Tea Break Reading

You know, at The Name Label Company we never assume anything.

One of the things we don’t assume is that it’s always the women who are labelling kids’ clothes. (And cooking, ironing, vacuuming, gardening, solving the Middle Eastern crisis etc etc.)

After all, look at the male role models there have been in the areas that many would consider exclusively a woman’s.

Well – to start with, Jeeves the Butler from the PG Wodehouse books was a dab hand with the iron. With a needle and thread too. So he’d have been unable to decide whether to use our ONCE™ iron-on labels or our sew-in name labels for Bertie Wooster’s belongings. (Mind you, being old-school, he probably would never consider anything other than sewing labels in by hand whilst listening to the wireless maybe.)

Men tend to love gadgets so dads faced with the prospect of name labelling might enjoy clicking on our tagg-on name labels which are good for robust labelling of stuff like sports bags, overalls, shoe bags. 

They also like nothing more than taking over a job from a woman, doing it perfectly and then saying ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about’ which is quite likely to happen if they’re ironing on ONCE™ labels (2 secs a time) and so labelling two kids’ school kit in under half an hour or so.

Jobs For The Boys

In fact, we’d like to throw down a challenge. Next time you’re dividing jobs up between you, why not get the dad (or grandpa or uncle) to handle the school uniform labelling side of things. The ONCE™ labels will name kit in seconds (and last of hundreds of washes), lunch boxes and water bottles are sorted with our vinyl stick-on labels (shoes too).

Our labels are quite happy to be applied whilst an important match is being watched on tv (interspersed with shouts of ‘yeeees’ hopefully.

Sounds like a challenge, don’t you think?

Also, if you’re a single dad tackling name labelling on your own, we’d like to hear how you handle it all.

We can get a bit restless on a Friday.

We’ve all been there. Trying to find a gift for somebody who is completely impossible because they really are a nightmare to buy for.

Well, we’ve wracked our brains and come up with five quirky gift ideas (that don’t cost a fortune) but will bring an amused smile to the face of the jaded recipient, who’s probably got too much stuff in any case.  Here’s what we’ve found.

1.     Personalised stamps. LOVE this one. Just upload a photograph of somebody – your significant other, your new baby, your son who’s just got into the 1^st XI.  Match it to the occasion (new house, wedding day, birthday or whatever) and you’ll receive a whole sheet of completely exclusive stamps. Prices start at £9.99 for 10 first class stamps. Via Royal Mail. http://www.royalmail.com/personal/stamps-and-collecting/smilers

2.     We like this personalised typographic destination print. It would make a great housewarming gift, wedding present or birthday present (probably for an anniversary with a 0 in it). You basically list whatever significant places you want to feature – from birth to present day. Via Not On The High Street .

3.     Know somebody who’s secretly dying to get behind the wheel of an all-terrain vehicle and learn how to offroad drive properly? Help them to harness their inner James Bond (did you see Skyfall and THAT opening sequence) by booking a Land Rover Experience today.  Sit behind the wheel of an elegant Evoque or a more hardy Defender, Discovery or Freelander and learn to handle snow, sand dunes, river beds, moorland….the school run. Check your nearest Land Rover experience venue here.

4.     If you’ve ever got into hot water for turning up with petrol station flowers (you didn’t, did you?) then a bouquet inspired by The National Gallery Collection will certainly raise your brownie points stratospherically. The Gallery now offers a collection of bouquets inspired by famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh and Gainsborough and created by celebrated florists Wild At Heart. Prices start at £35.

5.     Well, we would, wouldn’t we but we think you really can’t go far wrong if you give somebody a sheet of our personalised vinyl stick-on labels.  They’re perfect for both adults and children who can use them to label: CDs, DVDs (so they’re returned after lending), glasses cases, laptops, trays and crockery used for ‘bring a dish’ entertaining, sports kit, lunchboxes, books, that stapler in the office that always goes missing but belongs to you, toolboxes … you get the picture.  You can have them with just your name or add a little picture too (yes, even adults can have a picture if they like).

As you’d expect, we’re evangelical about labelling stuff. If we ruled the world, the lost property box at school wouldn’t exist – because absolutely everything would be personalised with a child’s name.

Is this just a dream? Not really. (And we think that losing belongings – especially expensive kit like football boots and hockey sticks is a nightmare.)

‘Ah’ we hear you say. ‘Not so fast Mr Name Label Company. You can’t label everything. What about flip-flops for swimming? I can’t iron on a nametape there and a stick-on one will just fall off.  Or … what about a BODYBOARD or a wetsuit? Impossible.’

Well, we’re going to rise to the challenge and say that really we believe there is absolutely nothing you can’t label with one of our selection of labels if you put your mind to it.  (Okay, so we know there are about 100 things you’d rather be doing than labelling kit – walking the dog, lying in the sun reading a magazine, watching Downton Abbey, socialising, having dinner with Ryan Gosling … which is why we’ve made our labels incredibly quick and easy to use so that nametaping takes just seconds. ‘Won’t be a moment Ryan…’)

Flip-flops. No problem. Use one of our special shoe labels which have a laminate covering which keeps water out. Same goes for wellies.

Wetsuits.  Well you can’t use an iron-on tape here (for obvious reasons), or a stick-on label and who wants to struggle with a sew-in label? The answer – one of our tagg-on labels which you simply click on. They’re tough and sturdy and won’t come off until you break them off. Bodyboards? – attach a tagg-on to the holding strap and your board will surf its way back to you. Tagg-ons are also good for labelling school clothes and sports kit (cricket pads?)  – just put the tagg on the washing label in the side seam and it will stay put.

Stick-on Labels When You’re Doing A Good Turn

One of the rites of passage of being a parent is having to contribute in some way to the school fete. So say for example, you produce a beautiful array of cupcakes (you could you know) and want to show them off on one of your best trays or a cake tier. But you want your best plate, cake-tier or tray back afterwards thank you very much.

Or maybe you’ve donated an evening meal – a casserole say - to a neighbour who’s ill.

It’s really irritating if you don’t get your plates and dishes back afterwards - which is where our stick-on labels come into their own. They’re dishwasher-safe so just pop a label on the reverse and you’ll be able to reclaim your kitchenware. Other places for stick-on labels? Naming waterbottles at Sunday morning sports sessions, lunchboxes, hockey sticks, tennis racquets, files, pencil-cases, rulers, borrowed DVDs and CDs, pushchairs, skis, walking-sticks, recycling boxes, bicycles, hang-gliders, books, glasses cases … getting bored now. Don’t just get stick-ons for the kids; order a pack for yourself and the other half as well.

Allergy Stick On Labels

Sending your children off to school or for a sleepover and need to let everyone know what they should keep away from? Our allergy stick-on labels help everyone to breathe more easily – literally. They cover dairy, egg, gluten, nut, seafood and wasp/bee allergies. Put them wherever they need to be noticed – on lunchboxes and drinks bottles of course – but on a buggy, pushchair or car seat is also a good idea. Designed in horribly garish colours so they are almost offensively noticeable.

We Haven’t Forgotten Sew-In Labels

If you’re a purist who likes nothing better than relaxing over a pile of sew-in name tapes (we know who you are) or want to put a label on an item of clothing where stick-on, tagg-on or iron-on really wouldn’t work (like a smart coat or a sweater) then our sew-in labels really are perfect. They’re made from a similar material to the iron-on labels so they really are smooth, not lumpy.

And When You Fancy A Spot of Ironing

If the thought of sewing brings you out in a cold sweat and our tagg-on labels aren’t quite right, then our iron-on labels will see you right (and give you a bit of time to do something for yourself that’s more exciting then labelling kit). They take just seconds to apply and won’t peel off in a hurry.  But there’s one drawback. Our iron-on labels are so easy that you really have NO excuse not to label everyone’s clothes! They’re great on uniforms, casual clothes, bedlinen, tea-towels …. oh loads of different stuff.

Things You Can’t Name With One of Our Labels

We’ve really had to think about this one. Footballs, cricket balls and rugby balls are the wrong shape – so an indelible marker pen is probably best. Also a nametape would spoil the look of your best tiara, so just keep a close eye on it instead. Your favourite flavour chocolate – well actually you could maybe put a stick-on label on it inside the box.  Also boyfriends and girlfriends might not take kindly to being label ‘stalked’. Other than that we’re stumped really.

If you can’t decide which type of label would be best for you, then order one of our name label packs which include iron-on, stick-on, sew-in and tagg labels. Perfect – see how you get on and then decide what you need more of.

And let us know if you think of anything else that isn’t name label-able (think we might have just made that word up actually).

That’s right, we NEED you! Well some of you. We’re looking to build an ARMY (quite small) of testers across the country.  We’re looking for individuals with a special set of attributes, primarily an enjoyment of ironing or sewing.

We don’t launch any products without a thorough testing process, that’s why we can offer a lifetime guarantee on them. But it seems some of our friends no longer want to spend weekends ironing labels onto garments and then running them through the washing machine eighteen hundred times. Some of the keener ones can’t even find spaces on their clothes to add any more labels. 

We need to test our labels in all environments and with our geographical knowledge we appreciate that it is normally a heck of a lot colder up north, than down south.  So we want people from Inverness down to Portsmouth who want to help. All ages and both male and females are welcome.

Who knows where it could lead to (we don’t really have a plan), but it could be fun and that’s the most important thing.

What’s in it for you?

Some labels which will hopefully stay on – it is testing after all.

We may send you a sticker or something else completely exclusive, which recognises your outstanding contribution to the name label industry.

Interested?

Hard not to be we know. Drop us an email to sockdetectives@namelabelco.com