Woven Fabric Labels Dubai: Sizes, Folds and Costs for Apparel

Which label carries the logo, which carries the care symbols and which gets cut off. A spec guide to woven fabric labels for UAE clothing brands, with prices.

Pick up any garment in a Dubai Mall boutique and turn the collar over. The brand mark sitting there is a woven label about 5 cm wide, and it does more work than the whole hang tag. Shoppers read it as the sign that a product was planned, not bolted together. For a clothing startup, woven fabric labels are the cheapest single upgrade between a plain blank and a product that looks like it came from a brand.

This guide sets out what to specify: which information goes on the woven label and which goes elsewhere, how woven fabric labels differ from printed ones, fold types, sizes, realistic Dubai prices and the artwork mistakes that cost a reprint. We print and finish in house in Ajman, deliver across all seven emirates and quote on WhatsApp, so the examples follow the way we actually brief label runs.

Split the information before you design woven fabric labels

The first mistake is cramming everything onto one label. A woven label is good at one thing: a sharp, raised brand mark that survives hundreds of washes. Care symbols, fibre content and sizing belong on a soft printed label at the side seam, and price, story and barcode belong on a card hang tag that gets cut off on day one.

Think of it as three layers:

• Neck or waistband: woven fabric labels carrying the logo or wordmark only, sometimes a size letter.
• Side seam: printed satin or cotton fabric labels with size, fibre content, care instructions and country of origin, in English and Arabic where the product sells in UAE retail.
• Hang tag: printed card, often a folded tag with the brand story inside and a barcode on the back.

Once the information is split, each piece can be smaller, cheaper and clearer.

Woven fabric labels compared with printed fabric labels

Both are stitched into the garment and both survive washing, but they are made differently and suit different jobs. Woven fabric labels are made by weaving coloured threads into the design on a loom, so the logo is part of the cloth itself. Printed fabric labels start as a plain satin or cotton tape and the artwork is printed onto the surface.

Type	Feel	Detail limit	Typical Dubai price at 1000 pcs	Best for
Damask woven	Soft, dense, flat	Lines from 0.5 mm, text from 1.5 mm	AED 0.90 to 1.80 each	Neck labels, premium lines
Satin woven	Glossy, slightly stiffer	Lines from 0.7 mm	AED 0.70 to 1.40 each	Waistbands, lingerie, bags
Printed satin	Smooth, very light	Fine text to 1 mm, gradients possible	AED 0.35 to 0.80 each	Care and size labels
Printed cotton	Matte, natural	Simple text and marks	AED 0.40 to 0.90 each	Kids wear, organic lines

Damask is the standard for a neck label because the high thread count keeps small letters crisp. If your logo has a gradient or a photograph, it cannot be woven; use a printed fabric label or simplify the mark to flat colours. Most woven fabric labels run to a maximum of eight thread colours, and each extra colour adds a little to the unit price.

Fold types and standard sizes

The fold decides how the label is attached and how it sits against the skin.

• Centre fold: the label folds in half and both ends are sewn into the collar seam. Finished size is usually 50 x 25 mm or 60 x 30 mm. The most common choice for printed t shirts and polos.
• End fold: the two short ends tuck under and are stitched down, leaving a flat rectangle. Good for the outside of caps, bag flaps and jacket chests.
• Loop fold: folded once and sewn into a side seam so it hangs as a loop. Used for care labels and size flags.
• Straight cut with heat sealed edges: a flat label sewn on all four sides. Suits waistbands on joggers and the back neck of sports jerseys, where a fold would add bulk.

A useful rule: keep woven fabric labels at 60 mm or narrower for neck positions. Anything wider curls and scratches, and the garment comes back.

Where woven fabric labels go on each product

Every product category in a UAE fashion or uniform line has a conventional label position, and buyers notice when it is missed.

• T shirts and polos: centre fold at the back neck, loop fold care label at the left side seam about 10 cm above the hem.
• Caps: end fold on the back strap or inside the sweatband, with a small woven flag on the side panel for premium ranges.
• Tote and canvas bags: end fold label on the outside top edge or an inner pocket. A woven label on a cotton tote bag reads as retail quality rather than giveaway.
• Uniforms and workwear: flat woven fabric labels at the back neck plus a printed label with department and size, so laundry can sort them. This matters for safety vests and kitchen wear washed daily.
• Abayas and modest wear: a small satin woven label at the inside neck, often in a single colour on black, paired with a printed Arabic and English care label.

If you are also ordering the garments decorated, give us the label specification at the same time. Attaching labels during the apparel printing run saves a second handling step and two or three days.

Quantities, lead times and realistic Dubai costs

Minimum runs for woven fabric labels in Dubai start around 100 pieces, though the loom setup makes 100 pieces expensive per unit. A typical small run of 300 damask labels in two colours lands between AED 350 and AED 550 including setup. At 1000 pieces the unit price drops to about a dirham, and at 5000 pieces well under it.

Lead times run 7 to 10 working days for woven fabric labels because a loom sample is made and approved first, then the batch is woven, cut and folded. Printed fabric labels are faster, usually 3 to 5 working days. Card hang tags and sticker labels are faster again, so order the woven pieces first and let the rest catch up.

Budget for the matching pieces too. Startups that spend on woven labels often forget the packaging. A kraft paper sticker closing the polybag carries the same mark to the shelf. So does a special finish label on the box. For a boutique line the folded garment usually ships in an apparel box, and the label on that box is the first thing the customer sees.

Artwork mistakes that force a reprint

Woven fabric labels are unforgiving about detail, and a weave sample is the only honest proof. Before you send artwork, check these six points.

1. Thin lines. Anything under 0.5 mm turns into a broken dotted line in the weave. Thicken strokes or drop them.
2. Tiny text. Letters under 1.5 mm tall are unreadable. Put the website address on the hang tag instead.
3. Gradients and shadows. Thread is flat colour. Flatten the logo to two or three solid tones.
4. Exact Pantone matching. Thread comes in a fixed shade range. Pick the nearest thread from the chart and approve it on the sample, not on screen.
5. Arabic script. Connected letters need a slightly larger size than Latin text, around 2 mm, or the joins fill in.
6. Forgetting the fold. Design to the finished size, not the flat size. A 60 x 30 mm centre fold label is woven at 60 x 60 mm.

We send a photographed loom sample on WhatsApp before any batch runs. The same team handles the printed fabric labels, hang tags and label printing for the packaging so the colours line up across all three. One message with your logo, the garment list and quantities is enough to get a full quote back the same day.

Related resources: See our tags, marketing materials and apparel pages for specifications, quantity pricing and design options across the UAE.