Decisions! Decisions!
June 1, 2012
Deciding what to wear on any given occasion is not necessarily an easy task. What style and color goes best with our hair, eyes, or figure? What is better to buy, something durable or something trendy? Should a dry cleaning only garment be purchased or left hanging on the rack? As difficult as it can be sometimes to decide what to wear, there’s a little piece of fabric that can be very helpful in the decision making process—a clothing label! Clothing labels are one of the best marketing tools available in the garment industry because they reveal the designer, the size, and the care instructions for the fabric. They have the power to make some serious fashion statements!
In 1972, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established the Care Labeling Rule, clothing labels were required to reveal a brand name and at least one safe cleaning method for the garment. From that point on, selling items without care labels would be considered deceitful and unfair to consumers. They are very helpful to the consumer in determining if a garment needs to be dry cleaned, hand washed, or contain certain dyes or fibers that might cause a rash! Interestingly enough, according to one study, four out of five consumers actually read care labels before buying clothing and then they follow label instructions when laundering their garments.
Because the label is required, another factor has to be considered. What kind of label? Printed or woven? Printed clothing tags are inexpensive but they fade after several washings. How helpful then is a label that fades? It does very little for advertising our clothing status. Clearly the better choice is a woven label which is more durable and goes far in advertising designer clothing in particular.
What about deciding what to wear for our spiritual wardrobe? If a clothing label were sewn on the back of our spiritual wardrobe, would the label, whether printed or woven, advertise that we belong to the Designer? Would the tags proclaim compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and beyond all, love? (sv)
“12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
Colossians 3:12-13