Why We Got Rid of Neck Labels — And What We Did Instead
By Shubham Kasera, Co-founder of Kiggle
My son was about eight months old when I first noticed it.
He had been wearing a new romper for about an hour - a perfectly soft, well-made piece of clothing by any reasonable standard. And yet he kept reaching up to the back of his neck, scratching, fidgeting, pulling at the collar. Not dramatically. Just that persistent, low-level discomfort that babies cannot explain but parents learn to read quickly.
I checked the back of the neckline. There it was - a woven label, stiff and scratchy, sitting right against the most sensitive part of his skin. The tag that told you the size, the fabric content, the washing instructions, the country of origin. All the information that matters to a parent when they are buying the garment, and absolutely none of it matters to the child wearing it.
His neck had a small red mark where the label had been rubbing.
That was the incident which made me decide that Kiggle would never put a woven neck label on any of its clothing.
Why Brands Use Neck Labels in the First Place
Before I get into what we did instead, it is worth understanding why neck labels exist at all 0 because there is a reason beyond information.
The woven label sewn into the back of a garment neckline serves a practical purpose beyond carrying size and care instructions. It is the attachment point for the hangtag - the small printed card that loops onto the label before the garment reaches a store. The hangtag carries the brand name, the price, the barcode and whatever else the brand wants a customer to read before buying. It is a cheap, efficient system that works well for everyone involved in retail.
The neck label also serves a second, less obvious purpose. Because the hangtag loops through it, a retailer or brand can tell at a glance whether a returned garment has been worn - if the hangtag is still attached and undamaged, there is a reasonable assumption the item was not used. It is an informal quality check built into the supply chain.
So the neck label is not going anywhere from the industry's perspective. It solves real problems for brands and retailers. The problem is what it does to the child wearing the garment.
Woven labels are made from polyester or nylon ribbon. They are stiff by nature. They are scratchy by nature. And they sit against the back of the neck - one of the most nerve-dense, sensitive areas of the human body - for every single hour the garment is being worn. For a baby whose skin is roughly 30 percent thinner than adult skin, the friction caused by a woven label is not a minor inconvenience. It is a genuine source of discomfort.
We knew this. We were not the first people to know this. Many brands know this. The label stays because removing it creates a logistical problem - how do you hang the hangtags from a garment?
The Kiggle Solution — A Fabric Loop and a Printed Label
When we were designing our first range at Kiggle, we spent a lot of time on this problem. The answer we landed on was simple but it required a change in how we thought about the garment.
We removed the woven neck label entirely.
Instead, we added a small fabric loop - made from the same organic cotton as the garment itself - sewn into the corner of the neckline. The hangtag loops through this just as it would through a woven label. The price information is there. The brand information is there. The return assurance is there. The retail system still works exactly as it should.
But the loop sits at the corner of the neckline, not flat against the back of the neck. It does not press against the child's skin the way a stiff woven label does. It does not rub. It does not scratch. And because it is made from soft organic cotton rather than polyester ribbon, even if it does make contact with skin, it is genuinely forgiving rather than irritating.
All our size and care information is printed directly onto the fabric of the garment - screen printed on the inside near the hem or side seam. Soft, flat, completely flush with the fabric. Nothing raised. Nothing scratchy.
Was This the Right Decision?
Honestly — we are not entirely sure it is the perfect solution. Fabric printing fades slightly over time with repeated washing, which means after many washes the care instructions may become less legible. We are aware of this. We are still working on getting every detail exactly right.
But here is what we do know.
My son has been wearing Kiggle clothing since we launched. He has never once reached up to scratch the back of his neck while wearing one of our pieces. That small red mark I noticed when he was eight months old has not reappeared.
For me, that is the proof point. Not a lab test. Not a certification. Just a small child who used to fidget with his collar and now does not.
I believe that if my child is comfortable, many other children will be too. That assumption has been the foundation of every decision we have made at Kiggle - we build for our own children first, and we trust that other parents are looking for the same things we were.
A Small Detail That Makes a Big Difference
I want to be clear that removing neck labels is not a revolutionary act. It is a small thing. There are brands that have been doing this for years, and there are still excellent brands that use woven labels.
But I think small details matter enormously in children's clothing, in a way that is easy to overlook when you are designing, producing and shipping at scale. A scratchy label on an adult is a mild annoyance. A scratchy label on a baby who cannot tell you what is bothering them is a genuine problem.
Every time we make a decision at Kiggle - about fabric, about dyes, about labels, about packaging — we ask the same question: would I put this on my own child?
The neck label did not pass that test. So it is gone.
Kiggle makes soft, breathable organic cotton clothing for babies and kids aged 0 to 6 years, made in Kolkata. Every piece is tag-free and printed with care instructions directly on the fabric. Shop at kiggle.shop