Care labeling mysteries: Volume 1

Care labeling mysteries: Volume 1

By: Garry Knox.

So you remove your dry cleaning hat for a moment and stand in a branded clothing store and look at different items of clothing in particular, the care label.

The majority of customers have got their heads around symbols, such as ‘Do not Iron’, Maximum Water temperatures and ‘Dry clean only’. Those symbols are clear.

But sometimes the instructions that come with them are not so clear. I visited world-wide retailer lately and some of the instructions were:

• ‘Specialist Dry Clean only’
• ‘Dry Clean inside out’
• ‘Dry Clean in a net bag’

Sometimes all three.

When I asked store staff what ‘Specialist’ meant… they either didn’t know or they guessed it meant, “Don’t try and dry clean it yourself”.

So imagine that a customer therefore takes their items to a drycleaner they consider to be a specialist, who actually cleans in Perc… None of the instructions above will help protect a leather or PVC items or anything with sequins.

Isn’t it time for some retailers to stop guessing, get off the fence and put their customers’ money where their mouths are?