# Re-labeling legalities



## RisingBlue7 (Oct 8, 2006)

I just realized after going through my shipments from Article 1 and Continental, Article 1 has the care and content, size, RN, country of origin and the name "Article 1" in one label whereas Continental has three separate labels, one has the care, content, RN and the country of origin, the second label has the name "Continental" with their logo and the third is a size label. 

My labels are in production at the moment, it only has the logo and name of my clothing line. I decided to have them printed that way only because it was easier for me to have them sewn into Continentals garments because the name "Continental" was on a separate label.

Ah shucks, now thinking about Article 1's, I would need to have a totally separate label for RN, origin, and care and content aside from my garment label. 

I know that by law either the RN or business name is required to be printed on the label however the name on my label is not the name of my company, its the name of my clothing line. My question is, would I be able to use the name of the clothing line rather than the actual business name? Is this sufficient? 

I just want to avoid printing another batch of garment labels (which are not cheap) with the RN or my business name. I can always get care, content, size and perhaps the origin labels. I probably would have to print the origin as well. *sigh*

When I used to have my line of dresses, the name of my company was the same as my dress line. It has now changed since I've made the transition of designing t-shirts, tanks, hoodies and other related garments. 

I can't believe I overlooked it. Oh! and by the way, I'll receive Independent Trading Co.'s hoodies today. I will post on another thread as to the quality of their hoodies since most of the men here prefer heavyweight hoodies.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

RisingBlue7 said:


> I know that by law either the RN or business name is required to be printed on the label however the name on my label is not the name of my company, its the name of my clothing line. My question is, would I be able to use the name of the clothing line rather than the actual business name? Is this sufficient?


As you said, the FTC specifies the business name and not the clothing line. Specifically they have this to say:



> The name must be the full name under which the company is doing business. This is the name that appears on business documents, such as purchase orders and invoices. It cannot be a trademark, trade name, brand, label, or designer name — unless that name is also the name under which the company is doing business.





RisingBlue7 said:


> I just want to avoid printing another batch of garment labels (which are not cheap) with the RN or my business name. I can always get care, content, size and perhaps the origin labels. I probably would have to print the origin as well. *sigh*


Yup, country of origin is also required, and specifically it has to be on the front of the label.

Unfortunately if you wish to be legally compliant I don't believe there's any way around it.


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## RisingBlue7 (Oct 8, 2006)

Yea, I was afraid of that 




Solmu said:


> As you said, the FTC specifies the business name and not the clothing line. Specifically they have this to say:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## gmille39 (Oct 18, 2006)

RisingBlue7 said:


> I just realized after going through my shipments from Article 1 and Continental, Article 1 has the care and content, size, RN, country of origin and the name "Article 1" in one label whereas Continental has three separate labels, one has the care, content, RN and the country of origin, the second label has the name "Continental" with their logo and the third is a size label.


You lost me at I just realized. I'm not sure you have to have country of origin on the garment, do you. You may only need documents proving it and only if you're shipping out of the country. You may want to ask an attorney friend for some free advice.


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

So if the original RN# & country of origin are both on the tag, can you put your own registered trademark on a separate name label?


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Regrettingly, back on topic...yes, country of origin is a must on the label.


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## RisingBlue7 (Oct 8, 2006)

Vtec44 said:


> So if the original RN# & country of origin are both on the tag, can you put your own registered trademark on a separate name label?



Yes you can.


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

RisingBlue7 said:


> Yes you can.


Phew, I'm good then LOL


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## RisingBlue7 (Oct 8, 2006)

gmille39 said:


> I just realized after going through my shipments from Article 1 and Continental, Article 1 has the care and content, size, RN, country of origin and the name "Article 1" in one label whereas Continental has three separate labels, one has the care, content, RN and the country of origin, the second label has the name "Continental" with their logo and the third is a size label.
> 
> You lost me at I just realized. I'm not sure you have to have country of origin on the garment, do you. You may only need documents proving it and only if you're shipping out of the country. You may want to ask an attorney friend for some free advice.


Country of origin is mandatory and must be printed on the label.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

gmille39 said:


> You lost me at I just realized. I'm not sure you have to have country of origin on the garment, do you.


In the US yes, and on the *front* of the label.



gmille39 said:


> You may only need documents proving it and only if you're shipping out of the country.


Country of origin is for consumer awareness, so you need documents to prove it, _and_ you need to clearly label it. It's taken pretty seriously in the US.

If you're shipping out of the country labels don't need to be compliant, but in order to be accepted and clear customs of the receiving country they might need to be compliant with their laws.



gmille39 said:


> You may want to ask an attorney friend for some free advice.


That would be total overkill. This stuff is all made incredibly clear and easy to understand by the FTC. I kind of consider this stuff the opposite of intellectual property law


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Vtec44 said:


> So if the original RN# & country of origin are both on the tag, can you put your own registered trademark on a separate name label?


Adding extra stuff is fine, you just have to make sure you have what they want on there 

(and I imagine if you tried to hide the required information by surrounding it in other information you'd get in trouble, but that's quite different)


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

Solmu said:


> (and I imagine if you tried to hide the required information by surrounding it in other information you'd get in trouble, but that's quite different)


Nah. The RN# & country of origin are on its original label, each on a separate line. Our registered logo is on a separate label, all by itself. So, I think that should be fine.... hopefully


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Vtec44 said:


> Nah. The RN# & country of origin are on its original label, each on a separate line. Our registered logo is on a separate label, all by itself. So, I think that should be fine.... hopefully


Yeah, I'm sure that will be fine - I just meant hypothetically _if_ someone tried to use it to deceive.


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## RisingBlue7 (Oct 8, 2006)

Vtec44 said:


> Nah. The RN# & country of origin are on its original label, each on a separate line. Our registered logo is on a separate label, all by itself. So, I think that should be fine.... hopefully


Yea you're fine...Now, I need to print a whole new batch with my company name on it and get the size, care/content and origin labels separately...ugh , I can't stop the printing now, because production has already started, $$$ out the door, *sigh*


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## JonWye (Feb 13, 2007)

If my two cents are worth anything... I did the same thing, I put my dba name on the tags and not the actual name, so I have no RN or biz name. My thought is I'm not going to worry about it. It's semi illegal but why waste the merch. Just use up your existing tags and when you need to reorder do a new batch. You are probably to small for the FTC to come after you. They are interested with big offenders.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> You are probably to small for the FTC to come after you. They are interested with big offenders.


That's not necessarily true at all. You don't have to be of any particular "size" for you to be caught by the FTC. Best to do it right from the start.


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## JonWye (Feb 13, 2007)

After thinking over my last post Rodney is correct... always best to do it right!


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## gmjaymes (Feb 10, 2008)

Okay so I'm new to all this and would like to know where I can find all this legal tag info does anyone have a website or something I can go to??


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

No need to leave the site, my friend!

Here you go:

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


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## ksimon (Nov 23, 2008)

If the country of origin, rn, and fabric contents and care are already on a separate label from the original manufacturer's label, can you just leave that label on the shirt and add your own company label?
Whereabouts do these labels need to be placed?


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## pete219 (Feb 8, 2008)

ksimon said:


> If the country of origin, rn, and fabric contents and care are already on a separate label from the original manufacturer's label, can you just leave that label on the shirt and add your own company label?
> Whereabouts do these labels need to be placed?


 
Yes! I bought my son a "Famous" hoodie about a month ago. I was surprised(not really) to see they used a Independent trading co. hoodie, but I was shocked at how their label was sewn, directly on top, of the ITC care label. The label they added had their logo and name, that's it. Hmmm! How did he know it was a Independent Trading Co. hoodie? Because the name (ITC) was still on the first tag, that had not been removed.


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