한국의류산업학회지 pISSN 1229-2060 제20 권 제3 호, 2018 eISSN 2287-5743 ＜연구논문＞ Fashion & Text. Res. J. Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.331-342(2018) https://doi.org/10.5805/SFTI.2018.20.3.331 331 An Analytical Study of National and International Care Label Systems of Textile and Apparel Products Reham A. Sanad †1) and Zi Young Kang 1) Dept. of Textile Printing, Dyeing & Finishing, University of Damietta; Damietta, Egypt Dept. of Fashion & Textiles, University of Huddersfield; Huddersfield, UK Abstract: This paper enables stakeholders involved in textile industry to gain an overview of standards used for care labelling and help establish a common standard that could be used as a universal standard. This study provides a com- prehensive and detailed analytical study of care labelling standards adopted by common countries in the textile market. It was found that the development of a universal system for care labeling could enhance the trade of textile articles and assist consumers in caring for textile articles. Universal care label systems could be characterized by two main features of inclusiveness and comprehensiveness. The range of instructions and symbols presented were found different among standards. Insignificant differences in symbols’ shapes were found between standards for bleaching, ironing and pro- fessional cleaning. The washing process had the widest variety of instructions; in addition, options were provided by stated standards. Different meanings were found for similar shapes in some tumble drying symbols. The study findings show the importance of enhancing text based standards or the development of an understandable format across as many cultures as possible. The unification of symbols and meanings may be needed to provide global consumers consistent guidance. The efficiency of a detailed standard that provides and covers a wide range of instructions is an important aspect. The visibility and practicality of offering variable options/symbols in one standard is an important aspect for devel- oping a universal care label system. Key words: agitation, bleaching, symbol, tumble, temperature, washing 1. Introduction Labeling of textile articles is a method used for communication between consumer, manufacturer and trader regarding textile prod- uct information (Davis, 1987). Textile articles are yarns, piece goods and made-up articles such as apparel, household textiles, fur- nishings, upholstery, upholstered furniture or bedding containing at least 80% by mass textile material (British Standards Institution, 2012; Standards Australia & Standards New Zealand, 1998). A textile article label aims at giving information related to the product such as fiber content, country of origin and size. A care label is the kind of labelling instructing the consumer to the ideal conditions of caring the purchased item (mainly laundry process) (Davis, 1987; Shin, 2000). It would consist of symbols and/or words (phrases) (ASTM International, 2001). Several research studies have been carried out investigating the importance of care labeling of textile articles. For consumers, care label assists taking purchase decision and appropriately caring for the purchased item (Shin, 2000). From the perspective of produc- ers, providing appropriate and sufficient care instructions can improve consumer satisfaction giving a trustworthy impression as well as certainty in the liabilities derived from mistreatments or problems related to the merchandises. Besides, the application of care labels is an effective means for the manufacturers which lead to a reduction of extra costs compared to employing written instruction (Ruoh-Nan et al., 2008). Research studies concerned with care labelling systems are almost focused on the comprehension of care labelling systems (Calisir et al., 2013; Ruoh-Nan et al., 2008; Shin, 2000), appro- priateness of care instructions based on fiber content and consum- ers’ perception (Choo & Song, 2000), the influence of care instructions on consumers’ estimation of clothing attributes (Work- man & Johnson, 1991), frequency of checking care labels, per- ception of textile labels in relation to environment and ethics (Kirsi & Grimstad, 2013) and the history of the emergence of care sym- bols and regulations (Draxlerová et al., 2015). Since the late 1950s, various national and international care label systems have been introduced, distributed and regulated in most countries to guarantee public credibility (Draxlerová et al., 2015; †Corresponding author; Reham A. Sanad Tel. +96-89-415-5860 , Fax. +96-82-451-1193 E-mail: rehamsanad@du.edu.eg © 2018 (by) the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unre- stricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.