Keffiyeh Care Labels and Tagging for Resale

If you are selling a scarf rather than wearing one, the label is not paperwork. It is the only part of the product that survives the first wash, the only part a customer can read after the packaging is gone, and the part that decides whether a complaint is your problem or the mill's.

Why a scarf needs a label at all

Textile labelling is regulated in most of the markets a scarf gets sold into — fibre content, country of origin and, in many places, care instructions. The exact rules differ by country and change, so treat this as the shape of the requirement, not legal advice: a permanent label inside the item, in the language the market requires, with the fibre composition and the origin, plus washing guidance.

Outside the regulation, there is a commercial reason. A scarf sold without a fibre and a wash instruction gets washed wrong, shrinks, and comes back. A label reduces that to almost nothing for the price of a strip of woven tape.

What has to be on it

Fibre composition, with percentages. "100% cotton" or "80% cotton, 20% polyester" — not "cotton blend". A blend has to state both fibres and their shares, because the buyer's care decision depends on the minority fibre, not the majority one.

Country of origin. Where the cloth was woven, or where the finished item was made, depending on the market's definition. Do not guess; ask your supplier for it in writing.

Care instructions. The shortest honest version is enough: machine wash cold, do not bleach, line dry, warm iron. Our own wash method is short because the cloth is forgiving — the details are in how to wash a keffiyeh.

Size. Not always required, but always useful: 110 × 110 cm tells a buyer more than the photograph does.

Fibre claims, honestly

Three claims cause almost all label trouble, and all three are avoidable.

Cotton that is not pure cotton. A 90/10 cotton-polyester weave behaves differently in the wash and pills where pure cotton does not. If the mill's composition sheet says 90/10, the label says 90/10.

"Handmade" on a machine-woven scarf. Hand-finished fringe and hand-woven cloth are different things, and a buyer who knows cloth can tell. Say which one is true.

"Cashmere" on a blend. A cashmere blend is a legitimate product and a good one; a label that implies pure cashmere is not. The weight and blend questions are covered in keffiyeh fabric weight.

Attaching a label without damaging the cloth

Sew into the hem, not into the body of the weave. The hem is a doubled edge and can take a stitch; the face of the cloth cannot — a needle through a woven check leaves a permanent hole that opens in the first wash.

Use a fine needle, a polyester thread matched to the label rather than the scarf, and four to six stitches along the short edge of the label only. Do not sew all four sides: a label stitched on every edge puckers the hem when the scarf is washed and dried. One long edge free is the standard, and it also lets the label sit flat when pressed.

For a scarf with no hem — a fringed square finished with a narrow turn — fold the label under the fringe line and catch it with two stitches at the corner. If the cloth is too fine for that, use a small cloth tag on a cord through the fringe instead, which is temporary by design.

The retail tag, which is a different thing

The permanent label lives in the item; the tag hangs off it and is thrown away. That gives the tag a licence the label does not have: pattern name, colour name, a line about the weave, a QR code, the price. It is also where a reseller's branding goes.

Two rules. First, tie rather than staple — a staple through a fringe leaves two holes in the one part of the scarf that cannot be repaired invisibly. Second, put the price on a removable sticker or a separate tag, not printed on the card, so a sale price does not require re-tagging the whole shelf. How the shelf itself should be arranged is in retail display for keffiyehs.

Shrinkage, and why the number matters

State the expected shrinkage on the tag if you know it, because it is the number customers complain about most. A cotton keffiyeh washed warm and tumble-dried will lose roughly 3–5 per cent in both directions, which on a 110 cm square is 4–5 cm — enough to change how it ties. A polyester scarf will lose almost nothing.

If your supplier can give a tested shrinkage figure, print it. If not, print "wash cold, line dry" and mean it; that instruction prevents the problem rather than describing it.

A label you can stand behind

The test of a label is simple: could you defend every line on it to a customer holding the scarf? Fibre, origin, care, size — four facts, each one checkable against your supplier's sheet. Everything else on the tag is marketing and can be as warm as you like.

If you are spec'ing labels for a wholesale order, ask for the composition sheet with the sample and check it before the run ships — the labelling question sits alongside the pricing one, which is in how much does a keffiyeh cost. For what we can supply, and in what quantities, ask us; the full colour range is in the range.

Shop the styles in this guide: Black & Khaki cotton keffiyeh in traditional weave, 110 × 110 cm, White & Grey polyester keffiyeh, gulf weave, 110 × 110 cm and Navy Blue Islamic prayer scarf, solid, 131 × 131 cm.