Business

Relabelling: What Is It, and How Does It Work?

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Learn about relabelling, and how it is used when printing t-shirts.

Relabelling is something very native to the world of fashion and design. In the world of apparel, relabelling clothes has been quite a big trend for many years. Many big clothing brands are known for relabelling their clothes. However, relabelling is something that is of concern to many people and the public in general because it raises a few ethical questions regarding the concept of the process.

Many people question that is actually ethical, illegal, and the right thing to do when you are essentially just taking a product that is not manufactured by you or your brand and then making it look like it is yours with a new label. But there is a catch! Whilst people have an ethical stance when it comes to relabelling, it is not actually illegal if you do it correctly.

Today, we are going to cover the controversial but very commonly-practised concept of relabelling and discuss everything about it, so you know how to approach it correctly:

What Is Relabelling?

Relabelling is the process in which people or brands remove a label from garments or pieces of clothing or apparel and put a different label on it.

Relabelling has been used for many years by apparel printers catering to businesses who are looking for a branded item for their customers. It is used by medium-sized and small-sized business most commonly. What these businesses do usually is that they buy their products from a wholesaler and then sell those products as their own.

Limitations of Relabelling 

There are some limitations to relabelling clothes. You cannot just go around buying stuff and taking the labels out of them and then selling them as your own products. The conditions that you need to remember include: 

  • The products must not have any designs or patterns on them.
  • That apparel should be bought from a wholesale brand or a wholesaler.
  • The product has to be basic in its nature and design.
  • The products should not look like or resemble other brands or created to look similar to one. 

What’s the Target Market for the Relabelling Industry? 

Relabelling, if done by following all the conditions, has proven to help a lot of new business and ventures get off the ground and gain a following for themselves. And you can find lots of different situations and examples where relabelling has helped and proved to be useful for many new startups and even well-established businesses.

Let’s look at a few examples:

  • Designers who are looking to relabel their products so that their design becomes a part of both the branding and the overall design.
  • Small businesses who want to start their clothing line. It gives them a competitive advantage over other large competitors who are capable of scaling up production. 
  • Printers or tailors who alter garments and apparel.

In short, you need to be fundamentally compliant with the laws and regulations of your local territory as well. As we have mentioned above, you cannot just go around taking labels of the garments you please and then doing whatever you want because that would be illegal. You must have the right provisions in place along with appropriate advice to deal with any requests before you try relabelling.

If you’re still unsure about what you should do then you can contact your supplier. Suppliers usually know what can be done and what cannot be done with most of the items and garments they are selling at wholesale. Therefore, when you replace an old label, your custom t-shirt printing company will be aware of the different techniques and processes to follow. From there on you can come up with a woven solution or a printed solution to replace it.

What Are the Pros of Relabelling Garments?

The main point of going through the trouble of relabelling your clothes is to expand your brand’s awareness and visibility to people. By doing so, you can make a better and improved impression of your brand or business. Plus you can also increase the levels of professionalism associated with your brand or business.

Whilst relabelled clothes or item will not necessarily make your sales skyrocket, based on the data and statistics, they will surely help you transmit the core values of your business.

The Final Takeaway

To conclude it all, relabelling is a process with which you remove labels from apparel and items bought from wholesalers and then replace them with labels or designs of your own. It comes in handy for many businesses, but you must take the fundamental precautions to avoid breaking laws or getting sued by other businesses.