Preparing Artwork for Labels and Tags

File formats that work

The practical rule: if your logo was made in Illustrator, Figma or CorelDraw, export it as a vector. If it was made in Photoshop or Canva, export at the largest size available and expect a redraw.

Convert fonts to outlines. If you send a file with live text, the supplier's software substitutes whatever font it has installed. This is the most common cause of "the proof looks wrong but I cannot say why".

Designing at the real size

A label is small. Your screen is not. Design at 100% scale, then print the file at actual size and look at it on paper before approving anything.

• Minimum text height: 1.5 mm for woven damask, 2 mm for taffeta, 1.2 mm for printed labels
• Minimum line weight: 0.25 mm printed, 0.4 mm woven
• Fine serifs and thin scripts break up at small sizes — have a simplified version ready
• Detailed illustrations generally need to become a silhouette below about 30 mm

A useful test: shrink your logo to 25 mm wide on screen and step back a metre. If you cannot read the tagline, neither can the loom.

Colour: Pantone, CMYK and thread

How colour behaves depends entirely on the production method.

• Woven labels use thread. There is a fixed palette of thread colours, matched as closely as possible to your Pantone reference. Gradients are impossible — every colour is a discrete thread.
• Printed labels and tags use CMYK ink, with Pantone spot colours available at extra cost for exact brand matching. Gradients and photographs work fine.
• RGB is for screens only. Send RGB artwork and it gets converted, usually with a visible shift in bright blues and greens.

If your brand colour matters, send the Pantone number. If you do not have one, send a physical object in the right colour and ask the supplier to match — this works better than describing it.

Laying out a folded label

This trips up almost every first-time buyer. A centre-fold label is manufactured flat, then folded — so your artwork must be positioned on the correct half.

• Straight cut: flat label, artwork fills the whole area. Simplest.
• Centre fold: the label folds in half and both ends are sewn in. Your artwork goes on the top half only; the bottom half is the reverse side and is usually blank or carries care info.
• End fold: both short ends fold under. Keep artwork 3 mm clear of each end or it disappears into the fold.
• Loop fold: folds into a loop with both ends sewn together. Artwork on the outer face only.

The simplest fix: tell your supplier where the label is sewn and let them lay out the fold. Ask for the proof to show the folded result, not the flat file.

Bleed, safe area and die lines

For printed tags and stickers:

• Bleed: extend background colour 3 mm beyond the trim line, so a slight cutting variance does not leave a white edge
• Safe area: keep all text at least 3 mm inside the trim line
• Die line: if you want a custom shape, supply it as a separate vector path on its own layer, clearly named
• Hole position: mark where the string hole goes — usually 5–8 mm from the top edge, centred

What to send your supplier

A complete artwork submission looks like this:

• Vector file with fonts outlined
• A flat PNG or PDF preview so both sides can confirm they are looking at the same thing
• Pantone references, or a note saying "match to attached photo"
• Dimensions in millimetres
• Fold type, or a photo of where the label will be sewn
• Any text that must appear exactly as written — fibre content, country of origin, care instructions

Send all of that in one email and you will usually have a correct proof back the same day. Send a logo alone and expect three rounds of questions.