Do you really understand clothing barcode labels?

Do you really understand clothing barcode labels?

Clothing barcode labels are an indispensable part of the modern clothing industry. They carry important information about the product, just like the ID card of the clothing, which is unique and identifiable.

1. Basic concepts

Manufacturers usually paste clothing barcode labels—labels featuring printed barcodes—on the collar, the pocket, or the hanging tags of a garment. This barcode acts as a graphic identifier that uses multiple black bars and blanks of varying widths, arranged according to specific coding rules, to express a set of information.

2. Coding rules

The coding rules of clothing barcodes are an important standard in the clothing industry. They usually consist of 12 digits and 1 letter, and are divided into prefix and suffix parts:

Prefix part: composed of 3 digits, used to identify the country or region.

Suffix part: composed of 9 digits and 1 letter, used to identify product information, such as brand, model, size, etc. For example, the prefix of mainland China is 690~699, Hong Kong is 489, Taiwan is 471, etc.

In addition, clothing barcode encoding methods include digital, letter, and color encoding, though manufacturers use digital encoding most commonly.

3. Functions and Applications

Purchasing and Goods Management:

Barcodes are attached to clothing tags, which can identify and manage goods more accurately and ensure the circulation and safety of goods. At the same time, barcodes can greatly save time and labor costs for operations such as product classification, inventory, and outbound delivery.

Consumer Experience:

When purchasing clothing, customers often need to clearly understand the brand, model, color, size and other information of the product. If there is a barcode on the clothing tag, it is convenient for consumers to query relevant information by scanning the barcode to avoid errors or omissions in product information due to human factors. This can not only improve consumers’ shopping experience, but also increase brand awareness and user stickiness, thereby driving brand sales.

Anti-counterfeiting Verification:

By using barcode technology, a unique barcode can be generated for each clothing label, and anti-counterfeiting verification can be achieved by scanning the barcode to protect brand rights.

4. Production and Pasting Requirements

Material Selection:

The material selection of clothing barcode labels should be determined according to the material and quality requirements of the clothing to ensure that the texture of the label matches the clothing. Common materials include paper, plastic, cloth, etc.

Printing technology:

Use high-quality printing technology, such as offset printing, embossing, screen printing, etc., to ensure that the label is printed clearly, colorfully, and with fine patterns.

Paste requirements:

The label should be pasted on the conspicuous and not easily worn position of the clothes, such as the collar or pocket. When pasting, pay attention to the position, clarity and flatness so that consumers and scanners can read it.

5.Development trend

With the development of science and technology, garment barcode label are also constantly innovating and upgrading. For example, some companies have begun to use QR code technology as an anti-counterfeiting method, printing a unique QR code on each clothing label, and consumers can verify the authenticity by scanning the code.

In addition, some companies have begun to explore smart label technology, embedding sensors, chips, etc. into labels to achieve more functions and applications.

Obviously, garment barcode label play an important role in the clothing industry. Understanding and correctly applying the knowledge of garment barcode label will help improve the management efficiency of the brand and the shopping experience of consumers.

Appendix: US clothing barcode rules

‌US clothing barcode rules mainly follow the UPC (Universal Product Code) standard. This 12-digit barcode format consists of two parts: the first 6 digits identify the manufacturer, while the last 6 digits represent the specific product item.

Basic structure and composition of UPC barcodes

The UPC barcode consists of 12 digits, divided into two parts:

‌First 6 digits‌: Manufacturer’s identification code, assigned to each manufacturer by the American Barcode Association.

‌Last 6 digits‌: Product item code, assigned by the manufacturer for each product.

The last two digits are check digits to ensure the accuracy of the barcode‌12.

Application areas and optimization methods of UPC barcodes

The retail and logistics industries mainly use UPC barcodes. In the retail sector, companies use UPC codes to automatically identify and track goods, which allows them to manage inventory more accurately, track sales, and provide shopping points. In the logistics industry, these codes help workers quickly and accurately track and identify goods to improve logistics efficiency and accuracy.

The Uniform Code Council developed UPC barcodes, and retailers mainly use them in the United States and Canada. In addition to North America, other countries and regions generally use EAN (European Article Number) barcodes. EAN-13 is similar to UPC-A code, but the first three digits range differently. The first three digits of EAN-13 range from 3 to 9.

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