Iron-On Garment Patch

Seritag stock and can supply a wide range of tags for smart clothing, garments, shoes and other wearables. We have extensive experience and are always happy to provide help and advice. A few things to consider : 

Durability

Generally, the choice is between a 'garment spec' label and a hard disc tag. 

Seritag created the term Garment Specification tags to define strengthened labels which are typically designed for up to 100 domestic washes. Our tags are either tested using thermal and humidity cycling or testing to the ISO6330 international standard for textile washing. They are slightly flexible. 

Hard disc tags are rigid PPS plastic tags typically from 20mm to 25mm in size. 

Our general advice is that if your project should not have any failed tags under any circumstances, you need to use a hard disc tag. If you don't expect the garment to be washed (collectables) or washed infrequently, you expect the tags only to be scanned early in their life and/or an occasional failure later in the garment's life is acceptable - use a Garment Spec label. 

Attachment

Most garment tags - both disc and label - would be attached behind a sew-on or iron-on label. Sew-on is typically the best choice for all tags but almost always for rigid disc tags. 

We can also supply sew-on disc tags which look like buttons and can be directly applied. We aren't keen on these as the central holes can restrict chip and antenna design and can often lead to a tag that can be difficult to scan. 

We usually stock some direct iron-on garment tags which can be ideal for placing tags during manufacture or for shorter term direct use. Generally, for longer use, direct iron-on tags should be placed behind a second iron-on or sew-on patch to keep them secure.

Logistics

One bit of advice we always give - start simple and grow. The logistics of adding NFC tags to clothing can get complicated quickly - as most factories aren't used to using smart labels. While it might be the goal for unique tags in every product line, size and colour - it might not be best to try and do that from day one.

Keep it generic, keep it simple. The grow. 

Management

Seritag offer our groundbreaking ixkio tag management platform for deployment and post-installation management of both standard and authentication NFC tags. Whether you need to create dynamic NFC tags so you can modify the links later or full featured authentication for anti-counterfeit, our software has all the features you are likely to need.  

More Information

To help you get started with creating clothing NFC, we've put together an Ultimate Guide to NFC Clothing. 

Encoding Yourself

You can encode your tags with a smartphone and it's quick and easy.

1. Download the NFC tools app - it's free for both iPhone and Android users
2. Open the app and tap 'Write', then add a record
3. Tap 'Custom URL/URI', and then copy and paste your URL into the given text box.
4. Tap OK, and then tap 'Write'
5. Hold your phone over the tag, and your tag will encode. That's it !

For more information, have a look at our How to encode tags with an iPhone and How to encode tags with an Android phone pages. 

Encoding by Seritag

Seritag have fast and accurate encoding services when you need a large number of tags encoded or you want to be absolutely sure that the encoding is handled correctly. 

For full information on how to order your NFC tags encoded by Seritag, read our Ordering NFC Tags with Encoding advice page.