Marks & Spencer completes initial RFID trials for clothing items

Intellident Ltd has been awarded a sole supplier contract by Marks & Spencer to design ,develop and supply the RFID reading equipment and “chip based” label inlays that are then converted by their main label contractor Paxar Europe.

Marks & Spencer has completed a trial of UHF radio frequency ID (RFID) tracking tags on clothing items at one of its UK stores as part of plans to improve stock accuracy and product availability for customers.

The tags were contained within throwaway paper labels called Intelligent Labels attached to, but not embedded in, a selection of men’s suits, shirts and ties at the High Wycombe store in the UK. The trial lasted for four weeks.

James Stafford who heads up Marks & Spencer’s RFID initiatives, said ‘I am delighted with the initial results and recognise the value of the skills and experience within Intellident as our partner as we move forward - a true partnership which provides an unambiguous approach to the adoption of this exciting technology.’

Aware of growing public unease around gathering information on RFID chips, Marks & Spencer has gone to great lengths to ensure a transparency to its trials and to limit the data that will be collected and to restrict what the tags were used for. The tags hold the number unique to each garment. The information associated with this number is held on Marks & Spencer’s secure database and relates only to that product or garment’s details, for example, the size, style and colour. The tags only release their unique identification number in the presence of a Marks & Spencer scanner.