More and more people are evolving their passion for sewing into a business. Craft and market fairs have popped up in even the smallest communities, including upcoming seasonal Farmer’s Markets, many of which are expanding to include handmade products along with their famous fruits, vegetables and flowers. Online creative storefronts, like etsy.com, artsefest.com and silkfair.com have exploded in popularity. If you’re thinking of selling your creations, you should label them. A professional label adds the touch that says, ‘I mean business!’ We recently discovered two great online label options: Cruz Label and All Things Labels – sister companies from Los Angeles. We gave them a test run with a set of three Sew4Home labels, and were very happy with our results.

More and more people are evolving their passion for sewing into a business. Craft and market fairs have popped up in even the smallest communities, including upcoming seasonal Farmer’s Markets, many of which are expanding to include handmade products along with their famous fruits, vegetables and flowers. Online creative storefronts, like etsy.com, artsefest.com and silkfair.com have exploded in popularity. If you’re thinking of selling your creations, you should label them. A professional label adds the touch that says, ‘I mean business!’ We recently discovered two great online label options: Cruz Label and All Things Labels – sister companies from Los Angeles. We gave them a test run with a set of three Sew4Home labels, and were very happy with our results.

Cruz Label

Located in the heart of Los Angeles, near the famous LA Fashion District, Cruz Label has been producing brand identification products for over a decade, serving a wide variety of clients – from small custom designers to huge garment manufacturers. In fact, it was their depth of experience with large, international companies, which allowed them to identify the new ‘home designer market’ and streamline their processes to accommodate smaller orders.

Cruz Label specializes in truly CUSTOM labels: all shapes, all sizes, numerous folds; even specialty features, like rhinestones and metallic thread.

Everything they do is 100% custom, which means your logo, lettering, and colors are woven as accurately as possible. They have a full in-house digitizing department that is ready to tackle any color and design combination you throw at them. We were very impressed at the across-the board quality and variety of their samples.

We chose: 1) a printed 60 filas cotton twill label with our logo in two PMS colors, and 2) a woven 50 denier damask label, also with our two color logo, but this time against a woven white background. Both of these logos included our positioning statement, “Transform your space.” This line is a very small font and so we knew it would be a good test of the precision of the reproduction.

Here are both of our beautiful labels.

We used the printed cotton twill label on our Here Comes the Sun Pillow.

And the woven damask label on our Strawberry Fields Pillow.

The step-by-step production process was very thorough with both a .PDF electronic proof and an in-the-mail actual sample proof.

Standard minimum orders vary based on the product selected, but are reasonable: 500 pieces for woven labels and 1,000 pieces for everything else. Smaller quantities can be addressed as special orders. A quick call or email to Cruz Label is all you need to do to clarify your questions. They promise a recommendation and estimate within 24 hours. We were quite impressed at how professional and considerate they were with our small order. We felt like ‘big fish.’

Pre-production time takes about 8-13 business days (plus shipping), and final production another 6-9 business days (plus shipping). The biggest variables are how much sampling and revising needs to be done on your order. Our labels were 100% correct with the first proof.

Cruz label also produces all types of custom size and care labels.

As well as a large variety of hang tags, patches, rubber and PVC labels, key chains, heat transfers and more.

Go to the Cruz Label site.

All Things Labels

Even though there are small run and lower cost options available, custom labels may still be out of reach for some people. Cruz Label saw this opportunity and, in October of 2009, launched All Things Labels to offer a line of semi-customizable labels. The goal was to provide very low minimums, very affordable pricing, and very fast turn around.

You can choose from a variety of preset sizes, colors, icons and fonts. By limiting the available options, All Things Labels can automate the order process, keeping the turnaround time fast and the production cost low. You can get a quality woven label for as low as $29 for 100 pieces, delivered in just 10-14 days. This is a great alternative if you are just starting out and don’t yet have a company logo.

Even with the stated limitations, we felt there were quite a few choices in shape, color, and icons. You can choose a sticker back, a heat-seal back or a plain back to simply sew in place.

We chose the simplest of options: a one line black label with our name in white lettering, no icon and a heat-seal back.

Here it is ironed on to our Turquoise 2010: Market/Craft Apron.

All Things Labels also offers generic size tabs and care/origin labels that are in stock and can ship immediately

Go to the All Things Labels site.

All great artists sign their work… mark your creations with a cool label. We recommend both of these companies.