DALLAS, May 12, 2007 / --- What’s in a label? In high street fashion, it is everything. All fashion companies from Louis Vuitton to Chanel, Ralph Lauren to Calvin Klein, Versace to Prada, they are all very protective of their trademarks.

Hence, that little ‘tag’ that is inside a shirt or a blouse, a dress or a pair of pants is very important. In fact, on the manufacturing floor, those ‘tags’ are counted and accounted for. It is an identification of authenticity.

That tag is so important, that in several high fashion labels, their tag has a special laser mark similar to what you see in credit cards. That tag not only authenticates the label, but also a sign of exclusivity.

So, why go tag-less?

According to industry sources, ‘the impetus for this change has been a growing demand by consumers for more comfortable and attractive clothing.’ It is projected that tag-free merchandise will account for approximately 20% of all clothing over the next year.

So, why do clothing and apparel have tags? Aside from the obvious reason of brand recognition, there are also government regulations that has to be followed, like ‘fabric care.’

Is it dry clean? Can you put it in your washer or dryer? Can you use bleach? Does it need ironing? Is it hand wash? These questions are answered by those little tags.

Useful as they are, those little tags can be annoying at times. They have a habit of showing when you are trying to hide them. Sometimes, if you have sensitive skin, it can also cause an irritation.

In the highly competitive world of fashion, everyone wants to have an extra edge, a little something that would make the consumer choose one brand over the other. Research had shown that ‘comfort’ is high on the list for consumers. Though fashion victims and some die-hard fashionistas would disagree and say that ‘looks’ is the highest importance, they are actually on the minority.

Because of the growing demand by consumers for attractive and comfortable clothing, the industry itself is in search of an innovative tag-free labeling technologies to deliver on this need for comfort and to bring value-add branding opportunities, cost savings and security controls. And thanks to technology, the answer might be within our sights.

This week, during the Material World Expo in Miami, Paxar unveiled the ChromaHD™ heat transfer solution that is designed to provide high definition, multi-color heat transfers for tag-free labeling and garment adornment.

According to Paxar, its new ChromaHD™ heat transfer solution meets the requirements for brand protection, full color decoration and flexible labeling.

As already mentioned, protecting their brand is very important to fashion houses. With ChromaHD™ overt and covert security features can be incorporated into the transfer design to help combat product counterfeiting and diversion.

Features range from micro-text to special covert taggants and sequential product codes for tracking and tracing. These layers of security technologies combined with Paxar Online Global Track & Trace web-enabled data management system make item-level tracking and traceability a reality for brand protection and anti-diversion teams.

Integrating security features into ChromaHD transfer designs ensures that the security and technology remains with the garment for its lifetime – protecting the integrity of brands.

Functional as it is, ChromaHD™ also takes care of the artistic side of fashion. It has been equipped with full color decoration. This means that multi-color design options such as photographic images, character designs and alternative colors schemes are possible.

Hence, with ChromaHD™’s high definition capability, the size data, care content information, color by size or product code information can easily be printed right on the cloth itself or incorporated into the multi-color designs, even photographic images and characters.

ChromaHD™ also promises to be resistant to home laundering dry cleaning and stretch. Transfers can be applied to a wide range of fabrics across a broad spectrum of textile sectors such as intimate apparel, sports wear and children’s wear.

When applied, it provides a wealth of multi-color design options. The recyclable polyester film-based product is environmentally friendly and its scalability enables it to configure to changing conditions.

The transfers are available in a cut-single format, and are ready to be applied to standard fabric types including cotton, cotton blends, polyester and polyester blends. The application process—combining heat, pressure and time—takes between two to eight seconds depending on the manufacturer’s approach and fabric type.

And, as with all Paxar heat transfers, ChromaHD transfers are designed to meet Oeko-Tex 100, Class 1.

For more information on Paxar, please visit: www.paxar.com