The importance of care labels and hang tags in textiles and clothing articles made-in-Ghana case study in the Ho municipality of the Volta region

Abstract

Care labels and garment hang tags spell out information concerning how to care for “already-made” or ready-to-wear garment. The information may come in the form of letters, words, symbols or a combination of them (Vanderhoff, 1970). In Ghana most of the clothes, textile articles do not have care labels and hang tags. As a result, most Ghanaians damage their beautiful garments, and textile articles due to lack of adequate knowledge. It is against this background that the study sorts to investigate the level of the Ghanaian consumers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers awareness of the importance of including care labels and hang tags on fabric bolt or rolls and on finished garments. The research design used was a case study because the researcher sought an in depth study of the problem. One hundred respondents were selected from Nurses Training College and Ho polytechnic students as well as Manufacturers and retailers in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region. Questionnaires were used to solicit information from them and analyzed. From the study, it was clear that a lot of Ghanaian consumers and retailers of textile fabrics are not aware of the availability and the use of Care Labels and Hang Tags in their fabrics. They also do not understand their use hence do not look out for them when shopping for clothing. It is recommended that the clothing industry should organize workshops to sensitize Manufacturers and Retailers to provide Care Labels and Hang Tags on their products. This can be done through seminars and the use of flyers.