08/11/2021

Labeling Your Child's Clothing and Supplies

My son would lose his head if it weren’t attached to his shoulders; I’m not sure if his ability to keep track of his things is much better now at age 14 versus age 6.  The truth is the amount of interest and effort he puts into keeping his things together totally depends on the things.  He’s really good at keeping track of his school supplies and books; he’s not so good at keeping track of his school uniform clothes.  And at a school where everyone dresses alike, once you lose track of something – it’s gone.

Once again this year, I will be labeling Gray’s items.  After doing this since pre-K, I’ve learned a few things like don’t have his name embroidered largely on his backpack.  Now that he’s entering high school, I’m not so worried about strangers abducting him, but when I did that at age 5, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

Labeling safely and practically

1. Label in a discreet area.  If your child might not be supervised 100% of the time, keep labels hidden from view.  Children sometimes assume that if an adult knows their name, they are safe.  Hiding labels on waistbands, inside clothing and backpacks, or on small tags will make them less noticeable from a distance.
2. Label where it can’t easily be removed.  Care labels and garment tags can be cut from clothing, removing the original owner’s name.  Labeling on the inside collar or cuff, waistband, or shirttail will make it difficult to remove the owner’s name.  If you plan to use a marker, be sure it won’t bleed through the fabric.
3. Regularly check labels. This isn’t something you need to do every time you wash the garment, but marker does fade, and labels can become unsewn.  
4. Label Everything.  Seriously.  The inside of notebooks, books, and folders; water bottles and lunchboxes; shoes, clothes, and jackets.  Even pencils.  School supplies and clothes are expensive.  The last thing you want is to have to repurchase items again and again.

There are some really fun clothes labeling options out there.  If sewing isn’t your thing, and you’d like labels sewn in your child’s clothing, just drop everything off at the nearest A Cleaner World location.  Our alterations specialists are happy to help out.