I have three children of school age, which inevitably means that over the years there have been plenty of lost items of clothing ranging from random socks to a brand new coat. With all the children in the classes wearing the same school uniform, it can be very easy for items to become misplaced or taken home by someone else by accident.
My children's primary school always recommends labelling clothes, but I, like many other parents simply write their child's name on the inner label which of course over time often becomes faded with both general wear and tear and regular washing. Therefore when
Petit Fernand got in touch to see if I would be interested in trying out some of their products, it felt like the ideal opportunity for me to get more organised and label my childrens clothing more effectively and prevent future items from going astray.
Petit Fernand sell a range of items which include
iron on clothing labels,
stick on clothing labels,
stick on item labels and other personalised products such as
water bottles,
lunchboxes and
mugs. Their items are much more appealing than your traditional plain clothing labels and instead they offer a wide range of designs, colours and fonts that you can choose from. I had a good browse through the website, trying to make a decision as to which labels would be best suited for each of my children. I was pleasantly surprised by the choice available and decided to let the children get involved and create their own designs which they absolutely loved.
The website is extremely user friendly which makes placing orders not only easy, but enjoyable too. My children took it in turns to pick which labels they would like, then they got creative with their personalisation options. Firstly they could pick a background colour, followed by a text colour and then an icon that could fit at the top of the label. You could then write the text that you required in the boxes provided and a preview of your label would appear on the right hand side. My children enjoyed playing around with all the different options and seeing how each font looked with their design.
The first item the boys created was their stick on clothing labels. These are a fantastic idea and take all the hassle out of having to sew or iron labels into place. The stickers each measure 17.5 x 22mm and had space for two lines of text. They are designed to be applied to garments care or size labels that already exist inside clothing, so if you have an item that doesn't have these, then you would need to use the
iron-on clothing label option instead as those ones can be applied directly to any fabric.
Riley chose a lovely bright yellow (his favourite colour), along with a star icon and a funky blue font. We decided against placing his class name on these stickers, even though there was room as we decided we wanted to use them on some other clothing as well as school uniform, so we opted for the text "This belongs to Riley" instead. Ben decided on a similar text, but opted for a bright blue background, with a football icon for his design. Something which he was very pleased with.
I was somewhat intrigued as to how well stick on clothing labels would last especially when being washed regularly, but somehow these labels are designed to be both washing machine and tumble dryer resistant. This was great to hear and it was definitely something that I was keen to put to the test.
The next products we chose were some stick-on item labels, with the intention of applying these to various school accessories such as pencil cases, note books, lunchboxes and juice bottles. The size of these could also be customised with a selection of options available. These were:
- Mini (46mm x 6mm)
- 1 line (56mm x 11mm)
- 2 lines (56mm x 15mm)
- 4 lines (56mm x 36mm)
Ben opted for one line and continued with his football theme to match his clothing labels, where as Riley decided that he would like his class name on the item labels so decided to go with two lines instead. He wanted these ones to be completely different to the clothing labels he had created earlier, so this time he chose a space themed background with a rocket ship icon and they looked fabulous! My daughter also decided that she would like some item labels to place on her text books to make them stand out a little more. She therefore went for a pale pink background with a bright sugar skull icon and a lovely bold pink text which was sure to make her items stand out.
Lastly, I wanted to choose one of the personalised products and after having a look through the items available, I chose one of the wonderful personalised lunch boxes which offered plenty of space and containers for Riley's school lunch, picnics or just for snacks and treats. Offering a large 1000ml capacity and measuring at 210mm (w) x 85mm (h) x 145mm (d), they looked fantastic and with a choice of 34 themes to choose from, it seemed an excellent choice. The lunch boxes are BPA-free and are microwave and fridge safe. In addition to this they include a main container, 2 removable containers, an ice pack, a bento layer and a lid.
Two of my children regularly have school dinners, where as Riley has packed lunches every day so I knew it would get plenty of use. His topic in school at the moment is Superheros, which he is really enjoying, so I decided to try and find a superhero theme for his lunch box too. Fortunately they had just the right design which was exactly what I had in mind. Again we were able to customise this with his name, so there is definitely no chance of it getting mixed up with anyone else in school now.
Once all of our items had been selected and customised, we placed the order and waited patiently for them to arrive. We received an order confirmation via email soon after ordering and then a further email around two days later once the items were on their way. We then received everything a couple of days later, all neatly packaged in a cardboard box.
On opening the box I was really pleased with how everything had been presented. The labels came in their own little presentation booklet which looked great. Inside the front and back cover there was a user guide explaining how to use them, as well as some care tips to help get the best value from your labels. At the back of the booklet, was a lovely free gift page which featured some jungle character stickers and Riley wasted no time in creating a jungle themed picture with them.
The lunch box looked fantastic and was of really good quality. It is quite heavy with the ice pack inside, but this is removable should the weight be of any concern. We had also ordered one of the cotton lunch box bags for Riley to keep his lunch box in, so this made it easy for him to carry it around and transport it from home to school. We were all keen to begin putting the items to the test, so I asked Riley to think of some ideas for some food that he would like to go in his new lunch box and I asked Emma and Ben to get their school uniform and some items together so that we could begin to apply the labels.
Using the
stick on clothing labels is really easy and it is a simple process to apply these to your items. First of all you need to make sure that the surface that you want to attach a label to is clean, then remove the label from it's backing and simply press firmly in your chosen location. Each of my children decided that they would like to do their own labels, which made an already easy job, even easier for me! Ben lay his school uniform out and set about finding the existing garment labels, whilst Emma arranged some of her work books and decided where she would like to place the stickers. Who knew that applying labels to items could actually be a fun activity to do together?!
I was still slightly sceptical as to how the stick on labels could withstand the washing machine, but my boys are pretty much guaranteed to come home with mud covered clothes on most days, so I knew it wouldn't be long before I could test this out. The care tips do recommend that you wait 24 hours after applying the stick-on clothing labels before wearing or washing, so when Riley came home with a dirty school polo shirt a couple of days later, it was timed perfectly for me to place it in the wash.
Much to my surprise the label was still completely intact when I removed it from the washing machine, usually I would place school uniform to dry on the maid, but decided to use the tumble dryer on this occasion to see if it could withstand heat just as well. Again the label came out of the tumble dryer exactly as it entered and I was very impressed that these hadn't torn or faded in any way. The polo shirt has now been in the wash on three separate occasions and the label still looks as good as new. I will however update this blog post after 20 washes to see if they are still doing well.
I found the labels to be extremely good value for money, with the stick on clothing labels costing from as little as £3 for 10 labels. The
stick on item labels also cost from £3 for 10 labels which I think is a very cost effective way of keeping your items safe and preventing loss.
With regards to the lunch box, Riley absolutely loved the design, but also the little compartments too. He was trying to think what he could put in them and came up with a few ideas such as nuts, raisins, chopped veg, fruit or sweets. We decided that nuts would not be a good idea in case some other children in school have allergies, so we thought that fruit would be the safer option. We then used the larger compartment for his sandwiches or wraps.
The removable compartments make it easy to clean and we all agreed that the design of the product was ideal for storing lunch time food. We also thought that it would be ideal for picnics or school trips, especially in the summer months, where the ice pack will ensure that food remains chilled and suitable to eat. The lid fits really securely to the base using the clips and Riley found these easy enough to do himself, without the need to ask for assistance.
The price of the personalised lunch boxes are £22, which may seem a little on the high side at first, however when you consider that a lot of the material lunch boxes that you find in supermarkets now range between £7 to £12 and don't really last too long, then £22 for an excellent quality personalised item is actually really good value and I do think that it is a very fair price having seen the final product and used it.
Overall we have been extremely impressed with Petit Fernand, not only with the products, but also with the service. Everything from the product selection, to placing the order, to receiving them and then using them has been really simple and enjoyable too. The website was really easy to use, with all the products placed in easily identifiable categories. I loved that my children found it easy to use, so that they could have an input in their label designs. I found the prices to be very reasonable and I will definitely be ordering the stick on labels again in the future for my children's clothing. We would recommend Petit Fernand to others and I will most certainly be using their service again.
If you would like to find out more about Petit Fernand, then you can visit their website or social media on the following channels:
Disclaimer: We were provided with a £50 voucher from Petit Fernand for the purpose of purchasing items of our choice to review. Opinions and photographs are my own unless otherwise stated. This post does not contain affiliate links.
