Removing Labels

i personally wouldnt bother …. the weight savings will be minimal and psychological

besides should you ever want to resell it … good luck

Most likely you could use a seam ripper to get those out. I would not do this on a hardshell garment. You'll have a rectangle of holes to deal with. At least the Patagucci logo is small and tasteful unlike those honking huge ones TNF puts on everything everywhere

Removing these is not for weight savings. I just don't like walking around advertising my gear. I buy this gear for use and nothing more. Smaller cottage companies is a different story because they don't have the money to advertise. These larger companies have their names enough places.

I like your reason

I like your reason as well, it will be hard to shake the Patagonia off that neon aquamarine blue nano puffy, pretty distinct color.

Take a black sharpie to the label.

If you can get them off, please mail them to me so I can sew them on my underwear. Never been able to afford much Patagonia gear.

I agree that removing them will leave holes that could leak water in.

If it's not a weight issue, then you could get some iron-on transfer material in black or white or some color that might go all right with the clothing, and just iron a small piece onto the label to cover it.
Some of this iron-on stuff is like a thin plastic/vinyl material, which seems waterproof too, so you might could iron a small patch of that over the holes if you take the label off.
The iron-on stuff is so thin and light that it wouldn't make any weight impact at all anyway, and it would stay on.
Just follow the instructions and be careful to not burn anything with the iron.

I always remove my labels,
both to save weight (3 grams does matter, 3g x 10 items = a whole ounce).
and for Michael's reason of not wanting to be a billboard.

Removing from Nano is no problem. all my Nano tags are gone.
removing from outside of shell … if it will impact the waterproofness I just leave it.
also, iron on labels, too easy to damage the item, I just leave them.

Regardless of color; if you are a gear junkie like myself and many others here on BPL you will know what a Nano Puff is. I guess it's more for piece of mind knowing I'm not a walking billboard.

Thanks to everyone who posted with useful information!

+1 on removing labels! A true Gear Geek removes all labels just because they can plus it all adds up. Less is More.

Don't remove the very small Patagonia label. Most water proof shells have a waterproof tape over the inside stitching of the jacket were the label is.

The only reason I could see removing the labels is if your sponsored by another team or if your in television show or commercial. The technical people on the set will solve that problem with all the different colors of tape they to use cover up labels when filming.
Don't buy in to Ray Jardien's B.S. about removing labels.
Terry

Ray Jardien, who is that?

I'm kidding I know, but my doings have nothing to do with him or anyone else. Solely done for myself.

When I started out going lightweight, I carefully removed all labels, thinking I was cutting weight. I stopped doing so after about a year. I discovered that I needed the size information and, especially, the fabric care information later on, and I inevitably lost the tags. This is especially a problem if you might want to sell the item or donate it to a charity thrift store later on. You of course never expect to do this when you first buy an item.

I also found that it takes a LOT of labels to register 1 gram on my scale!

Removing labels that are sewn into a seam weakens the seam. If you do remove them, just cut the label close to the seam. Otherwise you'll have to open up the seam (very carefully as to not damage the garment fabric) and re-sew. Of course you never have matching thread, so you either have an unsightly mess or have to go out and buy thread that matches the garment.

If you remove flat labels as shown on the photo of the sleeve, you'll probably have to seam seal the resulting stitching holes, which completely offsets any weight savings. You'll also considerably reduce the resale value of the item. Remember that most people regard these tags as status symbols!

I do remove tags at the back of the neck that bother me (I wear the shirt a couple of times first, since not all tags are a problem). Fortunately, a lot of manufacturers now print the info on the inside of the fabric of the shirt!

I also remove (by cutting about 1/8" from the seam) the "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" tags on sleeping bags. Those, of course, weigh more and are a nuisance. The warning on the tags is for the retailer, not the consumer!

I know what you mean about being a walking advertisement. I try to avoid buying clothing with enormous logos. As long as the tags are small, as on your Patagonia jackets, nobody's going to notice them. It's not as though they scream "Patagucci" to someone 50 feet away! I have several Montbell items which have "Montbell" embroidered on them. Removing the embroidery (a rather hazardous and lengthy undertaking) would leave a far more obvious mess.

If I felt like you do about them, I would also suggest using a black Sharpie.
Franco

@Craig:

Where on the thong would you sew the label?

A black Sharpie just "grayed-out" the white Nike swoosh on my polyester cap, but that's better than nothing. The Sharpie ink fades too.

I wonder how gaffer tape would work? Anyone tried it?

I understand your motive to remove the labels, but I think you are liable to damage the jackets in any attempt on using a thread remover.

I removed my pata label off of my nano puff hoody with no issues afterwards.

I removed the big N on the sides of my New Balance Minimus Trails for both the weight savings and my unwillingness to advertise that brand. A seam ripper and 15 minutes was all that was required and it netted me 4.6 grams (2.3 grams per useless N) in weight savings. The shoes have since that time seen around 100 miles with nary a problem.

I’m a decigram weenie so I find that a very worthwhile weight reduction. I also cut the tags out of my Montbell Tachyon Anorak and combined all the tags weighed 0.3 grams.

Regarding losing the tags, I simply scan them and then file them away on my laptop.

Putting the NB Minimus Trail on a Diet

Awesome job on those shoes. 4.3 grams is quite a bit of weight shaved off each foot.

To the OP, if the advertising is your primary concern, then you could cover the labels with a neat patch of some sort. I've got some small fabric patches from a few parks/trails that I would consider using for something like this.

I do consider it a victory considering I was starting with something as svelte as the NB Minimus.

I find that reason quite silly. Like another poster already said, the only time it makes sense is if you are a sponsored professional athlete, you should only show labels for gear from your sponsors. That, I understand. Well, also aesthetic reasons. Some logos are just butt-freakin'-ugly…

So, just to ask you a quick question. If you are hiking down the trail with your big corporation gear with the labels removed, and some passer-by stops, and says "hey, that's a nice looking piece of kit, how do you like it, and where can I get one?", do you respond with "Sorry, I can't answer you because I'm not paid to advertise for this company…"?

I used to be pretty active on a popular mountain bike forum a few years ago, and this topic would come up time to time. Back then, I called it "Pro Sponsored Racer Envy Syndrome" or something like that. For all the wanna-be pro downhillers that weren't fast enough to cut it, but were jealous of the pros and for them getting all kinds of free gear.

Seriously, how much money do you think Patagonia is going to gain or loose if you leave the label or keep it? The best way you can NOT support them is to NOT buy their gear in the first place.

BM

The thing is, I thought much more highly of you when those labels indicated your taste in outdoor gear… or was it that you weren't kooky enough to peel off labels?

I still get residuals every time I bust out my Wilderness Experience hat, Kelty Tioga and Bibler tent. I made enough money last year to buy a Patagonia sticker for the rear window of my Prius.

I’ve got a Patagonia Better Sweater that I’d like to add an embroidered logo to. I don’t really want the patagucci tag on there as well, so I’m hoping to remove it. However, when I took it to the embroidery place, they said there’s a possibility that it’s glued on as well as sewn. Anyone have any experience removing one of these tags?