What is this new strange tag that I'm finding in new clothes? It's got a little plastic thing inside it and you have to cut it out of the garment. Why?? What does it do?
does it have the shoplifting sensor in it? my wife tells me that they now sew those into clothes at the manufacturer. of course, i'm thinking they should just go one further and charge us all with shoplifting as soon as we walk into the store....
That's exactly what it is: security. These look like the Banana Republic tags (yes, I shop there a little) and since Gap & Old Navy are owned by them they will have those tags too (if they don't already).
What's interesting is that clothes purchased online don't have them sewn in. Now that's inventory management.
It's a new initiative pushed by the House and Senate in conjunction with the Clothing Tag Awareness Society. The CTAS feels that the general public doesn't appreciate and acknowledge the efforts of the textile industry to include informational tags in garments (such as care and content) so they asked for these tags to be mandatory in all new garments. If not removed, the tag will rub against your skin, releasing a mild toxin which will eventually kill you. So, it's in your best interest to pay attention to your clothing tags, thereby satisfying the CTAS.
This being a Congressional bill, it came with some sub measures, such as legislation that regulates the variations of scents of detergents that may be sold, tensile strength of certain knitted fabrics, and the complete and total abolition of abortion.
It does contain a sensor and it doesn't explode when you remove it, so it is not fool-proof security. But even if you cut it off the clothes you still have to put it somewhere and the sales staff are trained to notice stuff like that in the dressing rooms (can't really put it in your pocket can you?).
This solution responds to the complaint that 1) sometimes staff forget to remove the giant plastic clips and everyone get's pissed off when forced to return to have them removed and 2) those giant clips make damaging holes in the clothing which is not good.
Wow, I never thought this sad little post would inspire such a great discussion! Steve, you never cease to crack me up.
Thanks everyone for your comments and clarification. The next time I'm at Old Navy (I've obviously outed myself for shopping there) I'm going to watch and see if they disarm the weird little tag during checkout. Because I never noticed them doing it before.
And having to cut something out of a brand new piece of clothing gives me anxiety for some reason. Maybe it's trauma from those old "DON'T REMOVE under penalty of law!!" mattress tags...
I don't get it, though. The clerks never remove the tags when they check you out, right? So you should set off the alarm when you leave. That means every paying customer sets off the alarm, rendering the system useless.
My dress shirts have little plastic straighteners in the collar that are about that size. They get lost a lot (in the wash), and so a spare is sometimes sewn in to the seam in a little pouch like in your photo.
The thing is the shoplifters who do the most damage will find a way around this while surely it won't always be disarmed properly (they are always bad at this at Tower, so I'm always setting off other store's alarms after I shop there unless I remove the safers myself).
Someone will probably even manage to slip the cut tag in a clerk's pocket, so they set off the alarm when they go on break.
I had some friends who would go to books-a-million and go around the store collecting the square tags that are put between the pages of books and would, in a very sneaky fashion, put them in people's hoodies, jackets, bags, etc. Its a mean prank, but very amusing. Every now and then they'd do it to someone who looked shady to begin with and the clerk or manager would explode and either call the police or have them booted out of the store.
Comments
That's exactly what it is: security. These look like the Banana Republic tags (yes, I shop there a little) and since Gap & Old Navy are owned by them they will have those tags too (if they don't already).
What's interesting is that clothes purchased online don't have them sewn in. Now that's inventory management.
This being a Congressional bill, it came with some sub measures, such as legislation that regulates the variations of scents of detergents that may be sold, tensile strength of certain knitted fabrics, and the complete and total abolition of abortion.
It does contain a sensor and it doesn't explode when you remove it, so it is not fool-proof security. But even if you cut it off the clothes you still have to put it somewhere and the sales staff are trained to notice stuff like that in the dressing rooms (can't really put it in your pocket can you?).
This solution responds to the complaint that 1) sometimes staff forget to remove the giant plastic clips and everyone get's pissed off when forced to return to have them removed and 2) those giant clips make damaging holes in the clothing which is not good.
But I like Steve's answer.
I say we all leave them in and set off alarms wherever we go.
I had this with a pair of jeans I own. It gets pretty annoying to beep every time you leave a store, so I ripped it off.
plus it chafes.
chafing is bad.
Thanks everyone for your comments and clarification. The next time I'm at Old Navy (I've obviously outed myself for shopping there) I'm going to watch and see if they disarm the weird little tag during checkout. Because I never noticed them doing it before.
And having to cut something out of a brand new piece of clothing gives me anxiety for some reason. Maybe it's trauma from those old "DON'T REMOVE under penalty of law!!" mattress tags...
Do you ever get that feeling of deja-vu...
in the collar that are about that size. They get lost a lot (in the wash), and so a spare is sometimes sewn in to the seam in a little pouch like in your photo.
surely it won't always be disarmed properly (they are always bad at this at Tower,
so I'm always setting off other store's alarms after I shop there unless I remove
the safers myself).
Someone will probably even manage to slip the cut tag in a clerk's pocket, so they set
off the alarm when they go on break.