Levi Strauss and Lululemon detail RFID expansions
Both companies are fully migrating to the technology for their garments in stores.
The excitement continues to grow when it comes to RFID and retail. Levi Strauss & Co., which first piloted RFID at a handful in stores in Mexico in 2004, is now using the technology in 67 stores for point of sale, receiving and inventory accuracy use cases.
The retailer currently consumes about 60 million tags annually for tagging of men's jeans. Ernesto Hochkoeppler, director of logistics planning and PM for Levi's, said that number should reach 80 million this year, and exceed 100 million units in 18 months as the retailer begins to tag men's shorts and more women's lines.
"We continue to see the need to tag more products," Hochkoeppler said in a release. He added that Levi's is exploring integrated source tagging. "It is in our road map to get away from hang tags, which are not pleasing to the eye and have an issue of falling off the garments."
Lululemon began its road to deployment two years ago with a two-store pilot. Today, the specialty retailer is piloting at 13 locations and is preparing for a full rollout to its North American stores this fiscal year.
Joe Granato, director of global initiatives at Lululemon, says tags are applied at the retailer's distribution centers for the 13 pilot locations. However, he says that source tagging is already occurring at the point of manufacture for garments due to arrive at stores later this year. By the end of the year, all items stocked by Lululemon will carry RFID tags.