GB2520053A - Method of applying an identification label, possession identification system kit, garment, care label and method of providing information relating to an - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of applying an identification label (106, figure 1) to an item of clothing (110, figure 1). Data identifying an owner of the item of clothing is stored 300 in a storage device. The data is then retrieved 302 and used to generate a printing instruction 304 corresponding to a label layout bearing data identifying the owner. The identification data is then printed 308 onto a heat seal label, and the heat seal label is affixed 310 onto a pre-existing care label (108, figure 1) on the item of clothing using a heat seal machine (112, figure 1). The apparatus is intended to aid identification of an individuals clothing within a care home environment. Identifying data may be printed as text, bar-codes, QR-codes or stored on an RFID.

Description

METHOD OF APPLYING AN IDENTIFICATION LABEL, POSSESSION IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM KIT, GARMENT, CARE LABEL AND METHOD OF

PROVIDING INFORMATION RELATING TO AN IDENTITY OF AN OWNER OF A

GARMENT

[0001] The present invention relates to an identification label application method of the type that, for example, applies a label to an item of clothing. The present invention also relates to a possession identification system kit of the type that, for example, affixes a label to an item of clothing. The present invention relates to a garment of the type that, for example, possesses a care label. The present invention further relates to a care label of the type that, for example, is found attached to a garment. The present invention also relates to a method of the type that, for example, provides information relating to an identity of an owner of a garment.

[0002] In care homes and other similar institutions that house residents, in which items of clothing are laundered on site or sent away for laundering, there is often a problem of identifying the correct owner of each item of clothing. Generally, the items of clothing will be collected from a resident's room, laundered, collated and then returned to the owner. Each resident will generally own their own clothing, and as each resident may be a vulnerable person, it is especially important that the correct items of clothing are returned to the correct person. If a mistake is made, it can potentially be distressing to the resident and/or at least time consuming to correct any mistakes.

[0003] The most efficient way to ensure that clothing can be identified and returned to the correct individual is to apply the resident's name, or other indicia such as a reference number (for example a room number) to the clothing.

[0004] Care home environments create several unique problems. For example, the residents may be elderly and/or have conditions that render them unable to identify their own clothing. Due to financial and time pressures, the staff ofthe care home will not necessarily have much time to spend on sorting out laundry.

[0005] Attempts have been made in the past to identify clothing, which are well known in the art. However, these prior art methods are beset with problems.

Traditionally, a name badge is sewn into the item of clothing, but this can be labour intensive, because the name badge must first be ordered and made, then the process of sewing it in is time consuming. Moreover, it usually requires a family member to perform the task, because it is impractical for care home staff to sew the labels into the clothing on account of the care home having many residents with a large number of items of clothing. When new clothing is purchased, or when a new resident arrives, the same process must be undertaken. Furthermore, sewing skills are in decline and so there can be both a reluctance to sew labels into clothes and the resilience of stitching can be poor.

[0006] Alternative methods include writing the name directly onto the clothing using a permanent ink. This, however, has the problem that either the clothing will be damaged, or the ink used will still fade after a certain number of washes and have to be replaced. Additionally, one must consider the dignity of the resident wearing clothing that is overtly marked with their name.

[0007] In some environments, not necessarily care homes, items of clothing can be purchased having name badges or labels already sewn into the clothing.

However, such a solution severely limits purchasing sources and choice of design.

Additionally, such badges usually require the writing of a name onto the pre-sewn badge.

[0008] Iron-on labels are also known in the art and are designed for use with domestic irons. Consequently, there is no control of the uniform maintenance of temperature and force applied by the iron when affixing the labels to items of clothing. As such, the adhesion of the label to the clothing is unreliable and will not withstand repeated washing. Additionally, a domestic iron only has a single heated base plate, so should there be any cold spots' on the plate, this can directly affect the ability of the label to remain affixed; water ingress will typically occur during laundering and consequently lift the label from the item of clothing, which is a very common failing of this type of labelling. However, for known applications, the existence of the cold spot is not a concern and has not hitherto been recognised.

[0009] Furthermore, alternative industrial scale methods of applying identification details may be cost prohibitive in an environment such as a care home, where there are only a limited number of residents, and costs must be kept to a minimum.

[0010] It is also known to attach so-called low-frequency Radio Frequency (RF) identification (RFid) tags to items of clothing for reuniting reliably the items of clothing with their owners following laundering. However, in order to withstand the laundering process, an RFid tag is typically disposed within a protective housing and, in order to be attached to an item of clothing, the housed RFid tag is incorporated into a button-like structure so that the RFid tag can be sewn into the item of clothing. Although quite resilient to the laundering process, such low frequency RFid tags are relatively expensive. Also, the button for the tag (and the means used to secure the button to items of clothing), which is located internally of the item of clothing, can cause discomfort to its wearer and, in the case of the elderly, may cause the skin to break. Additionally, for items such as socks and undergarments, attachment of the button to such items of clothing is problematic due to a lack of a suitable site at which to attach the button. In contrast, so-called high-frequency RFid tags can be incorporated into an adhesive label. However, continued adhesion of the label to items of clothing is poor and the resilience, i.e. the likelihood of failure, of such tags is poor too when exposed to the laundering process. Additionally, high-frequency RFid tags can be read at greater distances from an RFid tag reader. However, this is not necessarily beneficial as a risk exists of inadvertently and unknowingly reading a tag located in close proximity to tag that an operator intends to be read.

[0011] Another known laundering solution, which avoids individually labelling multiple items of clothing, employs a labelled bag formed from a non-soluble netting material. However, clothing placed inside the netting bag for laundering typically does not get cleaned properly, nor do the items of clothing in the netting bag dry properly when placed inside industrial clothing dryers.

[0012] There is therefore a need to apply identification information to an item of clothing that is swift, requires minimal effort and cost effective, but also permanent, for example capable of withstanding many washes and last for the life-span of the item of clothing without requiring replacement.

[0013] According to the present invention, there is provided a method of applying an identification label to an item of clothing, the method comprising: storing data identifying an owner of the item of clothing in a storage device; retrieving the data identifying the owner of the item of clothing from the storage device generating printing instruction data corresponding to a layout of a label bearing the data identifying the owner; sending the printing instruction data to a label printer; printing the identification data onto a heat seal label; and affixing the heat seal label onto a pre-existing label on the item of clothing using a heat seal machine.

[0014] The identification label can be applied to any label that is already present on the item of clothing, though in most cases this will be the so-called "garment care label", which is present on most items of clothing and which contains standard information such as washing, drying and ironing instructions. These garment care labels are generally uniform in size, meaning that a uniform size of printed identification label can be used. Applying the identification label to the garment care label is advantageous, because it means that a uniform identification label can be used not only in terms of size, but also adhesive properties, as it does not need to be selected depending on the material to be adhered to. Furthermore, affixing the identification label to a pre-existing label on the item of clothing will ensure that the item of clothing will not be damaged during the heat sealing process, which may be possible, with some materials, at the high sealing temperatures used. Additionally, the discrete siting of the label avoids causing self-esteem and dignity problems for the wearers of the items of clothing.

[0015] The label may be printed using a thermal transfer printer. Thermal transfer printing melts a coating of ribbon onto the label and has been found to be well suited to the present invention, as the marking left behind can withstand multiple hot washes and does not fade in time, which is a disadvantage of using an inkjet, laser or thermal printer Whilst the quality of print from a thermal transfer printer is not incredibly detailed, it is more than sufficient for use in the present invention and provides the added advantages that the prints can be obtained swiftly, and the print is not affected by washing. Furthermore, thermal transfer printers are available that are portable and cost effective, so can be bought, used and maintained by any size of care home, whereas a more complicated and higher specification printer would be cost prohibitive and unnecessary for relatively low yield, non-industrial uses.

[0016] To overcome the disadvantages of using iron-on labels, such as cold spots on the iron which can lead to an insecure adhesive bond, the identification label may be heat sealed using a double-platen heat sealer. These heat sealers can be adjusted for different temperature ranges and different sealing times and compression forces. They may be small, portable and costs efficient, so they can be used in care homes as envisaged in the present invention.

[0017] The label may be heat sealed at a temperature of between about 270°C and about 400°C, for example between about 300°C and about 370°C, and may be heat sealed for a time period of between 5 to 10 seconds and may be heat sealed at 530 N of force. Suitable labels are known in the art and the adhesive on the back of the label only becomes tacky at the correct operating temperature. A higher temperature-activated adhesive label (relative to the range of activation temperatures of available temperature-activated adhesive labels) may be used in the method according to the present invention, because the label may be subject to repeated high temperatures during washing, and so a low temperature-activated adhesive will not be able to withstand such treatment. The adhesion times and pressure are sufficient to produce a complete, durable, bond, so there will be no issues of a loss of bond due to water ingress, and so the identification label will not come away. Alternative temperatures, heating times and pressures could be used depending on the label as long as they produce a suitable bond that can withstand repeated high-temperature washes. Different labels have alternative adhesives that may prove more suitable for different substrates, such as woven and non-woven materials, glass, paper or metal. A label having an adhesive specific to non-woven fabrics will be the most suitable for use with the method of the present invention.

[0018] The identification details that are printed onto the identification label could simply be the name of the owner of the item of clothing, which makes for simple allocation of the owner's clothes. Of course, alternative identification details could be provided, such as a room number. The identification details could alternatively be encoded and provided in a machine readable form, such as a barcode or REID tag, if this suits the particular use of the method of the present invention.

[0019] At least one embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for applying an identification label to a garment constituting an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a garment carrying an identification label constituting another embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a method at applying an identification label constituting another embodiment of the invention; Figures 4(A), (B) and (C) are schematic diagrams of a care label of the garment of Figure 1 carrying the identification label in overview, cross section and plan view, respectively; and Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a barcode reading arrangement used to translate a barcode to an identity of an owner (or a location thereof) of a garment carrying the identification label of Figures 4(A), (B) and (C).

[0020] Throughout the following description, identical reference numerals will be used to identify like parts.

[0021] Although specific reference is made herein to a care home environment, it should be understood that embodiments of this invention should not be construed as being solely limited to such environments, and other environments for example where clothing is collected, laundered and redistributed centrally is contemplated.

For example, this invention may find particular utility in boarding schools and/or environments where the residents or participants wear uniforms, such as medical or military residences, as the correct identification of the owner of the items of clothing would otherwise be difficult.

[0022] Referring to Figure 1, and in this example in the context of a care home comprising a number of elderly residents, each resident owns their own clothes that are collected, whenever they require laundering, from, for example, a laundry basket in the resident's room. The items of clothing, for example garments, are taken to an on-site laundry facility, where they are washed, dried and ironed. In other examples, the items of clothing are taken off-site for laundering, where they become susceptible to being mixed with laundry from other sources, for example other care homes. The items of clothing are then collated and returned to their respective owner.

[0023] In order to identify the owner of each item of clothing, a garment identification system 100 is used. The system 100 comprises a computing apparatus, for example a Personal Computer (PC) 102, coupled to a label printer 104. In the present example, a relatively, small, portable, thermal transfer label printer, such as those manufactured by Zebra Technologies, is used.

[0024] Identification labels 106 used with the label printer 104 are sized approximately in order to fit within the boundaries of the so-called "care label" 108 of a garment 110. It is desirable, although not essential, that the identification labels are sized so as not to overlie or obfuscate care instructions printed onto the care label, for example about 17mm x 15mm. The identification label 106 is backed with a heat-activated adhesive that becomes tacky at between about 300 and about 370°C. However, in other examples, the range can be between about 270°C and about 400°C.

[0025] The system 100 also comprises a heat sealer 112 comprising top and bottom heated platens 114, 116 to ensure a good adhesive bond between the identification label 106 and the garment care label 108. The label heat sealer 112 also comprises a timer and adjustable heating settings (not shown) and is capable of heating to temperatures of between about 300 and about 370°C. In this example, the heat sealer 112 is portable, lightweight and relatively inexpensive compared to larger machines used for industrial-scale heat sealing. In this example, a Model-7 digital PopupPressTM heat sealer with interchangeable mini-5 platens, available from Ez Products International, Inc., Wauchula, Florida, USA, is used.

[0026] Turning to Figure 2, the PC 102 comprises a processing resource 200, for example one or more microprocessors, operably coupled to a first output device 202, for example a display device such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The processing resource 200 is also operably coupled to a second output device 204, for example an audible output device, such as a loudspeaker. The processing resource 200 is further operably coupled to a first input device 206, for example a keyboard, and a second input device 208, for example a mouse or any other suitable pointing device. Memory resource 210, for example a non-volatile memory 212, such as a Read Only Memory (ROM), and a volatile memory 214, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), are operably coupled to the processing resource 200. A storage device 216, for example a Hard Disc Drive (HDD) is also operably coupled to the processing resource 200 and serves to store applications and data, for example a label management program and a database 218, the label management program being executable by the processing resource 200. As described in relation to Figure 1 above, the label printer 104, constituting a third output device, is also operably coupled to the processing resource 200 via a suitable interface (not shown).

[0027] Referring to Figure 5, in order to determine the owner of the garment 110, for example in a laundry 500, such as an off-site laundry, the laundry is equipped, in this example, with a barcode reader arrangement 501 comprising, for example a barcode scanner 502 operably coupled to a combined communications interface and display unit 504. Of course, the skilled person will appreciate that the interface unit (not shown) and the display need not necessarily be combined and can be provided separately. However, in this example, the communications interface and display unit 504 comprises an interface unit (not shown) and an output device 506, for example a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The barcode scanner 502 is coupled, in this example, to an RS-232 port of the interface unit via an RS-232 cable.

Internal of the combined communications interface and display unit 504, the output device 506 is coupled to another (internal) RS-232 port of the interface unit via an internal RS-232 communications link. A network interface port (not shown) of the interface unit, for example an Ethernet port) is operably coupled to a computing apparatus, for example a PC 508, via an Ethernet cable 510, for example a so-called CAT 5e cable. The PC 508 is located in another room 512 away from any harmful moisture. Although the example of Figure 5 shows a direct Ethernet connection between the combined communications interface and display unit 504, the combined communications interface and display unit 504 and the PC 508 can each be coupled to a communications network, for example an Ethernet network, so as to be able to communicate with each other. The PC 508 is loaded with an operating system, which supports a barcode lookup module capable of accessing a database of barcode data and data relating to the owners of garments, for example, names of owners, care home names, and/or room numbers. The combined communications interface and display unit 504 is, in this example, designed to prevent ingress of moisture in order to be compatible with a laundry environment. In this regard, the combined communications interface and display unit 504 has an Ingress Protection (IP) rating (according to the nternational Electrotechncal commission (IEC)) of 54, i.e. 1P54.

[0028] In operation (Figure 3), when a new resident enters a care home, or when an existing resident purchases new clothing, each item of clothing must be labelled with their owner's identification details so that the items of clothing can be laundered and returned to them with a minimum of difficulty.

[0029] As such, details of each resident of the care home are stored in the database 218. In this regard, when the new resident joins the care home, data concerning the resident needs to be added to the database 218. This can be achieved via the label management application or the data can be input and stored (Step 300) using any suitable application being used by the care home administration, for example a care home management application that stores, inter alia, information concerning each resident of the care home. In such a scenario, the label management application can be arranged to mine the database 218 used by the care home management application in order to obtain salient information required for printing onto labels to be adhered to clothing. In another example, the label management application can generate a form to be completed by a user in order to obtain information to be present on and/or encoded on the surface of the label, for example a name, a site identifier and/or a room identifier [0030] When a new item of clothing 110 is to be labelled, a suitable label can be produced and affixed to the item of clothing 110 bearing the identification details of the owner for attachment to the item of clothing 110 in the following manner The relevant owner of the garment 110 is selected by inputting their details into the label management application in a suitable search field box (not shown) presented by the label management application. Following the input of the search criterion by a user of the label management application, for example the name of a resident, the label management application then searches the database 118 in order to extract identification details corresponding to the owner that is the subject of the search (Step 302).

[0031] Optionally, the label management application can generate a unique code for the item of clothing, for example a hash code. This is particularly useful where a name of a resident contains too many characters to be printed on a label (of limited size) at a sufficient font size to be easily read. The hash code can be based on one or more of: resident name, resident address, residential home name, residential home address, type of garment.

[0032] The label management application supports the use of a template that stores one or more locations where fixed alphanumeric characters and/or a barcode are to be printed consistently on the label 106 and/or one or more locations where variable alphanumeric characters, based upon the data retrieved from the database 118, and/or a barcode are to be printed on the label 106.

Thereafter, the label management application uses the template to generate (Step 304) printing instruction data comprising the fixed alphanumeric characters and/or the data retrieved from the database 118 constituting the variable alphanumeric data and/or the barcode and/or other formatting data in order to achieve a printed label having a desired typographical arrangement. In relation to the barcode, any suitable barcode generation technique can be employed by the label management application in order to encode an identity of an owner of the garment 110 and/or a location indicative of origin of the garment 110, for example a care home and/or room. Following an instruction to print the label 106, provided by the user of the label management application, the printing instruction data is transmitted (Step 306) to the label printer 104.

[0033] The thermal transfer label printer 104 then prints (Step 308) the identification details onto the heat seal label 106. As intimated above, the identification details usually include the name of the resident that owns the garment 110, although it is envisaged that a machine readable form, such as a barcode or a so-called QR code, can conceivably be used in addition or alternatively.

[0034] After the label 106 has been printed, the heat seal label 106 is then placed onto the pre-existing care label 108 of the garment 110 and inserted between the platens 114, 116 of the heat sealer 112. In order to affix (Step 310) the heat seal label 106 to the care label 108, the platens 114,116 are then closed together to sandwich the heat seal label 106 that overlies the care label 108 therebetween and heat is applied to the heat seal label 106 and the care label 108 based upon a temperature setting of between about 270°C and about 400°C, for example between about 300°C and about 370°C, such as 350°C, for a suitable predetermined period of time appropriate for the adhesive material carried by the heat seal label 106, for example between about 5 seconds and about 10 seconds and under a force of between about 475N and about 550N, for example between about SOON and about 540N, such as about 530 N. These heat sealing parameters are sufficient for a bond to be created between the identification label 106 and the care label 108, sufficient to withstand multiple hot washes without the heat seal label 106 becoming detached from the care label 108. The use of the double-platen heat sealer ensures that any so-called "cold spots" are not co-located with respect to the surface of the heat seal label 106 and the care label 108, because the probability of both platens having a cold spot, which respectively "map" onto the same location on the heat seal label 106/the care label 108, is extremely low.

[0035] After heating the two labels 106, 108 for the predetermined period of time, the platens 114, 116 are separated to release the two labels 106, 108 and a garment "tagged" with the identification label 106 results.

[0036] Referring to Figure 4, the garment 110 carrying the identification label 106 affixed to the care label 108 (Figure 4(A)) has the following structure. Turning to Figure 4(B), the care label 108 constitutes a substrate that carries an information carrying layer 400 formed of a material capable of withstanding heat and of receiving a suitable indelible ink, for example a thermal transfer ink, so as to be able to carry printed matter, and a melted and reset adhesive layer 402 interposed between the information carrying layer 400 and the care label 108.

[0037] Turning to Figure 4(0), as mentioned above, the information label 106 contains useful information for reuniting the garment 110 with the owner of the garment 110, for example a name 404 of the resident of the care home and the unique code 406 identifying the care home and/or the owner of the garment 110, for example a barcode. A room number associated with the owner of the garment may also be printed on the information label 106 and/or stored in relation to the barcode 406.

[0038] In order to identify the owner of the garment 110, for example in the laundry 500 described above, the heat seal label 106 carried by the care label 108 is offered to the barcode scanner 502 of the reader arrangement 501 in order to read the barcode 406 carried by the heat seal label 106. The data generated as a result of the barcode scanner 502 reading the barcode 406 is converted by the interface unit mentioned above from RS-232 communications signals to packetised data and communicated to the PC 508 via the Ethernet communications link. The barcode lookup module executing on the PC 508 then accesses the database and identifies the information associated with the owner of the garment 110 corresponding to the barcode 406 read. In this respect, the barcode lookup module then communicates to the interface unit data to be displayed to an operator of the barcode scanner 502, for example a name of a care home, a name of a resident and/or a location associated with the owner of the garment, for example a room number. Alternatively, the barcode label can carry the information required in encoded form without reference to the database.

The data communicated by the PC 508 to the interface unit is then communicated, by the interface unit, to the output device 506, whereupon the data is displayed as alphanumeric information to the operator by the output device 506. The operator is then able to use the information displayed in order to direct the garment 110 to a destination so as to be reunited with the owner of the garment 110.

[0039] The skilled person should appreciate that variations and modifications to the above examples are contemplated within the scope of the appended claims.

For example, the label 106 can be absent of human-readable printed matter identifying the owner of the garment 110 and/or an organisation associated with the garment 110 and instead only carry a machine-readable element(s), such as the barcode and/or a QR code, or any other suitable machine readable code or tag.

[0040] As such, in the context of the examples set forth herein, the term "printing" should be construed broadly so as to embrace the programming of machine-readable identifying devices or elements.

[0041] Although reference has been made herein to items of clothing, for example garments, the skilled person should appreciate that items of clothing should be construed broadly to embrace not only garments, but also footwear, such as shoes. Likewise, the above examples could be applied to other possessions where labelling is required to reunite the possession with the owner and the possession is likely to undergo a process whereby identifying data is likely to be removed from the possession without application of the special measures set forth herein.

[0042] In the examples set forth herein, the care label is shown as being disposed in the garment at the top of the garment, for example the neck of a t-shirt. This has been done for the sake of ease of illustration. However, the skilled person should appreciate that the care label is usually located in a specific location within the garment, distinct from a manufacturer's brand, main or size label and, indeed, a standard location for the care label has been agreed between many manufacturers of garments.

Claims (24)

1. CLAIMS1. A method of applying an identification label to an item of clothing, the method comprising: storing data identifying an owner of the item of clothing in a storage device; retrieving the data identifying the owner of the item of clothing from the storage device; generating printing instruction data corresponding to a layout of a label bearing the data identifying the owner; sending the printing instruction data to a label printer; printing the identification data onto a heat seal label; and affixing the heat seal label onto a pre-existing label on the item of clothing using a heat seal machine.
2. 2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the heat seal label is printed using a thermal transfer printer.
3. 3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the heat seal label is heat sealed using a double platen heat sealer.
4. 4. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the label is heat sealed at a temperature of between about 270°C and about 400°C.
5. 5. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the label is heat sealed for a time period of between 5 and 10 seconds.
6. 6. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the label is heat sealed during application of a force of between about 475N and about 550 N to the heat seal label and the pie-existing label.
7. 7. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the identification data is a name of the owner of the item of clothing.
8. 8. A method as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the identification data is provided in a machine-readable form.
9. 9. A method as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the identification data is encoded as a barcode and/or stored in an RFID tag and/or as a OR code.
10. 10. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-existing label is a care label.
11. 11. A possession identification system kit comprising: a computing apparatus supporting a database of owners of possessions; a plurality of heat seal labels for receiving information identifying an owner of a possession; a printing apparatus couplable to the computing apparatus and arranged to print, when in use, the identification information onto a heat seal label of the plurality of heat seal labels; a heat seal machine arranged to receive the printed heat seal label and a pre-existing label of the possession and to affix, when in use, the heat seal label to the pre-existing label through the application of heat to the heat seal label and the pre-existing label; and a reader arrangement capable of reading at least part of the identification information and providing operator-readable information identifying a destination for the possession.
12. 12. A kit as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the reader is a barcode reader.
13. 13. A kit as claimed in Claim 11 or Claim 12, wherein the reader comprises a moisture-resistant output device to provide the information to the operator.
14. 14. A garment comprising an identifying label structure, the identifying label structure comprising: a care label serving as a substrate layer; a set heat-activated adhesive; and an information carrying layer comprising indelible markings arranged to identify a garment owner; wherein the set heat-activated adhesive bonds the information carrying layer to the substrate layer; and the markings arranged to identify the garment owner includes a barcode or aQRcode.
15. 15. A care label for a garment, the label being arranged to carry another label bearing information relating to an identification of an owner of the garment.
16. 16. A label as claimed in Claim 15, wherein the another label is a heat seal label.
17. 17. A label as claimed in Claim 15 or Claim 16, wherein the another label carries indicia relating to the identification of the owner of the garment.
18. 18. A label as claimed in Claim 17, wherein the indicia are alphanumeric text and/or a barcode and/or a OR code.
19. 19. A method of providing information relating to an identity of an owner of a garment, the method comprising: heat sealing a label bearing information relating to an identification of an owner of the garment.
20. 20. A method as claimed in Claim 19, further comprising: using a double-platen heat sealer to heat seal the label bearing the information relating to the identification of the owner of the garment to the care label.
21. 21. A method of applying an identification label to an item of clothing substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3 and 4.
22. 22. A possession identification system kit substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2.
23. 23. A care label substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1, 3 and 4.
24. 24. A method of identifying a garment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3 and 4.