mm per side. Many brands use this deliberately: brand and logo on the front face, care and compliance information on the back.

Adding a QR code is possible and increasingly common, usually pointing to a care guide or a product registration page. Keep it as large as the layout allows and check it on the printed proof at actual size before you commit to a full run. A QR code that scans perfectly on screen can be too small to read once it is printed at 10 mm square.

Sew-in, sew-on or centre fold

• Sew-in. Stitched into a side seam or neck seam so only the printed face is visible. The standard choice for garments with a finished seam.
• Sew-on. Stitched flat onto the garment on all four sides. Used where there is no seam to hide the label in, and on home textiles.
• Centre fold. Folded down the middle and stitched into a seam, giving two printed faces and a clean folded edge.

Care labels are made for stitching rather than heat application. If you need a no-sew option for branding, our custom woven labels are available with an iron-on backing.

Who orders custom care labels

• Clothing brands that need compliant garment care labels for retail without ordering tens of thousands at a time
• Handmade sellers and Etsy shops adding fibre composition labels to give a handmade product a finished, professional look
• Kidswear and baby clothing makers who need a soft satin label that will not irritate sensitive skin
• Activewear and performance lines where technical fabrics carry specific washing restrictions that have to survive frequent laundering
• Home textile brands labelling bedding, towels and soft goods
• Uniform and workwear suppliers who need laundry labels that hold up to industrial washing cycles

Quantities and pricing

Custom care labels at Super Label Store start at 100 pieces for £35. The unit price drops automatically as the quantity rises, so a larger run costs meaningfully less per label.

From 1,000 labels you can enter your own quantity rather than picking a preset, in increments of 100. So 1,100, 1,500 and 2,000 are all valid, which is useful when you are ordering against a production run rather than a round number.

Design your custom care labels

Build your care labels in the design tool, add your care instructions, fibre composition and logo, and download your free 1:1 proof. From 100 labels at £35, produced in 8 to 12 working days and delivered free across the UK on orders over £175.

Pair them with custom woven labels for the neck and printed swing tags for the retail floor to finish the garment properly.