Yearly archives "2021"

What type of school label is right for me?

With children going back to school you may have started compiling a list of all the things they need for the new year. If labels are in that list (and it should!) you may be finding it hard to decide what kind you makes more sense to get so we have broken it down for you. 

Colour Stickers

Our most versatile name tags. Colour sticker name tags are a good option if you are looking for a label that can stick on everything. They can be used on clothing (on the care label) and all stationery, books, and even lunchboxes and drinking bottles. You can personalise them with your chosen background, icon, font and font colour so you can create the perfect label for your child. Each set comes with 56 labels each 30 x 13mm in size. 

Iron on Labels

Iron on labels will be the best option for clothing. You can label school uniforms, jumpers, blazers, shirts, PE Kits, anything your child is likely to take off and lose. Our Iron on labels can also be used on socks, coats, scarves and gloves. You can personalise them with your chosen background, icon, font and font colour so you can create a label that suits your child. The labels can be applied directly onto the fabric and will last even after being repeatedly washed. 

Maxistickers

Our Maxistickers make personalising your child’s items even more fun. Perfect for bigger items such as lunchboxes, notebooks, water bottles, shoes. A set has 21 maxistickers in several shapes and sizes – circles, squares and rectangles all on one set! Each label also comes in a slightly different design (within a theme) so it’s a great option if you are looking for a bit more variety.

Ministickers

The more stylish and discreet option, our ministickers are perfect to label smaller objects that are even easier to lose. They are ideal to label lots of items quickly – all the pens, pencils, markers, rulers. Because they are smaller they are also a great option for older kids as they don’t come with an icon and have a solid background. We’ve got 4 different colour themes to choose from and you are able to add a first name or a surname (as it’s smaller you are only able to add one line of text). A set has 175 ministickers and each is 16 x 6mm.

Labelling your child’s things is incredibly important, it helps them easily identify what is theirs, helps reduce lost property in schools and nurseries and helps avoid you having to rebuy things. They also encourage your children not to share things with other children, leading to a reduction in the spread of germs which, at the moment, is very important.

Visit our website to find out more about My Nametags and our personalised name tags. 

Top Tips to Help Your Child Stop Losing Things

There’s nothing more frustrating than losing a treasured possession. Aside from being upsetting, it also wastes time, money and has a negative impact on the environment. 

Despite this, our research shows that British families are misplacing more items than ever before. In fact, the average child loses 13 items every single year. This equates to a whopping 132 million items lost annually by children in the UK. 

There are lots of simple tricks that can help your children to keep track of their prized possessions. Here, we offer our top tips to help your family stop losing things.

Top Tips for Preventing Lost Items: 

1. Create designated compartments in your children’s bag 

Patterns are incredibly effective in helping children to learn. So, encouraging your child to pack everything away in the same place and in the same order each day will quickly reinforce the importance of remembering their belongings. This activity will soon become a part of their daily routine, meaning they are much less likely to forget things

2. Use name labels

Labelling items makes it much easier for people to return them if they become lost. This is especially important for possessions that are regularly taken out of the home. We recommend including both a name and a phone number on your name label so that people can contact you if they find your lost item. Our stick-on name labels can be applied in seconds and have been designed to withstand the rigors of daily school life, helping to ensure your family is reunited with any items that become temporarily lost. 

3. Stay organised

It’s much easier to misplace things if you are surrounded by clutter. Just like the compartments in your child’s bag, try to establish clear places at home for all of your items and encourage the whole family to place things back in their designated spot when they’re not being used. If the space is tidy and everything is in its rightful spot it will be far easier to locate items if they do become lost.

4. Keep small objects in a pocket or purse with a zip 

Small items are the easiest to lose as they can slip out of bags and pockets without being noticed. Keeping all of your small items, such as toys, money, or jewellery in a designated pocket or purse with a zip will ensure they are safe whilst your child is out and about. 

5. Do a double 

Before leaving the house, school, or nursey, get your child in the habit of double-checking that they have everything, it’s easier to find lost items when they first go missing than later down the line. Getting your child to practice this from a young age will help them form the habit, preventing the heartache of lost items later in life too. 

6. Attach a smart finder 

Smart finders are small Bluetooth devices that attach to your belongings and are a great option for keeping track of your family’s more valuable possessions. Smart finders use technology to track your item wherever it goes, helping you to locate it if it becomes lost. Plus, they have small speakers to alert you by sound if your item is in close proximity.

7. Buy less

The more items you have, the easier it is to lose track. Having unnecessary duplicates of certain toys and clothes also has a negative impact on the environment. Instead, aim to buy fewer, quality items that will last longer and be easier to keep track of. Avoiding having too much ‘stuff’ will also help your child to learn the value of their belongings, making them more likely to take good care of them.

8. Don’t give up

When items do become lost, it’s always worth having a thorough look before replacing them. Encouraging your child to join in the search will help to teach them about the importance of looking after their things. Plus, if you’re successful you will save yourself time, money, and improve your carbon footprint.

For more tips on reducing the environmental impact of your belongings, read our top tips for making clothing last longer.

Top Tips for Making Clothing Last Longer

There is no worse feeling than pulling a piece of clothing out of the wash and realising that is has shrunk, discoloured, or faded. 

Not only is clothing expensive to replace but throwing it away has an environmental cost too. In fact, more than 300,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year, according to WRAP, and globally the fashion industry is responsible for 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. So, it’s important that we look after the clothes we have to ensure they last as long as possible. 

Here, we’ve collated our top tips to help you keep your clothing looking as good as new. 

Top Tips for Making Clothing Last Longer: 

1. Quality over quantity 

Where possible, opt for fewer, quality pieces over lots of low-cost items. Cheaper garments tend to be made from synthetic fabrics, such as polyester or nylon, which wear much quicker than natural fabrics like cotton or linen. They also have a negative impact on the environment because they are a type of plastic. 

2. Don’t overfill the washing machine 

Overfilling a washing machine not only means clothes won’t wash properly but they will also rub against each other more. This increased friction can cause damage and fading. Your clothes will also more likely end up in a tight ball, which can be a pain to untangle and puts more strain on the fabric. 

3. Reduce the amount of fabric detergent 

Using large amounts of detergent can increase the fragility of some fabrics, such as Lycra, and can cause them to become stiff or brittle. This is especially the case with garments such as gym wear and stretchy jeans or leggings. Fabric conditioner is a ‘nice to have’, rather than a necessity, so skip it for fragile items and use only in small amounts for harder wearing fabrics, such as cotton. 

4. Wash dark clothing inside out 

To avoid dark clothing fading, always wash them inside out. This also works for graphic t-shirts to prevent the print from cracking and fading. If you dry your clothes on a washing line, keep your items inside out to prevent the sun bleaching them and causing patches of discoloration. 

5. Fold instead of hang 

Hanging heavy items like woollen jumpers can cause the fabric to stretch and become misshapen. Folding items along the seams will prevent this and help minimise creasing. 

6. Don’t wash denim unnecessarily 

Denim doesn’t need to be washed after each wear. Over-washing will compromise the fabric and, overtime, jeans will wear thin. To freshen garments between washes, try hanging them in the bathroom as you shower – the steam will give them a new lease of life. You can also put jeans in a plastic bag in the freezer to kill any bacteria. 

7. Avoid the tumble dryer

A tumble dryer certainly has its place in the home. For example, tumble drying your towels is a great way to keep them soft and fluffy. However, they can also break down the fibres in clothing and make them shrink. Where you can, be sure to use an airer or a washing line to dry your clothes instead. This will also save on electricity which will reduce your household bills and benefit the environment. 

8. Don’t discard shoes in a pile

It’s very tempting to come home after a long day at school or work and dump your shoes in a pile by the door where you have taken them off. However, this can damage your shoes, causing them to wrinkle or become squashed, making them age much faster than normal. Instead, keep your shoes neatly on a shoe rack or shoe tree, avoiding the temptation to stack them on top of each other. 

For more tips on reducing the environmental impact of your belongings, read our top tips for preventing lost items.

Top 5 tips for applying iron on labels

Children have a tendency to lose clothes. They feel warm so they take their jumper off and leave it in the playground, they sit next to their friend and confuse their PE t-shirt with theirs. It’s normal! But it is still annoying when you have to buy the third hat this week… That is where our iron-on labels come in!

Jumpers, t-shirts, trousers, coats, hats, everything gets identified. Our iron-on labels are a fun, easy way to label all your child’s clothing and uniforms. The nametags are waterproof, can go in the washing machine, dryer and are designed to withstand the active day-to-day of a child. We are also the only label company that offers you a 10-year guarantee.

While our iron-ons are quick and easy to apply, we thought we would share some of our top tips on how to apply iron-on name labels to ensure you make the most of the iron-on name tags and that they stay on for a long, long time.

1.    Make sure the clothing is ironable before applying the labels

Iron-on labels need a lot of heat to be applied correctly and some fabrics such as acrylics or other synthetic materials cannot withstand such heat, so we recommend you do not use the iron-ons on these materials. If you still want to risk it though you can lower the temperature of the iron and iron the labels onto the item for longer, however this may not always work.

2.    Turn off steam setting on the iron

Nowadays all irons use the steam setting, but the water from the steam could get into the hot-melt glue of the labels and weaken it so you should turn this off. It is also worth noting that the silicone paper is waterproof so the steam will likely come up and hurt your hand. When you do turn off the steam you might find that the iron is not heating to the max temperature, if this is the case empty out the water in the iron so it can reach the highest temperature.

3.    Carefully place the label on clothing and ensure you use silicone paper

It is important to use the silicone paper we have provided to ensure the labels do not melt. Simply place the silicone paper over the carefully placed label and try not move the iron as much as possible.

4.    Turn up heat to the max temp

By ironing on the labels, you are essentially melting the hot-melt glue onto the fabric so you need to make sure the temperature of your iron is hot enough. You want to have the iron on high heat which on most irons means selecting the three dots or a linen/cotton setting, either way the maximum dial should do it! If you have a newer or cheaper iron that does not get hot enough you need to ensure you hold it for a little longer. Usually, the ideal temperature for the hot-melt glue to stick would be around 150-170 °C.

5.    Adjust the time you iron on the label according to your iron

If your iron does not get to the temperatures indicated when on high heat you must hold it for slightly longer. As we mentioned in the previous point your iron will successfully melt the hot-melt glue when it gets to temperatures from 150 to 170 °C and is held for 8-15 seconds but irons are not all the same so you may need to hold it for longer. Newer or cheaper irons especially tend to not get hot enough so if after you try to apply a first label you find that it is not sticking properly try holding it for longer but do not forget to check if the fabric can withstand the temperature.

Once you get the hang of it, you will see how you will not want to use anything else, labels that do not stay or the time consuming sew-ons will be a thing of the past! 

Meet our new partner, Uniformerly

My Nametags cares about the future. We care about the world we and our children live in, and strive for a greener, better world. In our sustainability page you can see the ways in which we feel we are making a difference but today we wanted to share about a different initiative that we are incredibly proud to be partnering with.
Last year, a research project we did found that brits bin 1.4 million wearable school uniforms every year. This felt like a lot of uniforms, surely these could be reused?! Uniformerly is a free school uniform marketplace where parents can buy, sell, or give away their children’s school uniforms. The site is easy and quick to use, and it will help you save money, declutter AND help other people as well as the environment.
In the world of today where everything is available at a click for a very low price it is easy to forget that these things are having an impact in our environment. Clothing plays a big role in this, we overconsume, have more clothes than we need, some items in our wardrobes end up never even being worn! We have also become very good at getting rid of clothes that is still perfectly good – 81% of parents buy their children brand new school uniforms every year – is this necessary?
In the study (that you can read in full here) we also saw ‘that extending the lifespan of clothes by just three months could result in a 5-10 percent reduction in carbon, water, and waste footprints.’ We already know that prolonging the life of objects makes them have less of an impact on the environment, but we need to take it one step further. Care for what we have, use, reuse and with a little help from a name tag, it can become someone else’s personalised item. Once you find that you no longer need something: pass it on! Start by passing on your child’s school uniforms. That is why we are offering a 15% discount to Uniformerly users!
Visit the Uniformerly website to find out more.

Read more about our school uniform name tags