American Apparel straps RFID tags onto individual garments

RFID clothing is far from revolutionary, but American Apparel is about to get everyone's attention by placing tags on a smorgasbord of garments. The firm is setting out to implement RFID at the item-level, meaning that tags will eventually hit each article of clothing it produces. For starters, the advanced inventory system will be rolled out across each of its 17 metro New York locations, while plans are already in place to deploy the solution to another 120 North American outlets. The idea is to track individual pieces as they're "tagged at the company's manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, received in its retail stores, stored in the stock rooms at the stores, and then placed onto the sales floor and ultimately sold at the point-of-sale." Of course, we wouldn't expect the tags to follow you home or anything -- too bad we can't say the same for the company's skeezy CEO, Dov Charney.

[Image courtesy of The New York Times]

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 10:22PM]

I'll wear Hollister - Abercrombie's too damn overpriced.

The difference between Hollister and Abercrombie is like the difference between a Toyota and a Lexus(or a Honda and a Acura), a Chamberlain garage door opener to a Craftsman or Lift-Master, or a Dell Vostro to a Dell Inspiron - it's the SAME DAMN THING, the only thing different is the materials used and price.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 5:21AM]

Forgot to mention. The friend of mine, who worked for A.A. as an internal security, was about to uncover a stealing ring inside the company, when he was fired for no apparent reason. The Higher ups were stealing from the owner. Guess this is a counter measure.
True Shet

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 8:43AM]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is partially motivated by their massive losses due to theft. Having friends who have worked at AA I can tell you the amount of stuff that goes missing from their stores is astronomical.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 9:04AM]

What? Ethics and moral discussion on Engadget? Turn in your nerd cards!

I think what they need to do is create a database of the RFID signals with an app that will let you take various articles of clothing to a scanner and check to see if the items are good to wear together. Sorta like Garanimals for the 21st century.

Then also have a home model that will suggest clothing options based on what you own. This should cut down how long it takes women to find outfits.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 9:18AM]

It is interesting to see, how protectionist hackles are all up.

Just a decade ago, the US was brandishing Super 301 against poor countries and championing the cause of free trade...

shoe doesn't fit so well on the other foot. does it?

[antifuse Posted Apr 15th 2008 1:56PM]

I never really liked the American Apparel gear. If I want to buy plain white t-shirts with nothing on them, I'll grab a pack of Fruit of the Looms, and save myself some cash.

This is an interesting concept though, I'll be curious to see how they implement the tags so that they CAN be easily removed by the consumer, without making them ridiculously easy to steal (see above comments about soft tags).

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 3:34PM]

I find it interesting that they use porn stars for their models ;)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/06/24/notes062405.DTL

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 15th 2008 3:55PM]

Not surprised. We unpacked a load of kids clothes from Old Navy...and then my husband spent a few hours picking out the stitches that held the tags. Usually they're sticked in with an obnoxiously colored thread (ours were all bright red) that can be easily "unstitched" with an exacto knife and a bit of time.