Custom Clothing Hang Tags

Shapes, Holes and Strings for Clothing Hang Tags

Rectangles with rounded corners are the classic shape, but tags can be die-cut to almost any outline. A narrow tall tag sits neatly on shirts, a square suits knitwear, and a custom shape that echoes your logo is memorable without being gimmicky.

The hole is usually punched near the top, either plain or reinforced with a metal eyelet. Eyelets stop the string tearing through the card and add a finishing detail in silver, gold, black or brass. Strings come in cotton, twisted paper, waxed cord or elastic, and can be supplied pre-threaded so your team can attach them straight away.

Safety pins and plastic tag fasteners are the alternatives, used by brands that attach tags with a tagging gun or pin them through a label. If you use a gun, let us know, as the hole size and position need to suit it. p2 Brands that want a circular tag can see the options on our round hang tags page.

• Cotton string in natural, black or brand colours
• Waxed cord for a slightly heavier, rustic feel
• Elastic loops for quick attachment on knitwear
• Safety pins or plastic fasteners for tagging guns

What to Put on the Front and Back

The front should carry the brand: your logo or wordmark, ideally with plenty of space around it. Resist the urge to fill it. A clean front looks confident, and shoppers turn the tag over for the details anyway.

The back is where the practical information goes. Size, price, style code and a barcode are the essentials for most retailers. Many brands add a short line about the fabric or the maker, a website, or a social handle. If you sell through several shops at different prices, leave the price space blank and use a small sticker instead of printing it.

A QR code can link to the product page, a care guide or a short story about the collection. Keep it at least 20 mm square so it scans easily.

Multilingual information can sit on a folded tag, which opens like a tiny booklet and gives you four panels instead of two. This suits brands selling into several markets or those who want to tell a longer story about the maker. p3 Sock and hosiery brands put the size grid on a wider tag, which we cover under printed labels for sock packaging.

Finishes That Lift a Plain Tag

Foil stamping a logo in gold, silver or a colour is the most popular upgrade, and it photographs well in product shots. Embossing raises the logo off the card for a tactile finish, while debossing presses it in, which works beautifully on thick uncoated board.

Edge painting, where the cut edge of a thick tag is coloured, is a subtle detail that shows when the tag is seen from the side. It works best on laminated tags of 800 gsm or more. Spot gloss on a matt tag highlights a logo without the cost of foil.

Combining one premium finish with a simple design usually looks better than layering several effects on one small tag. p2 The guide comparing print and finish options shows foil, emboss and spot gloss on card.

Matching Tags to Your Range

Brands with several collections often keep the tag shape and string the same and change the colour of the card for each line. It makes the range feel connected while letting staff tell collections apart at a glance. Children's ranges sometimes use a smaller version of the main tag.

If you also use woven labels, printed tissue or garment bags, it is worth matching the colours across all of them. A shopper notices when the tag, the label and the bag feel like they belong together, even if they could not say why.

New drops and limited runs are a good excuse to try something different without changing the core design. A numbered tag, a different string colour or a short printed note about the run gives collectors and loyal customers a reason to look closely, while keeping the brand recognisable. p2 Tissue in the same colour family is covered on our branded tissue paper page.

Tell Us How the Tag Gets Attached

The hole is the detail that goes wrong on hang tags, because it depends on something we cannot see: your tagging method. A gun with plastic fasteners needs a small hole close to the top edge; a pre-threaded cotton string needs a larger hole further in; an eyelet needs a margin of card all round. So say how your team attaches tags before anything else, and whether prices will be written by hand, which rules out laminated stock.

Send the logo as a vector file and the back-panel details as plain text, and tell us the card weight if you have a preference; 400 to 600 gsm covers most garments. The custom quote arrives by email within one working day, from £0.25 per tag, with the minimum set per job so a first collection can run short.

The free proof shows both sides at actual size with the hole marked. After approval, printing takes 4 to 7 working days and the tags reach UK mainland addresses by free tracked delivery. Labels that sew a woven mark into the garment as well often order garment labels in matching colours at the same time.