Textile care label key in European buying decision: survey

22 Nov '19

2 min read

Pic: Ginetex

Europeans appreciate their clothes and wish to keep them for as long as possible; they are concerned about the durability of their clothing and pay great attention to their care instructions; and for a vast majority, the textile care label plays a crucial role in the purchase decision, according to results of the second European Barometer for 2019.

Paris-based GINETEX, the International Association for Textile Care Labelling, conducted the survey on textile care label among Europeans along with city-based market research and consulting firm IPSOS.

The survey was carried out in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Spain.

Europeans like to buy clothes and pay attention to how they should take care of them. In the seven surveyed countries, almost all respondents (97 per cent) had purchased at least one item of clothing in the past six months. The proportions vary between 94 per cent in Sweden and 98 per cent in Italy and Spain.

Seventy per cent respondents respect their textile’s label’s guidelines—78 per cent of Swedes follow the care instructions, 71 per cent do so in France while only 64 per cent do so in the United Kingdom.

Eight out of ten Europeans (82 per cent) consider the textile care label useful. Although this figure remains significant, it drops to 76 per cent in France and 79 per cent in Spain. On the other hand, it reaches 86 per cent in the Czech Republic, 85 per cent in Italy and 84 per cent in Sweden.

Seventy five per cent of Europeans would never (or rarely) buy a garment without care instructions. This answer testifies how important this label is to Europeans, according to a press release from GINETEX.

Among them, the British and the Germans are the most attached to the care label: for 83 per cent inhabitants of these countries, the purchase of a textile without a label is out of the question, or rare.

Europeans are sensitive to textile labels because they wish to care for their clothes. And when they do not understand the care symbols on their label, almost half of the Europeans (49 per cent) go on the Internet. Europeans remain committed to the idea of offering a second life to their clothing, the survey found.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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