Element "Wolfeboro Collection" Hang Tag

This hang tag comes from alternative sports company Element. It is a decently heavy card stock and makes use of the yellow text over navy blue color motif used by, most notably, Ralph Lauren. The front has two different fonts, a bold sans serif block and a slightly more flowery serif, that also used small caps.

The text leaves out the product name in favor of the name of the “collection.” I’m going to guess that this is Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, but I imagine the name sounded right more than anything else. The two tags lines, “Made to Endure the Elements” and “Inspired by Simple Living” tell you all you need to know. This is lumberjack wear. Or, more specifically, I am living in a cabin on a mountain and snowboarding every day wear. The idealized cabin is right there, in case you needed a hint. “Inspired by Simple Living” is fine, especially since it is self-limiting, its only inspired, it is not actually representative.

I have a bit of a problem with the other tag line though: “Made to Endure the Elements.” It uses the company name in the tag line, and in a negative way. If the elements are something that one must endure, what does it say about element clothing? Clothing made to endure our clothing? Sloppy work.

I have, however, always been a huge fan of the Element logo. The stylized pine tree shows well here, especially with the other pieces of this tag. One of my favorite logos in apparel, and it comes from a company founded on irreverent skateboard designs.

Polo Ralph Lauren "Stripe" Hang Tag

This is another hang tag from luxury design house Polo Ralph Lauren. There is quite a contrast between the two, as the previous was solid colors. This one uses bold, well saturated primary colors in horizontal stripes. Green, red, and blue make up the main colors, with a yellow accent and gold lettering. The design likely is calling to mind yachting flags. The gold foil used on the name almost looks cheap, but not quite.

The reverse is department store clearance rack. There is a glaring typography issue with style name “CLASSIC05.” It screams mass market in the worst way possible, as does the “Return Label” text near the Macy’s name. There is good web address use here. When your web address is different than the company name, adding it to the reverse is a appropriate. Nicely done.

I like this tag a lot. It has a simple design that speaks volumes about the product. Clean and sharp, it says old money country club luxury with a few colors. It is a shame the reverse wasn’t designed as well, but this one ranks highly in my book.