Using RFID tags to achieve item labeling and clothing tracking

American Apparel has always been known for breaking the mold of clothing retail. In the United States, a country where 96% of clothing is imported, American Apparel goes in the opposite direction. The company has sewing, design and dyeing factories in Los Angeles, and all products are produced in Los Angeles. In addition, although the company's logo is not printed on the product, and no celebrities are invited to promote it, young people, hippies and urbanites all recognize this brand. American Apparel has a total of 180 Stores in 13 countries. Now the company has decided to use RFID tags for item-level labeling and product tracking, and is confident in the company's RFID application.

American Apparel representatives first encountered RFID at the RFID Journal Apparel and Footwear Summit in New York last August.

Afterwards, American Apparel started a pilot project in October last year. American Apparel uses a software platform to manage electronic product codes and inventory data,

American Apparel uses RFID tags to realize single product labeling and clothing tracking, and plans to launch RFID systems in 17 New York stores within 3 months. American Apparel's main goal of adopting an RFID system is to improve inventory accuracy and better store clothing on the sales floor. After implementing the system, the company quickly saw benefits: zero out-of-stocks on the sales floor and faster inventory of all clothing items in the store. In the past, it took 4 workers 8 hours to complete the inventory in the store, but now it only takes 2 workers 2 hours to complete, so that employees have more time to help customers shop and complete other tasks.

Based on the good results of the pilot project, American Apparel believes that RFID technology will also have a positive impact on other aspects of its business processes, and decided to officially adopt the RFID system in the pilot store and 16 other stores in New York. The company plans to complete the installation in the New York store within three months and then install the system in its other 128 North American stores.

American Apparel's products are very simple, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, underwear, etc., and they are all basic, but the colors are extremely rich. American Apparel also takes a different approach to clothing inventory than other clothing retail stores. Adams explained that American Apparel has many sizes and colors for each item of clothing; only one piece of a certain color and size of a piece of clothing is displayed on the sales floor, but it is necessary to ensure that all categories of clothing are displayed on the sales floor. Displayed on the sales floor. This means that once you buy a piece of clothing, you won’t be able to find an identical piece of clothing on the sales floor. In order to replenish goods in a timely manner, employees must regularly obtain sales lists from the cashier and take out missing clothing from the warehouse.

In pilot stores, a reader installed at the checkout counter reads the RFID tag on each item of clothing sold and transmits the data to Vue software, which triggers an alert on a computer screen in the stock room. The staff then took out the sold clothes. When the clothing is brought to the sales floor, a reader antenna installed between the inventory room and the sales floor reads the tag and sends the information to the software, which then updates the location of the goods.

During the pilot program, Columbia University store employees have adopted a batch of EPC Gen 2 passive tags and attached them to clothing shipped from the Los Angeles manufacturing center. But as the company decides to formally adopt the system, it plans to complete the labeling work at the point of manufacturing.

When the goods leave the distribution center, fixed readers installed on the warehouse doors will read the hand-applied EPC Gen 2 shipping label on the outside of each box and map it to the EPC codes of all clothing tags inside the box. All of this data - EPC codes for cases and garments, read events including time and reader location - is sent to the TrueVue software platform.

When the retail store receives the tagged case, another fixed reader will collect the EPC data and send the data to the store's Vue software. The software corresponds the received goods to the factory's pre-delivery orders. Next, the Vue software adds the goods to the store inventory, and employees use RFID handheld devices to regularly inventory all goods on the sales floor.

Signs posted in stores inform customers about the application of RFID tags and their inventory tracking purposes. Currently, tags are recycled and reused at checkout. However, once retailers start installing the system in other stores, the RFID tags will remain on the clothing.