GPSR and labels for jewellery and accessories: what goes on the card, the tag and the listing

The GPSR in one paragraph

The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 has applied since 13 December 2024 to consumer products sold in the EU, including jewellery, bags, hats, scarves, slippers and keychains. It requires a safe product, an economic operator in the EU who is responsible for it, traceability and clear information for the customer. It applies to shops and to online sales alike.

What must be on the product or its packaging

For every product, the following information must reach the customer:

• the manufacturer's name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal address and electronic address;
• the importer's name, trade name or mark, postal and electronic address, where the manufacturer is outside the EU;
• a type, batch or serial number or another element that identifies the product;
• warnings and safety information where needed, in a language the customer of that country easily understands.

The data goes on the product. Where the size or nature of the product does not allow it, it may go on the packaging or an accompanying document. Small jewellery, hair clips and keychains fall into that second group, so the card, hang tag or pouch carries the data.

Practical formats by product

A batch reference is often forgotten. A simple code printed on the card or tag, such as an order number and month, lets you trace a product if a complaint or recall happens. Our display-ready packaging includes space for this data by default.

Warnings that make sense in accessories

Most accessories need few warnings, but some do:

• jewellery and charms with small parts: not for children, keep away from young children;
• long necklaces, scarves and bag straps: a caution against strangulation risks where relevant to the design;
• sunglasses: the filter category and any driving limits;
• leather and dyed items: colour may transfer when wet, where that applies.

Keep warnings factual. A long list of generic warnings on every card makes the important ones easy to miss.

Textile labels for hats, scarves and gloves

Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 requires fibre composition labelling for textile products. Hats, beanies, scarves, gloves and fabric parts of bags are covered when they consist of at least 80 % textile fibres by weight. The label must:

• use the fibre names listed in the regulation, such as cotton, polyester, acrylic, wool;
• give percentages by weight;
• be durable, legible and in the official language of the country of sale;
• state "contains non-textile parts of animal origin" where, for example, a leather patch is attached.

Care symbols are not required by EU law, but customers expect them and some countries have their own practice. Most suppliers add them to the sewn-in label.

Material labels for slippers

House slippers are footwear, and Directive 94/11/EC requires information on the material of three parts: the upper, the lining and sock, and the outer sole. The label uses pictograms or words for leather, coated leather, textile and other materials, and states the material that makes up at least 80 % of each part. It goes on at least one shoe of each pair, by printing, embossing or an attached label. See our slippers range for how we label each model.

Leather and PU

Use "genuine leather" only where the supplier confirms it. Polyurethane materials are "PU" or "faux leather", never just "leather". Several countries treat misleading leather claims as unfair commercial practice, and marketplaces remove listings for it.

The same data online

The GPSR also covers distance sales. Every online listing, in your own shop or on a marketplace, must show the manufacturer's name and address, the EU responsible person where relevant, information that identifies the product including a picture and type, and any warnings or safety information. Marketplaces now ask for this data in the listing form, and listings without it can be blocked. Our page for online sellers explains how we supply the data with each model.

Packaging and producer responsibility

Cards, boxes, pouches and polybags are packaging. In several countries, the business that first places packaging on the market must register and pay into a scheme: LUCID in Germany, the BDO register in Poland, and in France packaging carries the Triman logo with sorting information. Check which rules apply where you sell, and who is the obligated party in your supply chain.

Common labelling mistakes

• Factory address only. The factory's address is needed, but without the EU importer the data is incomplete.
• Labels in English only. English works in Ireland and Malta. In Germany, France, Poland or Italy, warnings and fibre labels must be in the local language.
• Different data online and on the product. The listing and the card should show the same importer, model and warnings.
• Stickers that fall off. A label on a polybag disappears when the bag is thrown away. Put the data on the card, tag or box that stays with the product.
• No batch reference. Without it, a recall covers every unit you ever sold, not only the affected batch.

A checklist before you print

1. Importer name, postal and e-mail address on the card, tag or box.
2. A model and batch reference.
3. Warnings in every language you sell in.
4. Fibre composition on textile items, material pictograms on slippers.
5. Leather or PU stated correctly.
6. EAN where retailers or marketplaces need it.
7. Space for the Triman logo or other national marks if you sell in those countries.

Our quality and compliance page sets out what we check before goods ship, and we can print all of this on your cards and tags in the languages you need.