How to read a label

Most of what you need to know about a garment is printed on a strip of cloth inside the side seam. It takes ten seconds to read and almost nobody does.

Here is what we look for.

One — the fibre, named

A good label names the plant. Eucalyptus, sugar cane, corn, bamboo, linen, cotton. A vague label — “premium fabric”, “soft touch” — is usually a blend, and a blend is usually mostly polyester.

Named fibres behave predictably. Eucalyptus runs cool. Bamboo drapes and resists bacteria. Corn is the gentlest against reactive skin. Linen creases and is meant to.

Two — the certification, with a number

A certification mark without a number is decoration. OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 means every component was laboratory-tested against substances harmful to human health, and it comes with a certificate number you can check. GOTS certifies cotton as organic and audits every stage after the field.

Ask for the number. A house that holds the certificate will have it to hand.

Three — what it asks of you

Care instructions are a good tell. Cloth that needs dry cleaning at age four has been chosen for a photograph rather than a childhood. Most of what we make washes cold on a gentle cycle and dries in shade.

Four — where it was made, and by whom

The best answer is specific. Ours is a small workshop outside Kochi where everything is cut, sewn and finished in one place, by people we know by name. That specificity is not marketing. It is the reason a hem is even and a pearl is sewn rather than glued.

A shorter version

Turn it inside out. If the label names a plant, carries a number, asks little of you and tells you where it came from — it will probably still be good enough to pass to a second child.