Either way, RFID (radio frequency identification) and fashion are moving together.

After three years of trials, Marks & Spencer, one of the UK's leading retailers of clothing, plans to have RFID tags attached to all items in its six departments, 53 stores and 18 suppliers in 20 countries from later this year.

Their tests with men's formal apparel over, RFID tags will now be fixed on men's suits, jackets, trousers, and ladies' lingerie, suits, formal trousers and skirts. In the lingerie department, the company will start by tagging just bras.

Unlike some other brands that tend to embed RFID tags into the outfits they sell, the so-called Intelligent Labels from Marks & Spencer are contained within disposable paper labels.

Timothy Tham, sales and marketing manager for  Paxar (Singapore) Pte Ltd, said the tags are to enable Marks & Spencer to rapidly check its stock and plan replenishments for its  distribution centres.

Paxar, a label-maker and a company prominent in providing innovative merchandising systems for the retail and apparel industries, has helped insert the chips and the antennae into self-adhesive labels sized in accordance with the requirements of Marks & Spencer.

After the tags are printed, they are sent to clothes manufacturers for attachment before delivery to the retailer. According to Marks & Spencer, an RFID tag contains only a number unique to each garment. All the tags used in the trial are passive, with no battery or power to emit a signal.

They only release their identification numbers when a Marks & Spencer scanner is passed over them.

When this is done, information is transmitted to a central stock database where automatic comparison with a stock profile triggers a replenishment order, giving the company a complete overview of stock management.

This enables the company to manage its stock more effectively in stores and throughout its distribution chain.

"Previously, when customers could not find the size they required, they had to go to a counter for a check by a staff member. RFID eliminates this process as the system knows which sizes in which styles are missing. It then sends out a message for fresh supplies," said Tham.

He said that for effective stock-checking, Marks & Spencer stores had been equipped with mobile scanners to assess the stock after a day's trading. The scanned information is transmitted directly back to the company's stock management system to ensure that accurate replenishment instructions are issued overnight to its distribution centre, enabling the store to be stocked fully the following day. Marks & Spencer said tagging made for accuracy of information, helping retailers ensure that the right goods were delivered to the right store at the right time.

suchalee@nationgroup.com

Suchalee Pongprasert

The Nation