# What can you legally re-tag?



## camtallen

First off, let me start by saying thank you to everyone here at T-shirtforums. The information i am getting has been invaluable.

I have searched about re-tagging and i have bits and pieces of good information, but i still haven't found the answers i need. So the question is:

What can you legally re-tag? 

I have seen that it is legal to retag a t shirt, but the answers were vague on whether it had to be a certain company, or you had to have special permisions.

THE INFORMATION BELOW WAS FOUND ON THE FTC WEBSITE UNDER LABELING RESTRICTIONS

*"Replacing another company’s label with your own**40* 
An importer, distributor, or retailer may want to replace the original label on a textile product with a label showing its company or RN. This is perfectly legal as long as the new label lists the name or RN of the person or company making the change.
*NOTE: *If you remove a label containing required information, the label you substitute also must contain that required information. Otherwise, you’ve violated the Textile Act.
*SPECIAL CAUTION TO RETAILERS:* 
Some retailers, such as bridal salons, remove labels with required information from the garments they offer for sale without replacing them. This is illegal under the Textile Act. If a retailer removes any label containing required information, it must substitute another label with its own name or RN and any other required information that appeared on the original label. In addition, anyone substituting a label must keep records, for three years, showing the information on the removed label and the company from which the product was received."

So does this mean that any t shirt, dress shirt, a Dickies shirt or anything else can be re-tag, it just has to uphold the standards of a legal label?

Please help me with this everyone, i feel that it is a very important topic that many would like to know The Full Story on.

Thank you,

-Cameron


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## HMD10

*Re: Re-Tagging...The Full Story*

Well a lot of t-shirt companies are coming out with tear away tags so that you can put something there so I would think cutting out the tag is the same thing, but I'm not really to sure what the legal ramification is. I would say as long as you don't but on the tag you made it you should be fine. I would like to hear other peoples feed back. I will call my trade mark lawyer on Mon. and see if he can let me know as well.


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## camtallen

*Re: Re-Tagging...The Full Story*

Jamie that would be awesome to hear some legitamate legal advice. The information provided by the FTC seems pretty explicit in saying that it is ok to re-tag something, provided that it is relativile generic in nature of the look. So there are some obvious ones there such as a hanes t or whatever, but whatabout that Dickies shirt. To me it seems pretty generic looking, but is that the way it is interpreted all around and how do you find out? I am in the process of finding a trademark lawyer now, so hopefully i can get some information soon. In the meantime i thought i would see what the TForums Crew had to say.


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## camtallen

*Re: Re-Tagging...The Full Story*

By the way Jamie, how far are you from Lowell, MA? Im actually headed there for work in about 2 weeks. It might be nice to meet someone in the business, and see how you run your shop, being that i am new to this sort of industry.


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## Comin'OutSwingin

It is legal to replace the label on any article of clothing. You just need to make sure that your new label has all of the required legal information.


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## zagadka

there are a couple ways to go about this legally. if the tag you're replacing has two tags- one being the logo, the other being underneath with the materials, place of manufacturing, RN, etc- you can just neatly cut off the upper tag and leave the lower tag exposed. you can even print your own logo inside the shirt if you wanted.

if you want your OWN tags made, you can do that too. the re-labeler will probably seam rip out the tag and put your new tag in there. your new tag will have, obviously, your name/ logo/ etc but all of the manufacturer/ RN info it had on there before. 

hope that helps!


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## camtallen

Comin'OutSwingin said:


> It is legal to replace the label on any article of clothing. You just need to make sure that your new label has all of the required legal information.


I really am not trying to be redundant, but by any article of clothing, that means i could take a pair of Dickies pants and legally retag them?

Do you get the gist of what i am asking? See with t shirts, that are plain and basic i could see where it would DEFINETELY be legal to retag them with a PROPER tag, but something like a pair of Dickies shorts or some other article of clothing seems a little more border line.


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## camtallen

I know this conversation might seem redundant, but i am trying to get a definitive answer, so the next time someone is wondering, we can just sticky this conversation and it won't be an issue anymore. So i feel this will help me as well as other T-shirt forums members and guests. So thanks a lot everyone

-Cameron


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## Comin'OutSwingin

camtallen said:


> I really am not trying to be redundant, but by any article of clothing, that means i could take a pair of Dickies pants and legally retag them?
> 
> Do you get the gist of what i am asking? See with t shirts, that are plain and basic i could see where it would DEFINETELY be legal to retag them with a PROPER tag, but something like a pair of Dickies shorts or some other article of clothing seems a little more border line.


Yes, ANY article of clothing, not just t-shirts.

It is important to note that the quote from the FTC that you placed above concerns ANY article of clothing. It doesn't address t-shirts in particular.

So, again, as long as you replace it with the legally required info, relabel pants, shorts, jackets, hats, gloves, etc.


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## Catfish

*Re: Re-Tagging...The Full Story*

What is all the required legal information that a t-shirt must have. Is there a specific place to find that info?


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## Comin'OutSwingin

Yep, right here on the forums!

It has been discussed at length:

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-tag-relabeling-finishing/t20405.html

Also, you can check the ftc website:
Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule


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