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In a personal encounter with a fellow Jew, they pointed out that I did not have a 'shaatnez label' in my suit. Although it is a prevalent custom for shaatnez checkers to sew their label into a checked item I didn't like its appearance and so removed it.
Due to the prevalence of shaatnez labels, is it indeed considered מראית עין to remove such a label?
Yad Malachi states in the name of the pri chadash, Yorah De'ah siman 87 sk 7 that we don't make up new concerns of maris ayin beyond what is in the Gemara.
Since the label is sewn into the inside of the suit, how would anyone know that it is not there? I normally staple it into the inside of the suit so that I will remember that I have had it checked. If it is not there, you might get it confused with a different suit that you need to check.
Marit Ayin is a matter of how something appears to people walking by and seeing it. An example was the necessity to put the box of nondairy creamer with the pareve marking on the table when they first came out. Now that they are well known, that is no longer required by the hecsherim at the caterers that I have seen.
Thus, the shatnez label would not be a case of marit ayin because it is something that you would check for yourself and not need the certificate. For example, it is only at a catered affair that the cateres put out a sign saying what the hashgacha is or restaurants put up a hechser sign. You would not do that in your home.
In fact the Baltimore Star-K gives out a shatnez label but does not sew it into the suit. If you want it (for your own reasons) fine. If not, you do not need to put it in. As I said above, I just do it so that I will remember when I buy a new suit.
I have, several times, called a shaatnez lab (the so-called "Mikdash Melech" one in Midwood, though I think it no longer has any connection with Mikdash Melech), asked about a certain article of clothing whether it has shaatnez, and was told that there is a chazaka (reliable status quo, in this case based on the manufacturer and place of origin) that it does not and that I could wear it. Obviously, there's no tag sewn into those articles of clothing, but I find it hard to believe that any mar'is ayin attaches. (Moreover, the shaatnez lab's telling me I could wear the clothing without sending me a tag implies that it, too, thinks there's no problem.)
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe (OC II:40) Defines maras ayin as the prohibition of doing something that appears to be forbidden when it will influence others to commit an act which is a sin.
Aside from this definition Maras ayin are specific things which the rabbis said are maras ayin and not simply being nosy and assuming that someone is doing something wrong. If just observing any action at all there could be no end to the assumptions of what is or isn't maras ayin. This is why it's important to understand what the prohibition is and how would this specific action lead others to do something prohibited not just an assumption about somebody's personal behavior.
