Hang Tag Review #48 - Sam Edelman

 This Hang Tag is from shoe brand Sam Edelman. The top hang tag is a solid lime green with the Sam Edelman cursive wordmark in black. The reverse is the same. The top hang tag also has a very nice metal grommet in solid black.

There is a second hang tag attached to the back, which is made of a semi-transparent plastic with the Sam Edelman wordmark printed on one side. On the reverse there is a price tag which is relatively straightforward. The second hang tag does not have the metal grommet.

This is a fantastic hang tag. The top tag in the bold lime green with the simple black wordmark is well executed. It calls to mind Nike's use of electric yellow at the Olympics - it is bright, easily recognizable, and stands out, but the simplicity of the design keeps it from reading cheap. A quick review of the Sam Edelman website demonstrates that the green is a current style choice and used throughout. The metal grommet is also beautiful - it adds a touch of class to the neon.

The second tag is very fun as well - it is made of a cheap feeling plastic, but interestingly it keeps the main tag clean by providing a space for the price tag to be affixed. It also has the very cool effect of showing the circuitry for the anti-theft elements of the price tag, as they show through the semi-transparent second hang tag.

The consistency among the trademarks is solid here as well - the same script wordmark appears in all instances, which keeps things memorable and clean. Although not normally something this blog covers, the string attachment is high quality. It is made of thick thread and there is a plastic piece with a version of the script logo as a monogram.

All in all an excellent hang tag on all fronts.

The HangTag Blog Awards: 2 in 10

Hello and welcome to the HangTagBlog Awards! This will be our second major awards presentation! In case you are unfamiliar, the award scheme is here. This will be a second 2 in 10 award, covering hangtags 21 through 40.

Although the posting schedule remains slow and somewhat varied, these entries are all at least from 2016, so a major improvement from the previous go around. Let's see who the nominees are this time:

#31 - Stoosh
#32 - Carter's Little Collections "Christmas Tree"
#33 - Carter's Little Collections "Wolf"
#34 - Harper
#35 - Michael Kors "Jet Set"
#36 - Joe B by Joe Benbasset
#37 - Summer Oasis
#38 - Cat and Jack
#39 - Star Wars "Union Suit"
#40 - Old Navy "Active"

Wow - when I first started looking over this post, I was worried that I would struggle to find any to award. When I compiled this list, though, I realized that the opposite is true. What a collection!

I ooh'd and aah'd over the super cute designs of the Carter's pair, especially in light of the fact that typically Carter's has terribly designed hang tags. I also praised the Harper tag for clean and simple design that spoke volumes about the product and set the tone perfectly. Summer Oasis scored points for being surprisingly coherent and complicated, and was likewise a clean and focused design. On top of that, the Cat and Jack set really caught my eye, and looked much more expensive than they should have.

Ultimately, both Cat and Jack and Summer Oasis are going to be the winners here. If you put the baby items next to each other, Carter's is relying heavily on one cute design element on an otherwise bland tag, while Cat and Jack is a really great, all encompassing design. Summer Oasis also bumps up next to Harper in a really direct way, and for my money the Harper hang tag is solid but can't quite hang with this crowd. Summer Oasis meanwhile, has a bright, intricate design that matches with the clothing, and also contained the stylish front back wrap around.

The Honorable Mention this 2 in 10 is definitely the Stoosh tag. One of my truest inspirations is Paul Lukas over at Uni-Watch, and his side project of Groom-it, and this hang tag contained a very nice implementation of the ubiquitous metal ring.

HangTag Review #39 - Star Wars Union Suit

Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars franchise has turned up the licensing machine full force, and in addition to a steady stream of new movies we are being treated to a near constant barrage of merchandise. This hang tag comes from one such item - a Chewbacca Union Suit.

First and foremost, it should be explained that a Union Suit is merely a descriptive term for a single undergarment that combines a shirt and a pair of pants. Think long johns or those pajamas that are in old cartoons with a snap up button panel. Do not think to search them on Google images without safe search on.

This one is designed to look like the character Chewbacca from Star Wars. Presumably one part Halloween costume, one party novelty item, this is a lowest common denominator item.

The front of the hang tag is straightforward - the top portion is a picture of Chewbacca pointing his signature crossbow at the camera. The bottom has the Star Wars wordmark in negative with the words UNION SUIT below and a red circle with an S and the label SMALL. This is really terrible in terms of hangtags. It does not seem terribly well through out and it fails to convey any real sense of design or effort.

The reverse is a tiny bit better. Instead of the photograph of the actual Chewbacca, there is an incredibly goofy illustration of a very doofy guy wearing the suit. Otherwise it is the same as the front.

I have a lot of problems with this tag. It is really low effort, all they did was put a picture on it with a brand wordmark and a descriptor. I like simplicity and clean designs, and this is simple but is not particularly clean. Simply throwing all your logos onto a card isn't design, its hitting a checklist.

I also think you need to either lean heavy into the illustration, or heavy into the actual movie license, but you can't put both on the same tag.

It is almost as though they know that these will not be purchased by true fans (who will go upmarket) but instead by someone's distant relative who is a bit out of touch but will say "Oh, didn't he used to love those space movies?" If anything, I imagine most of these end up as gag gifts, purchased for drinking-holiday parties or as a good natured goof for a spouse.

I had some excitement about a Disney branded tag, but so far this and the children's one I reviewed here have both fallen incredibly flat.

HangTag Review #38 - Cat and Jack Double Set

Check out this nice find in the children's section for Cat and Jack. The main front tag is a pale blue (perhaps a "Baby Blue?") with the Cat and Jack script wordmark in red. The reverse of that tag has the same color scheme in stripes, along with the retailer information.

The feature tag is an eggshell color with the words "MADE FOR PLAYING, DRESSING UP & ADVENTURING." in the same red as the main wordmark. Underneath is says "SKINNY" which I believe is a fit designation. This tag has the pale blue on the reverse with more retailer information.

The main tag, however, has a small detail that I find really great - the gift receipt isn't cut straight across, but instead in triangle fringe. There are plenty of hang tags in unique shapes, but this one is so unexpected that it stands out. The gift receipt tear away is theoretically functional, as ideally this piece is removed before giving the item as a gift. In this case, that piece would leave simply a straight edge (or a sloppy perforation). The design is nice too. When the tag is hung vertically, it looks like a banner. The reverse colors also convey a real sense of Dr. Suess whimsy. All in all, this is a quality tag.

The second tag is nice as well. I'm referring to it as a feature tag but that isn't entirely accurate, as it refers to the second item in a set. The color scheme is excellent, if a little bit predictable. The "playing, dressing up and adventuring" word choice is simple and obvious, but the layout is nice. I'm surprisingly impressed with using the waves as a horizontal rule, as it plays into the "adventure" idea and lends the tag some cohesiveness.

I'm really against the idea of putting body size labels on clothing aimed at children, but I think the Skinny designation here really refers to the overall cut of the pants. Even then I think this is a miss for the design as its purely marketing. Toddler clothes are made as they are, "skinny" vs "relaxed" likely makes no appreciable difference. Thus, this word was placed to catch the eye of Mom while picking these out.

A quality effort and a solid example in my book.

Hang Tag Review #37 - Summer Oasis

I've previously written about Target's Xhiliration House Brand, but this one is a sub brand (or maybe a collection is what Target wants you to call it) of Xhiliration. It is on their website here. The front has the name of the collection and the year, flanked by colorful flowery designs. The reverse has the full pattern.

If it isn't clear already, I like this hang tag. A lot. The front is excellent, simple and clean. It very clearly states the collection name, and gives a date for reference. Adding the date adds a bit of exclusivity and rarity, which is enjoyable. It avoid becoming pretentious, however, by not adding a YoungEST or other silly 'classic' elements.

I also find the way the pattern wraps around to the front of the tag to be really nice. I like the colors and design, and the way it sits on the solid black is nice. One of my favorite parts, however, is the way the hang tag design so clearly complements the actual clothing patterns as well. If you review the Target website, you can see that the same pattern is used on this dress.

This all should be taken with a bit of a caveat, however, as the only reason this tag looks so clean is because it is on the same hanger as the house brand tag. If it were by itself, it would almost certainly  add in some extra information that would clutter and take away from the overall appearance. Still, this is a great find and surprise for a Target brand hang tag.

Hang Tag Review #36 - Joe B by Joe Benbasset Hang Tag

Today's hang tag is from the junior brand Joe B by Joe Benbasset. This tag hangs vertically although the text is all horizontal. The front has the JOE B sub brand set just above (and slightly offset) from the by JOE BENBASSET brand name. The tag is a stark white on thick paperboard. It is very similar to the Calvin Klein Jeans tag reviewed some years ago.

The reverse is similarly minimalist. It contains the full www.name.com webaddress, with icons for a few key social networking sites (namely, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest). And that's it!

Fear not, though - just because this hang tag is minimalist in design, it does not mean that there is not a lot to talk about. On the front, there is a lot of text and layout work. First of all, we see the JOE B sub brand in all caps, with the B in boldface. It is large, and dominates the front of the hang tag. Underneath, the main brand is handled almost like an attribution notice. JOE BENBASSET is all in caps, however the "by" is all lowercase. One not need to think hard about what is important here, and where the emphasis lies.

Although I personally dislike the awful amount of sub-branding that goes on, I do think the way the front of this tag is laid out is strong. There is just enough movement and variation going on to make it memorable.

The reverse is really terrible. I'll actually allow a pass on the full www.name.com since it is not at all clear from the front what the web address would be, and the trailing social media icons give the leading www. some visual balance. That cannot save the utterly bizarre and thoughtless inclusion of the icons for the social media websites. It is a hang tag - you cannot click on the facebook, instagram, or pinterest icons and go straight to the pages or follow! You still need to load up your browser or smart phone and look them each up individually! Why have the icons? Are they not on the web site that already contains a full address?

The use of app icons on printed materials is always a risky choice. Done right and you have communicated a modern and forward thinking product, but done wrong and it looks out of touch and unnecessary. That is the case here.  Furthermore, Instagram recently updated its app icon, and as such the button on this hang tag is no longer relevant.

The front of this hang tag doesn't really set me aflame, but it at least is interesting and has some design elements. The reverse, however, just doesn't work or make sense in any light.

Hang Tag Review #34 - Harper Hang Tag

Today we are looking at a hang tag from the brand Harper, itself a house brand of Francesca's. Francesca's is generally feminine preppy, and this hang tag is no different. The front is a lilac purple with the name HARPER printed in a soft pink. The font is simple, except for the interesting calligraphy mark on the middle "R."

The reverse is simple as well, white card stock with a small HARPER mark in black on the top. Again, the "R" is stylized. Underneath that is a retailer tag (again, with the odd juxtaposition of the retailer tag on the hang tag designed specifically to be sold by that retailer).

This tag is simple and straightforward, and that is never a bad thing in my opinion. On the other hand, it is pretty indistinguishable from any other tags. There is not much to make it stand out, and there is no product information (outside of what is on the retailer sticker).

I do like the presentation of the wordmark though. Simple with just a little whimsy. Nicely executed.

Hang Tag Review #33 - Carter's Little Collections "Wolf" Hang Tag

A second in a series, this is the Wolf variant of the Carter's Little Collections. Just like before, this mini feature tag is slate square with a white circle, and has the Carter's Little Collections name. The real fun, however, comes from the tiny wolf symbol. It features a a very cute wolf sitting on its hind legs. Technically, this may actually be a dog, since it wears a blue collar, in which case perhaps it is meant to be a husky of some sort.

Either way, I rate this tag highly, just like the previous Christmas Tree one. The tiny figure is just happy enough, just bright enough, and just varied enough to really pull the entire thing together and out of the morass of poor color choices that dominates most other Carter's tags. It is also endearingly cute, which is perfect for baby clothes.

Hang Tag Review #32 - Carter's Little Collections "Christmas Tree" Hang Tag

I am so excited to have discovered these. Baby wear brand Carter's apparently offers a series of themed clothing in what they refer to as "Little Collections." Several items to a matching outfit are sold as a single piece on a single hanger, with the standard Carter's hang tag and one of these "feature" tags.

This one is for a Christmas collection, judging by the little tree. The tag itself is small (about 1" x 1") and features the standard slate background. There is a white circle inside the square with the tree and the name. The tree is a simple triangle evergreen rendered in green, with a small red 5 point star above it. The reverse is untreated paperboard.

The tag design is really fun. I've not been impressed with Carter's tags in the past (the exist in a truly "Meh" category) but I love these ones. The presentation is simple and fun, with the little symbols adding just the right touch of color. I like the slate that Carter's uses, but their other colors tend to turn me off. Here, the pop of green and red are perfect.

The use of the tree is interesting. Although trees have become a somewhat defacto "politically correct but everyone still knows I mean Christmas" symbol, I could see a wrapped gift being used equally as well. Then again, while Carter's is not an expensive brand, it is certainly not need based baby clothing.

I continue to wish Carter's would drop the all lower case text, but here I'll let it slide.

Overall, a really fun tag and I look forward to reviewing some more from the series.

Hang Tag Review #31 - Stoosh Hang Tag

Stoosh is, among other things, a junior women's brand that is carried by larger discount department stores. It was a new brand to me this year.

The front of this tag is a simple solid black background with tessellated slate flowers. Printed over the flowers at the bottom is the wordmark in all lowercase, in a very narrow font.

The reverse is solid black. Both sides have a glossy finish, which looks great on the reverse (and just ok on the front).

This hang tag is made of quality materials, it is thick cardstock, and the glossy finish is a nice touch. There is, however, one feature that makes this hang tag very, very exciting: the grommet. This small metal fixture is a welcome addition to any hang tag, and it looks fantastic here. This screams attention to detail as well as quality.

This hang tag holds a special place in my heart. On the Inspirations page for this blog there are currently only two, one of which is the flagship blog of journalist Paul Lukas. He has recently started something of an art project to put grommets into all kinds of things, primarily foodstuffs, and it is fantastic. Check it out for yourself.

Overall, I'm not in love with the design of this tag. I find the front very flat and uninspired, plus the wordmark is actually pretty hard to read. Nonetheless, the level of workmanship and finish here more than makes up for it.

The Hang Tag Blog Awards: 2 in 10

Hello and welcome to the Hang Tag Blog Awards! This will be the first awards handed out since I smartly revised the awards scheme to account for the fact that it is extremely difficult to update a blog on a regular calendar schedule. The 2 in 10 awards are granted to the top 2 selections from the previous 10 hang tags reviewed. These are followed up with the 5 in 50, and the 10 in 100 awards.

This section is a little odd, as the first nominee goes back to the end of 2014. Most of the rest come from the past two weeks though, so the pace has picked up and more of them are competing against their peers. Good design is timeless, anyways, so a truly great specimen from 2014 should have no problem against the early crop of 2016 tags.

And the nominees are:

#21 Calvin Klein "Dresses"
#22 Indigo Blue "Skinny"
#23 Nautica Jeans "Crossed Anchors"
#24 Circo
#25 Halloween
#26 Carter's "Just One You"
#27 Calvin Klein "Jeans"
#28 Under Armour All Season Gear "Boys"
#29 Disney Baby
#30 NFL Team Apparel

There are some solid choices in this set, and getting down to a top 2 is not an easy thing. All the Calvin Klein tags I have ever reviewed have done well, and here we have both a solid "Dresses" tag and the top tier "Jeans" tag from 2015. I also gave high remarks to the Indigo Blue hang tag. The Nautica Jeans tag was a sleeper hit as well, a budget tag with excellent design and a rarely used logo that caught my attention in a big way.

Our winners this round are the Indigo Blue "Skinny" hang tag and the Calvin Klein "Jeans" hang tag. I'll give an honorary mention to the Nautica Jeans hang tag with the Crossed Anchors logo. It almost makes it, despite (or maybe because) it is a budget hang tag.

Hang Tag Review #30 - NFL Team Apparel Hang Tag

This is a fun one but also a little bit unique. This is a hang tag that the NFL attaches to licensed apparel. The front has the NFL shield logo prominently displayed, with TEAM APPAREL printed underneath. The background has a dappled pattern, which appears to be simulating the leather grain on a football. The background fades in as a gradient moving from top to bottom.

The reverse starts with the website as a name.com. Below that is a holographic sticker which probably indicates authenticity. Underneath the holo sticker we find another sticker, this one with the distributor information on it. Further down is the third sticker, the reailer sticker with price, size, and barcode.

This tag is pretty middle of the road. I've decided that I do like the tags that are tall and narrow, and this one has a lot of colors. However, I think the leather effect is really poorly implemented. It makes no sense that it fades out on the top, and without looking closely or really thinking about the design, it just looks sloppy.

The reverse is very interesting from a design standpoint, if nothing else. There are a full three stickers attached. This offers a lot of flexibility, as these hang tags can be distributed to a wide variety of manufacturers for use with their items. On the other hand, it calls into question the whole authenticity of the "hologram sticker" issue. If these tags are just being sent around to be randomly stickered, what is to guarantee to me, the consumer, that someone didn't receive a shipment of blank hang tags with the holo stickers and then just attach their own? It defeats the entire purpose.

Also if you name is a three letter abbreviation, the name.com address is wholly unnecessary. Especially with the way today's modern browsers work, entering "NFL" "NFL.COM" or HTTP://WWW.NFL.COM" into your browser is all going to take you to the same place.