A garment label in the United States is a legal document, not a tag. Federal rules enforced by the Federal Trade Commission require that most textile products carry a label listing the fiber content, the country of origin and the identity of the manufacturer or the business responsible for the item, and a separate rule requires a care instruction that the seller can back with evidence. For pole shorts, each of those four lines answers a question a dancer actually has, and the evidence requirement on the last one is the reason we do not publish care claims yet.
What does the fiber content line have to say?
The generic fiber names and the percentage of each, by weight, in descending order. Not trademarks and not marketing names: the Textile Rules require manufactured fibers to be identified by their generic names. A fiber that makes up less than 5% of the product is listed as "other fiber" rather than by name, unless it has a functional significance at that amount; the FTC's own example is a small amount of spandex used for elasticity. Trims that are not made of fiber, yarn or fabric, such as zippers or beads, are not counted.
For polewear this line is the whole grip story in two numbers. The proportion of elastane in a stretch knit is a large part of what decides recovery, and it is on the label, not in the product description. If a listing tells you a short is "grip fabric" and the label tells you the fiber mix, the label is the one you can hold the seller to.
Our own fiber content is not confirmed yet, which is why no post on this site names it. When the label is printed, it will state fiber and percentage as the rule requires, and that is when you will read it here.
What does country of origin mean on a label?
Where the product was processed or manufactured, as determined under the laws that Customs enforces. The rules also require mail-order and online advertising to state whether a product was made in the USA or imported, so a store page cannot stay silent on where a garment comes from. Our shorts are designed by us and manufactured in Vietnam, and the label will say Made in Vietnam.
Who has to be named on the label?
The manufacturer, or another business responsible for marketing or handling the item. A company can print its name, or it can use a Registered Identification Number, an RN, issued by the FTC, which a shopper can look up to find the company behind it. Either way the point is the same: someone has to be answerable for the garment.
What does the care label have to prove?
That the seller has a reasonable basis for every instruction and warning on it, which the FTC's guidance defines as reliable evidence supporting the care instructions. Labels for clothing must carry a washing or drycleaning instruction. A seller cannot print "dryclean only" without proof that washing will harm the garment. Tests on garment components count as a basis, as long as there is reliable evidence for the garment as a whole, and failing to provide reliable care instructions for the useful life of an item is a violation of the FTC Act.
This is the line we care about most, because for polewear the care instruction is where grip lives or dies. Dancers told us in our early research that fabric softener ruins grip fabric and that air drying is what keeps a pair alive, and we wrote up the general mechanism in How to wash polewear. But a care label is not general. It is a claim about this garment, and the rule says the claim needs evidence. Our wash testing across repeated cycles is not complete, so our care instruction does not exist yet, and neither does any care claim in this journal.
What should a dancer do with this?
Read the label before the listing. Fiber and percentage tell you what the fabric is. Country of origin and the company name tell you who is responsible. The care line tells you how the seller expects it to survive, and if a brand's care advice contradicts its own label, the label was the one written under a legal duty.
Quick answers
What must a US garment label include? Fiber content by generic name and percentage, country of origin, and the identity of the manufacturer or responsible business, plus a care instruction with a reasonable basis.
What does "other fiber" mean on a label? A fiber making up less than 5% of the product, which the rules say should not be named individually unless it does a job at that amount, such as spandex for stretch.
Can a brand print any care instruction it likes? No. The FTC requires reliable evidence behind every care instruction and warning, and clothing labels must carry a washing or drycleaning instruction.
Why has Sen MovesWear not published fiber content or care instructions? Fiber content is not confirmed and wash testing is not complete. Both appear when they are facts.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/threading-your-way-through-labeling-requirements-under-textile-wool-acts
- Federal Trade Commission, Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/clothes-captioning-complying-care-labeling-rule