Tags

I bought a shirt the other day.  The first time I wore it, I noticed something bothering me.  It was the 500 tags sewed into the side seam of the shirt.

There used to just be like one, two tags tops on an article of clothing.  The material type and washing instructions. 

Even those two tags would usually require cutting off as they would be itchy against the skin. And you had to cut them, not rip them as I sometimes would do.  Ripping them risks ripping out the seam and could leave you with a hole. 

Cutting the tags off with scissors requires the skills of a neurosurgeon though.  If you don’t get it precisely right the remnants of the tag will still be itchy and bothersome.  So you’ve got to cut it closely enough to avoid that scenario.

But at what point did 2 tags become 500?  It’s like a novel, one as thick as War and Peace, sewn into your clothing.  It seems to be that a lot of the tags are in different languages.  I am curious how they decide which languages to include.  Whose language doesn’t make the cut and how do they feel about being left out?  And the font size is super tiny anyway.  I need a magnifying glass to read it.

Then, there are all these symbols.  I guess they figure they can save some space by using symbols instead of words.  Though, if that’s the case, I am not sure why there are still so many tags.  Those symbols aren’t very clear, or easily understood.  At least not by me, lol.  I feel like I need an advanced degree in hieroglyphics to figure out the meaning of the symbols.  About the only one I seem to clearly discern is no ironing.

Hey, clothing industry! I’ve got a request for you.  How about instead of sewing in a gajillion tags, you just have one with a website address that we can go to digitally to get all the information we need to know about the item.  No surgical, hieroglyphic, or magnifying skills necessary. 

Next up…tags on pillows…..