[t-bone]

I've been asking around to friends and almost everyone I've spoken to says they love the printed label as opposed to the physical tag. The two most oft-cited reasons are a cleaner looking fit and no tag to irritate the back of the neck. I previously thought a tag would connote a higher quality product but no one seems to think so (at least not consciously, when asked). And, in fact, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and other companies seem to be adopting it.

Anyone have any thoughts on this percieved quality question? Also, I've seen it mentioned briefly in other threads that removing labels is more difficult than replacing labels. Is that a serious consideration if I screen print my labels?

 

[t-bone]

What I wonder though is if screen printing a label would be more expensive than sewing a label on (if your are outsourcing it all).

I just spoke to a printer about this. It is. They charge .25 to remove a label or .75 to replace a label. So there's a small savings there, BUT the important thing to consider (I hadn't thought about this before) is the sizing label. If you go the screen printing route, you have to have a separate screen for each size shirt. One for small, one for medium etc. The screen costs you could easily amortize but each size label would require a separate printing run and that adds costs quickly.

Another option the printer mentioned to me is having the same "brand" label screened on all shirts (without sizing info) and then having just a small sizing label sown in when the other label is removed.

 

[t-bone]

75 cents! the company I use charges 25 cents to take out the old label and sew in the new one on the neck tape. It's just 35 cents if it is to go under the neck tape. With no minimums! 75 cents is definitely the highest I've heard!

That's NYC prices for ya! Actually, I only called one place. A printer that came highly recommended. I'm sure I will find cheaper once I shop around; even here in the Big Apple.

When I was asking around at different printers, they said that they treat the price just like printing in another location. So if you have a one color screen print in the neck, it would be the same as whatever your printer charged for a 1 color print for however many shirts you were having printed up. Unless you have a large volume, that's going to be around a dollar per print.

Yeah, that's about what I was quoted as well. I may go for it anyway because I really do like that "clean" look. Or I may only go that route if I end up with shirts that have no neck labels to begin with. Gotta crunch the numbers first.