Clothing tags can often be ignored or cut off after we determine the ideal way to wash/ dry our clothes.

Including information about production processes, environmental, and social responsibility  is one way companies are giving greater value to care labels. Below we see examples of care tags created by Leafcutter Designs in California.

These labels can be purchased individually by people who make individual, one-of-a-kind garments, or in bulk by large companies. Integrating this information into the care label is a shift beyond just providing information about appropriate laundering. It acknowledges the “care” attributed in making clothing.

Although this tag may be eventually cut off based on people’s preferences, wide distribution of these tags on clothing can illuminate environmental and social responsibility components within the fashion industry. Because this tag has information that a consumer may not already be informed about, they may keep it as a momento.

This tag encourages people to be creatively active and “mend when torn.” Several DIY websites  have mending/ repair tutorials that make this creative activism possible. People can add greater value to clothing by adding their own personal touches and contributing to the clothes’ history.

Another interesting care label I found encourages people to plant a care label/ hang tag to see flowers grow.

This care label may only appeal to a niche group of people, but it is challenging the definition of a standard label/ hang tag by encouraging environmental activism. With this particular tag, care labels are re-defined. Their physical existence can positively contribute to environmental biodiversity and foster the growth of indoor vegetation or urban gardens in densely populated areas. Here care labels are functional and nurture the earth. This can move fashion into a distinct realm of meaning and value even in their “after-life.”

Care labels as well as natural clothing  can become nutrients when they reach the “end-of-life” stage. As natural clothes biodegrades overtime, care labels can be the memory, or symbolize the life of the clothing, as they embody the life of flowers that can grow in the earth.