Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Hang Tag Review #46 - Cosmic Blue Love

This is a fun one - our first broken link!


The hangtag from Cosmic Blue Love has an eye catching front. It is a creme card in a vertical rectangular shape, with gold starbursts throughout. It has Cosmic Blue Love in dark script, and hangs on a thick waxed cord.



The reverse is more or less empty - it has a sticker with the garment details, a www.name.com address, and a hashtag of #EYESONTHESTARS.


The front is solid here - the design is eye catching and communicates the mood clearly. It doesn't overdo it, but it also doesn't drown in its own minimalism. Well done!


The reverse is strong as well! Again, a lot of empty space, but that is always acceptable. While TheHangTagBlog normally eschews the web addresses, Cosmic Blue Love is a subbrand or housebrand of clothing delivery service StitchFix, so giving clear directions helps it keep from getting lost amidst the other search results. The hashtag inclusion makes sense, especially for an online only brand. It is worth noting that the web address doesn't quite bring a broken link, but it does lead to a static "coming soon" landing page! Ouch!



Since this is an online only brand, they have smartly decided to forgo things like price and barcodes in favor of a more descriptive UPC giving style and wash details. This shows a real comfort with thoughtful applications for a specific business model. Excellent overall, a truly great contender.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Hangtag Extra - Zara Add On tags

Here is a small collection of add ons with Zara hangtags. Earlier, there was a tough review of the main Zara hangtag, mostly for the reverse side which was covered with symbols and repeated designations that might have been useful to computers, but were certainly not helpful to people. It turns out, Zara also stacks these additional squares onto many of their garments.




Here are four - J O I N L I F E, Regular, 100% Linen, and Garment Dye. It is easy to guess that Regular is a fit, and 100% Linen is a fabric, but Garment Dye and Join Life are less clear. The reverse of each has the same two sustainability logos from the main tag...

Confusing are the multiple fonts, weights, kerning, and colors among these add on tags...




Friday, July 1, 2022

Hang Tag Review #45 - Zara

Today we have a hangtag from clothing brand Zara. The tag is a rectangle in white stock. The front contains the ZARA wordmark in its usual slightly stylized presentation. The mark is consistently displayed across most of Zara's branding - it looks nice here in a clean and direct presentation.

The reverse is a mess. Words, logos, barcodes and other bric a brac abound. It is immediately
overwhelming and difficult to locate the information you are interested in.


There is a FSC mark, a recycle mark, a QR code, "size" written in 6 languages, and then the sizes written in numbers 4 times... Another bar code, a UPC landing zone, and www.name.com address...

Where to even start? The front is nice - its clean, sets a clear tone, and expresses itself. It doesn't stand out in this world, but it also isn't poor by any means. The reverse is awful, both for its crowding and inefficient design. There are two machine readable bar codes on the same tag. There are two small sustainability logos, neither of which is particularly readable to a human. There are multiple presentations of the sizing, and worst of all, they are written in arabic numerals. There is nothing wrong with writing things in multiple languages, but the "24" on "24 months" should not need to appear 3 times.



There are two small interesting details on the reverse. The first is that there is a machine readable target for the whole where the plastic tag goes, and the second is that the UPC Landing Zone has a clear sticker, presumably to make it easier for a machine to target.

This tag is a disaster, and not becoming of a pseudo luxury brand.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Hang Tag Review #44 - Sweet Honey Clothing

This is a hangtag set from children's clothing brand SweetHoney. This is clearly a nice hangtag with luxurious materials, including two thick cards with metal grommets, a length of pink ribbon, and a safety pin attachment.
The top hangtag is a small square in cream with the name SweetHoney in a delicate gold ink script. The script color matches the metal grommet, although the treatment on the wordmark is much more "gold" whereas the grommet reads "functional metal."

The second tag is an oval in a very delicate blue. In fact, the blue is so soft it is hard to detect except in the best lighting. It has the cameo style mark with the name, YoungEST, and the interesting flower design. The CELEBRATE YOUR EVERYDAY tagline is present at the bottom. The entire printing on the front is in the same gold ink, although here there is a sans serif block font with all caps. The reverse continues the CELEBRATE YOUR EVERYDAY tagline at the bottom, but the top has printed care instructions. Interestingly, the care instructions are not printed in the gold ink, but instead just simple dark text. There is also a name dot com.






This is overall a nice a tag set, with high quality materials. The safety pin closure is nice - the plastic tags (perkets) are awful in all aspects. The ribbon is just ok - it looks nicer than just using the plastic tag, but it isn't special.

The second tag is the real star here - a pleasing oval shape and a clean front are well appreciated. The reverse is fascinating - not just care instructions, but care instructions with household tips (adding salt). The only misses are the repeat of the tag line, which is unnecessary as it is also on the front, and the name dot com, which crowds the text but adds nothing.

Overall, a highly rated design.


Friday, September 11, 2020

Hang Tag Review #43 - Ruffled Ribbon Co



Today we have an excellent hangtag from the Ruffled Ribbon Co. The tag features three pieces and a twine cord tie. The main paper is a white square on solid cardstock featuring the logo in a stained ink grey along with what would otherwise be a name.com if not for the etsy domain. 


The second tag is the washing instructions, which oddly enough are on the hangtag instead of the clothing itself. The washing instructions are mostly printed in typewriter.


The third piece is a small pennant with a floral design that attaches on the top of the stack.

This is a high quality tag, doubly so for being an etsy store. The three pieces, the thick cardstock, and the twine all are quality materials that indicate a certain level of care and planning. It is clear that whomever came up with this wanted to portray a very specific ideal with the hangtag. The front pennant is a solid little touch, and adds a bit of color to an otherwise monotone design. That said, it does get lost in the twine and isn't as impactful as it could be.


The main logo is nice indeed, although it does come across as slightly "current" in the worst, instagram friendly ways. The circle is either a coffee stain or a sweat ring, neither of which imply care or cleanliness. The presentation of the name itself, however, is much better The changing fonts are acceptable here, as they form a family and look nice next to each other. The script of "The" is maybe a little hard to read, but otherwise, it makes a strong statement. The URL is both good and bad - if you need the etsy piece, its important to add, but the use of "co" prior to the ".com" is a poor choice in terms of both computer readability as well as human impact. People will be wondering "Was that a co or just part of the .com?"


The inclusion of the care instructions on the hangtag is baffling. First, this may not meet legal requirements in certain jurisdictions, and second, it is useless to anyone who wants to actually care for the clothes. Aside from practical consideration, the design is cringey - a best guess is the all lowercase typewriter print is supposed to convey a farmhouse recipe card, but the odd script of "instructions" just destroys the entire look. Why is this in script? The same goes for the irregular spacing and capitalization of the rest of the directions. Is there any rhyme or reason to it, or is it just random? To top it all off, the directions themselves could be written more clearly.

This is a hangtag trying to do too much and getting it all wrong. Instead of just providing a hangtag, we have a mash-up of ideas that would fit well on a pinterest board, but fail on this hang tag.






Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Hang Tag Review #42 - Nike Dry 2 Piece Set

This hangtag is from Nike Dry and is a three parter (despite being a "2 piece set"). The top tag is a small square that is clearly an add on over the top, and most likely added to lots of garments sold as sets. It has the swoosh, and then says "2 Piece Set" in 4 languages. The reverse has the UPC space indicator, open on this one. Let's start calling them UPC Landing Zones, shall we?

The next two tags are the ones that actually have the goods on them, and are larger rectangles. The first is more or less blank, with only the Nike Swoosh and what looks like a sublimated thumb print design. The reverse is similarly plan, a matte black with handling numbers at the top and a couple logos at the bottom. It also contains a very bizarre Name.com, made even more so considering Nike is one of the most famous brands on the planet.

The third tag is the features tag - defining Nike Dry and giving the basics of the technology. Oddly enough, its referred to as "Dry" and "Nike Dry" but there is also usage of "DRI-FIT" technology. This tag as a sublimated cross-hatch design. The reverse has the same description of Nike Dry but in French this time. It also has a UPC tag and the same assortment of trademarks as the previous.

Overall, this tag is interesting because it demonstrates some of the failings of the optimization of global brands. For example it has three different pieces that are somewhat contradictory - since this specimen has the bar code stickers still attached, it is clear that these were two separate items that were stuck together and sold as a set. Also, the design changes - both have very difficult to see sublimations, but one is a finger print style wave, the other is a cross hatch. Why use two different designs across what is essentially a single product, unless someone got their lines crossed.

I'll also mark this one down for Faux French, if for no other reason than because the first hang tag has 4 languages, but oddly enough the Feature Tag only has English and French. The choice only makes sense if you are impressed by having French text on your apparel.

Enough with the bad though - I love the weight and texture to these (which I know comes through great over the internet). They are heavy and have a nice almost rubbery texture to them. Also, the top 2 piece set tag is has probably my favorite UPC Landing Zone of any tag I have looked at. Its tiny with a tiny box, clearly labeled UPC. I love it.

Friday, April 20, 2018

HangTag Review #41 - Ok!e Dokie

Today we have a children's hang tag from the JC Penny house brand "Ok!e Dokie." I'll be calling it Okie Dokie from here on out, because I'm not a masochist and like to type actual words, but the play on the upside down "i" into an exclamation point is actually somewhat well done. It hits the kids theme (because we all know kids and backwards letters go together, a la Toys "R" Us) and uses standard punctuation. I noticed that the word mark is listed only with a TM, so I checked the register and found a couple that have existed for some time, but all seem to either be dead or cancelled. I'd love to get the story, but in any case, there is no active registration for this tag.

The front is no nonsense - a solid navy with the name and the size, plus a tear-away at the bottom. The tear away, interestingly enough, is both a gift receipt and a multiple piece indicator. I haven't noticed this yet, but it works - it stands to reason that if you aren't going to sell them as a set, you probably won't use the manufacturer's suggested price either, so might as well remove both.

The reverse is typical discount house brand fare - 100% factual information in a machine readable format. The reverse's odd blue color sure is rough on the eyes, but the layout of the information is commendable. There is a lot packed onto the tag, but it isn't overwhelming. It may not be beautiful, but functional it is.

It is worth pointing out the color of the one tag, "Living Coral." Say what you want about the health of our earth and the role each of us plays in being aware of our actions and their impact on it, I would never think to see it called out on a discount, mass market, clothing hang tag. I guess "Dead Coral" or "Bleached Coral" don't have the same appeal, but what, really, is living color? The color "coral" is generally understood to be a variation of orange, but if you use the distinction "Living" it must be a reference to the actual plant/animal/rock that lives in ocean reefs. As such, the color of such life ranges from blues, to yellows, to reds, to browns, to greens, and, I'm sure, the eponymous orange.

In any case, these tags are certainly not high on my list. The trademark mystery is somewhat exciting, but overall, these are function above all else.