What’s in Your Tag? Labeling Requirements for a Designer Who Might Redesign a Hanes Shirt

When a small town designer creates an image on a Hanes (or similar manufacturer) shirt, what must he do with its label before selling the item to a consumer since the garment carries a label with a Hanes’ registered trademark?

Laws Dictating Garment Label Language

The Lanham Act prevents designers from using labels, in commerce, that are false, misleading, or confusing, causing the public to wrongly attribute the garment’s make and design as one belonging to another.

In Champion, the Court held where the defendant creates a new design through reconstruction, which is extensive or basic, the original trademark cannot be used on the product under any circumstances.

In Ford Motor Co., the court held that where the modifications of a product are readily apparent and the end product does not compete with the original manufacturer, there is no trademark infringement.

What Should the Designer Do?

Based on the Lanham Act and the cases above, a designer who recreates, redecorates, or remanufactures a Hanes garment, or the like, should replace the original garment’s label to avoid trademark and copyright infringement. Logically, this makes sense because the original manufacturer does not offer the designer’s new creation for sale amongst its own products. Keeping the same garment label is false and misleading to the subsequent consumer. As I interpreted the Lanham Act and the cases above, copyright or trademark infringement occurs when the garment has been redecorated and then offered for sale, entering into a stream of commerce.

Am I right? Can you foresee any conflicts for new designers who have little understanding of the law? Designers who perhaps never think of labels. Injecting a newly decorated or reconstructed garment into commerce without substituting the label is a violation of the Textile Act. However, it is not unlawful to redecorate a Hanes t-shirt for your personal use and keep the Hanes’ tag on that redecorated garment.

What about the Care Instructions?

Even further, what about the care label? Is the care label, although required by the Textile Act, void once the garment is redecorated? For example, a Hanes sweatshirt made with 100% cotton might have the following care instructions: “wash in cold water with like colors.” Conversely, what if a t-shirt designer adds pieces of leather, velour, or silk to a Hanes garment, for example, would it then be necessary to change the care label? I think so.

As it stands, a redecoration of any garment requires a designer to take necessary steps to modify the garment’s manufacturer tag and care label, and the modifications will dictate the language that appears on that label.

By: Denise Gregory, Associate Editor of Art, Publishing, Music, and Fashion

Photo credit: Female Haberdasher

Sources Used:

15 U.S.C.A. § 70c (1958)

16 C.F.R. § 300.8 (2014)

16 C.F.R. § 300.10 (1998)

Champion Spark Plug Co., v. Sanders, 331 U.S. 125 (1947)

Ford Motor Co. v. Ultra Coachbuilders Inc., 57 U.S.P.Q.2d 1356 (2000)