The DHL fashion logo.

ASK UHF C.label, a smart paper label, has been selected by System Integrator NBG ID and DHL Fashion to track garments at its 18,000-square-meter Paris distribution center. DHL fashion is in charge of forwarding 70 million clothes a year on 15 platforms of fashion clothing suppliers and boutique operators. RFID is implemented in the entire supply chain down to the retail shop, including garments reception, inventory, orders picking and delivery.

In the fashion industry, where collections change four times a year, making logistics is a fast-moving and essential element in the supply chain. The UHF-based management solution prevents mistakes in the number and sizes of pieces ordered for a reference, and increases speed of information storing and reading. It also optimizes invoicing for end-of-season returns from retailers to manufacturers.

C.label is a smart paper label based on a silver ink antenna that allows logo printing and post-printing personalization. Supply-chain management actors do not have to change all the bricks or OEM of their system infrastructure. For example, printer manufacturers gradually upgrade their devices to support RFID media. On the other hand, a full smart paper label withstands a higher temperature than plastic-based labels or tags, and does not undergo stretching when operating in harsh environment. Specific C.labels have been developed to optimize the propagation behavior on difficult materials such as liquid, metal and stacking. All RFID components, except the IC manufacturing, are produced in the ASK production plant.

“DHL has successfully implemented RFID in the world of fashion, and used UHF labels for logistics on a large and industrial scale,” says Jean-Michel Dupont, Product Marketing manager at ASK. “Our expertise in RFID and close working partnership with NBG ID helped us optimize the system and make it highly reliable, despite constraints.”

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Founded in 1997, ASK is today the leading supplier of a range of contactless cards, tickets, RFID tags and readers that comply with ISO and EPC standards. It addresses the mass transit, access control and e-government ID markets, as well as the supply-chain and logistics market. Fifty million RFID cards, tickets and labels are already in use worldwide. The company’s manufacturing facility is in Sophia-Antipolis, France, and it has local offices based in Paris, Singapore, Taiwan, and Westport, CT.

For more information, visit http://www.ask-rfid.com .