For almost four years, Hanesbrands,
Winstom-Salem, N.C., has quietly asked screen printers and distributors to go tagless with its 5250 Authentic Tagless T. However, this year, Hanes won’t only be taking out the tags; the company will be changing the way it promotes its tagless product by introducing a new name, logo and line of collegiate-inspired colors.
Mike Reed, director of marketing, said the new Tagless initiative is in response to embellishers’ desire to offer end-users the same tagless shirts available in retail. “The Authentic name meant more to us than it did to screen printers; and since most screen printers were already calling it Hanes Tagless, we turned it over to them. It’s their shirt,” said Reed. “Say goodbye to Authentic Tagless and hello to Tagless 6.1.”
The 6.1 name originates from the shirt’s 100 percent, open-end cotton 6.1 oz. weight—a feature making it easy to print.
In 1994, Dave Carter of the Graphic Cow Company in Liberty, S.C., started providing students at the University of South Carolina and Clemson with art on Hanes T-shirts. Today, Graphic Cow T-shirts can be shipped in just five days throughout many parts of the country.
“There’s a lot of standing over ink trays and trial-and-error before you get it just right,” said Carter. “It takes more than not having a scratchy tag in your shirt to make this job more comfortable.” For this reason, Hanes plans to offer embellishers more than just competitive pricing—they’ll also receive logo-branded ink scoops, test squares and stress mats.
Charlie Stack, tagless marketing manager at Hanes, believes the new communications send the right message to the right audience. “We want screen printers to think of Hanes Tagless 6.1 when they think of comfort,” said Stack. “We’re not keeping Tagless a secret anymore.”
For more information, call (336) 72-0450
or visit www.hanesbullseye.com.
