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Fifteen percent of area

Fifteen percent of the surface

By Dwight Davis, Founder

On this page11
Weight in one place, area in the other. Same part of the same title.

The trimmings exemption has a ceiling and the ceiling is an area

Decorative trim or a decorative pattern or design is exempt provided it does not exceed 15 percent of the surface area of the household textile article.

Which measures something weight cannot reach

Embroidery thread is light. A design covering a seventh of a shirt could be a fraction of a percent of its weight. Measured by weight the rule would never find it; measured by area it does.

So one part of one title carries two incommensurable thresholds

Five percent by weight suppresses a fiber name. Fifteen percent of surface area removes an exemption. Neither number can be converted into the other and neither is a substitute for the other.

Across this library that is a seventh way a rule has been indexed

The others are panel area, proportion of label space, a flat floor regardless of size, container volume combined with characters per inch, total surface area, and an area-weighted average over wetted surfaces. This is the first case of one part using two measures at once.

The rule also prescribes a phrase for the honest middle case

If no representation is made as to the fiber content of the decoration, and its fiber content differs from the basic fabric, the fiber content designation of the basic fabric shall be followed by the statement exclusive of decoration.

Which is a disclosure of a boundary rather than of a content

The statement does not say what the decoration is made of. It says that the numbers given do not cover it, which lets a reader know the edge of what has been measured.

And there is a second prescribed phrase at a third threshold

Elastic material that is part of the basic fabric may be treated as a finding where it does not exceed 20 percent of the surface area, provided the fiber content information is followed by the statement exclusive of elastic.

Three numbers, three different jobs

Five percent by weight, fifteen percent of area, twenty percent of area. The first changes a name, the second removes an exemption, the third permits a reclassification. Reading them as a single scale would be wrong.

The part has a fourth area threshold elsewhere, on a sample

A sample, swatch or specimen need not be labeled if it is less than two square inches in area and the required information is disclosed clearly, conspicuously and non-deceptively on accompanying promotional matter.

And a fifth on a flag

The covered product list reaches flags with a heading or more than 216 square inches in size. A small flag with no heading sits outside the list, which is a size test on a product rather than on a label or a decoration.

References

16 CFR 303.12(a), which exempts trimmings incorporated in wearing apparel and household textile articles "except for decorative trim, decorative patterns and designs, and elastic materials in findings exceeding the surface area thresholds", lists at (a)(2) "Decorative trim, whether applied by embroidery, overlay, applique, or attachment", and provides that such trim or design "does not exceed 15 percent of the surface area of the household textile article". Where no representation is made and the content differs, "the fiber content designation of the basic fabric shall be followed by the statement “exclusive of decoration.”" Paragraph (b) allows elastic material up to "20 percent of the surface area", followed by "exclusive of elastic." law.cornell.edu
16 CFR 303.45, which lists the covered products and the exclusions. Paragraph (a)(15) covers "Flags with heading or more than 216 square inches (13.9 dm2) in size" and (a)(17) covers "All fibers, yarns and fabrics (including narrow fabrics except packaging ribbons)". Paragraph (b)(1) excludes "Belts, suspenders, arm bands, permanently knotted neckties, garters, sanitary belts, diaper liners, labels (either required or non-required) individually and in rolls, looper clips intended for handicraft purposes, book cloth, artists’ canvases, tapestry cloth, and shoe laces." law.cornell.edu
Written from 16 CFR part 303 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Part 303 implements the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act and governs fiber content labeling on finished textile products; it does not govern floss, needles, beads or hoop hardware, and nothing here says it does. Heights and diameters in the catalog are outside dimensions, so no interior measurement is stated on these pages. This shelf is shared identically by nine groups and the sewing notions property enumerates the inventory.