an improved system for attaching price tags to garments and other joining applications , in which individual fasteners are severed from fastener stock having a continuous , elongated plastic side member joined to a plurality of space - apart filaments . the fastener stock is advanced to a transfer site along a feed axis which is parallel to and proximate the axis of the needle through which severed fasteners are dispensed . a knife is mounted on a support slide which is slideable transversely to the feed axis , such support slide being urged toward the feed axis to cause the knife to sever an individual fastener from the fastener stock . a transfer slide engages a portion of the side member which becomes a t - bar of the severed fastener , and urges it toward the needle axis . the transfer slide is yieldably coupled to the support slide to permit the transfer slide to lag behind the knife until severing occurs . the support slide may comprise a primary slide , and the transfer member a secondary slide coupled to the primary slide by a compression spring .