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.