How Do You Make Hang Tags for Clothing?

Three attachments cover almost every garment: a string, a plastic fastener, or a safety pin. String is the classic apparel look, a cotton or waxed cord threaded through the hole and knotted, or a pre-tied loop with a bead lock you pull tight around a button, a belt loop, or a zipper pull. It is the gentlest of the three because it never pierces the cloth, so it is the one to reach for on knitwear, silk, and anything loosely woven where a puncture would show.

A plastic fastener, the barbed paddle fired from a tagging gun, is the fastest way to tag a large run: aim it through a seam allowance or through the care label rather than through the face of the fabric, since the barb leaves a small hole behind. It suits denim, canvas, sturdy wovens, and outerwear, and it holds the tag flat against the garment instead of letting it swing. A safety pin sits between the two, no tool needed and nothing permanent left behind, which makes it the practical pick for market stalls, samples, and pieces you re-tag between shows.

Whichever you choose, the hole decides whether the tag survives the rack. Punch it about 1/8 inch across and keep at least 1/4 inch of stock between the hole and the trimmed edge, centered in the clear zone you left at the top. Heavier stock, a rounded corner beside the hole, and a metal eyelet all add life to tags that get handled all day, and on a die-cut tag the hole belongs in the strongest part of the silhouette, never in a thin point. Our custom shaped hang tags hold the hole position through the cut, so every tag in the run hangs the same way.

A hang tag is small, so the stock and finish carry a lot of the quality signal. Use a heavier cover stock so the tag feels substantial rather than flimsy, because a thin tag quietly tells the shopper the product is cheap. A sturdy tag that holds its shape through handling reinforces the value of the garment it hangs on.

Finishes let a tiny tag punch above its weight. A soft touch coating gives a velvety, premium hand-feel, gloss makes colors and photos pop, and foil, embossing, or edge painting add a tactile luxury cue that shoppers associate with higher-end brands. Explore the range on our premium prestige hangtags and the full hang tags collection to match the finish to your brand's price point.

Choose finishes that fit the story. A minimalist label might use a clean uncoated stock, while a luxury line leans into foil and soft touch. The tag should feel like a smaller version of the product's promise.

Hang tags are one of the most affordable pieces of branding you can buy, and the price scales the familiar way. Quantity is the biggest lever, since setup is a fixed cost that spreads thinner across a larger run, so ordering tags for a whole product line at once is far cheaper per tag than small batches per style.

Size, stock, and finish move the price from there. A standard rectangular tag on cover stock is the economical baseline, while custom shapes, foil, soft touch, or edge painting add cost for a more premium result. You set every option in the live configurator and the total updates as you go, so you can weigh a richer finish against the run size before committing. Because a tag hangs on every unit you sell, a small per-tag upgrade often pays for itself in perceived value.

Order a proof or samples first so you can feel the stock and finish in hand, especially if you are choosing a premium touch that is hard to judge on screen.