If you’ve ever flipped inside a new jacket, dress, or pair of jeans and run your finger over the fabric care or size label, you might have stopped to wonder: where did that small strip of material come from? For a long time, most garment labels were made from virgin polyester, nylon, or even petroleum-based vinyl—materials that have a short life in a closet and a far longer one in a landfill. As a garment labels supplier, I get this question a lot, and the short answer is yes, you absolutely can use recycled materials for garment labels. But there’s a lot more to it than just grabbing a scrap of old t-shirt or a leftover spool of plastic and cutting it to size. It’s a decision that balances sustainability goals, functionality, cost, and the subtle expectations of shoppers who hold every part of a garment, even the tiny labels. Garment Labels
Let’s start with why this question matters right now. Over the last decade, fast fashion has come under intense scrutiny for its waste: it’s estimated that the fashion industry produces 92 million tons of textile waste each year, much of it from small, easy-to-overlook components like labels, tags, and trims. For brands, swapping virgin materials for recycled ones isn’t just a “feel-good” trend anymore—more than 60% of Gen Z and millennial shoppers say they’d pay 10% more for a garment that uses sustainable materials, according to a 2024 global survey from the Fashion Institute of Technology. But when it comes to labels, there’s a catch: a label’s job isn’t just to look good. It has to survive washes, dry cycles, and even the occasional trip through a hot dryer without fading, peeling, or falling off. A label that fails after three washes isn’t just bad for the customer—it can hurt a brand’s reputation, and that’s a risk we take very seriously as a supplier.
So what recycled materials actually work for labels, and which ones fall short? First, let’s talk about the most common (and most reliable) recycled raw materials used today: recycled polyester (rPET) and recycled cotton. RPET is made from post-consumer plastic bottles—on average, it takes about 10 500ml plastic bottles to make one kilogram of rPET. This material is a workhorse for labels because it’s durable, colorfast, and has a consistent feel that shoppers are used to. We’ve been printing rPET labels for brands for over five years, and we’ve tested them against every standard wash and care cycle you can think of: 50 washes at 40 degrees, bleaching, even dry cleaning. The results have been almost identical to virgin polyester labels, with one huge difference: each label made from rPET keeps a plastic bottle out of a landfill or ocean.
Recycled cotton is another option, though it’s less common for care labels and more popular for brand tags or woven neck labels where a softer, more organic feel is a selling point. Recycled cotton is made from post-industrial scrap (leftover fabric from garment factories) or post-consumer clothing that’s been shredded, cleaned, and spun back into fiber. The downside of recycled cotton is that it’s slightly less durable than rPET, especially when it comes to repeated friction from wear and washing. It’s also more prone to shrinking if not processed correctly, which is why it’s not ideal for care labels that have to fit perfectly and stay legible through every cycle. We always advise brands that want a soft, eco-friendly neck label to pair recycled cotton with a special heat-sealing finish that helps it hold up longer, and that small adjustment has cut our return rate for these labels by 70% over the last two years.
Then there are the materials that sound great on paper but don’t hold up in real use. For example, many brands ask about recycled paper or cardboard for labels, but these only work for hang tags that never touch skin or get wet. If you’ve ever had a paper tag absorb water during a car wash or a rainstorm and dissolve, you know why they’re not practical for care labels. Same goes for recycled vinyl: while virgin vinyl is used for some waterproof labels, recycled vinyl is often brittle and cracks after just a few washes, making it a bad long-term choice. As a supplier, we’re upfront with brands about these limitations—we never recommend a material that will cause problems down the line, even if it’s what a brand thinks they “should” use for sustainability.
Another big consideration when using recycled materials for labels is supply chain transparency. A lot of brands have been burned by “greenwashed” recycled materials—products that claim to be made from recycled content but actually use less than 10%, or use post-industrial scrap that’s not actually recycled in a meaningful way. For example, some suppliers will call leftover fabric scraps from a factory “recycled” even if they’re just burned or dumped, but true post-consumer recycled material is material that’s been used by a consumer, collected, and processed into new fiber. At our facility, we only source rPET from suppliers that provide third-party certification: the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) or the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS), which verify that a product contains a minimum of 20% recycled content and follows strict social and environmental rules throughout production. This certification is non-negotiable for us, because it’s what lets brands and shoppers trust that their label is actually making a difference.
Cost is also a factor that comes up constantly. Recycled materials are often slightly more expensive than virgin materials, though the gap has gotten much smaller in the last five years as demand for recycled products has grown. Right now, a standard rPET label costs about 10-15% more than a virgin polyester label, and recycled cotton is about 20-25% more. For a brand making a garment that retails for $50, that extra cost is less than $0.10 per label—hardly a huge number, especially when you consider the premium shoppers will pay for a sustainable product. For small, independent brands that are working with tight budgets, we also offer hybrid options: for example, using a recycled polyester base but only adding a small amount of recycled content where it matters, or offering unprinted recycled labels for brands that want a minimalist, eco-friendly look and don’t need detailed care instructions.
But sustainability isn’t just about the material itself—it’s about the entire life cycle of the label. Even if a label is made from recycled material, it’s still going to end up in a landfill when the garment is thrown away. That’s why we’ve also started working with brands on biodegradable recycled labels, which are made from materials like recycled bamboo or recycled cornstarch that break down naturally in a landfill in about two years, compared to hundreds of years for a standard polyester label. We’ve tested these biodegradable labels too, and they hold up just as well as rPET for up to 30 washes—though after that, they start to break down, which is actually what we want, right? It means when a shopper finally discards the garment, the tiny label isn’t going to sit in a landfill long after the rest of the garment has decomposed.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about using recycled materials for labels is that it’s a “lesser” product. For a long time, labels made from recycled materials were thinner, faded more easily, and felt cheap. That’s just not true anymore. The technology for processing recycled fiber has improved so much in the last decade that rPET labels are virtually indistinguishable from virgin polyester labels to the touch. When we first started offering rPET labels in 2018, a lot of our clients thought we were giving them a cheaper product until they touched a sample side-by-side with a virgin label. Now, most of our regular clients use recycled materials for at least 80% of their label orders, and many have even made the switch entirely, because their customers have asked for it.
That said, there are still some industries where recycled labels don’t make sense, and we never push them on brands that aren’t a good fit. For example, high-performance sportswear that’s designed for intense activity—think running shoes or waterproof winter jackets—needs labels that can withstand extreme temperatures, saltwater, and frequent exposure to sweat. In these cases, we still recommend virgin polyester or high-quality recycled polyester, because it’s proven to outperform other materials. For everyday apparel like t-shirts, jeans, and dresses, though, recycled labels are a perfect fit, and they’re a simple way for brands to reduce their environmental impact without compromising on quality.
At the end of the day, using recycled materials for garment labels is a win-win. Brands get a small, impactful way to align with their sustainability goals, shoppers get to feel good about every part of the garment they buy, and we as suppliers get to be part of that process. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, but with the right material selection, certification, and testing, it works for almost every brand. If you’re a brand looking to make the switch to recycled labels, or if you have questions about which materials will work best for your products, we’re here to help. We can send you free samples, walk you through our certification process, and work within your budget to find the right solution for your needs. Don’t let the fear of subpar quality or hidden costs hold you back—recycled labels have come a long way, and they might be the easiest sustainable upgrade you make this year.
Sublimation Patches References
Global Recycled Standard (GRS). (2023). GRS v4.0 Certification Requirements. Textile Exchange.
Fashion Institute of Technology. (2024). Global Shopper Sustainability Survey.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2022). The New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2023). Fashion Industry Waste Report.
Kaishen Garment Accessory Co., Ltd.
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