Are the clothes sold? This tab will collect data

During the e-commerce and physical discount season, many people are "buying, buying, buying". So, as a consumer, have you noticed the electronic tags sewn on some brand clothing recently?

It is understood that after the electronic tag on the clothes is activated, the manufacturer can track the flow of the clothes from the warehouse, for example, it can read how many times the clothes are tried on and where they are finally sold. For merchants, these electronic tags can help collect big data, but for consumers, there are some concerns: there are "trackers" on clothes, whether privacy is leaked, whether there is radiation...

There is a pattern similar to WiFi on the electronic tag. It has a built-in chip and can collect big data in the background.

customer:

The newly bought clothes have a thick label

Citizen Ms. Wang bought a Shanghai brand of women's clothing online. "There are so many labels on the clothes. In addition to the labels that introduce the size and texture of the clothes, there is also a hard label." Although she didn't know what the label was, Ms. Wang felt embarrassed and cut the label. Later, the brand's women's clothing she bought one after another had this label, and there was a symbol similar to "crooked hair" on the label. She began to wonder, does the tag still have a signal?

Later, after understanding, it turned out that since last year, the brand's clothing has been added with "electronic tags", which can communicate wirelessly and read the whereabouts of the clothes. "After knowing this situation, I cut the label every time I bought it. Otherwise, the merchants would know where I go every day. Thinking about it, I feel a little scared."

The reporter learned that the hard label mentioned by Ms. Wang is the latest application in the apparel industry. There is a chip in the label, so the texture is hard. The term of this kind of label in the industry is "RFID" (abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification), which adopts non-contact automatic identification technology, also known as electronic label. It can automatically identify target objects and obtain relevant data through radio frequency signals without the operation of staff. According to reports, the technology has begun to be widely used in medical, aviation, retail and library management fields, and has entered the clothing industry in the last year or two.

Merchant:

Women's clothing brands introduce electronic tags

The reporter found in the interview that since last year, many brands of clothing have introduced this technology.

Recently, Guangzhou local women's clothing brand Inman also introduced this technology from an information company, which is also the first business in Guangzhou to introduce this technology. The merchant told reporters that the electronic label is in cooperation with a company in Xiamen, and will be applied to the products of its main women's clothing brand from August this year.

According to its introduction, after adding electronic tags to the clothes, the trajectory of the clothes from production to customers will be recorded through data. Beginning in August this year, the company will implant an RFID chip, which is smaller than rice and imperceptible to the naked eye, into each new product, and each piece of clothing corresponds to a unique code. The number of times a customer picks up a piece of clothing in the brand’s experience store, and how many times they go in and out of the fitting room, can be tracked. At the same time, when the customer picks up the clothes and enters the fitting area, the background device can also read the chip information on the clothes, and can also display the relevant pictures of the clothes on the display screen, as well as detailed information such as online baby descriptions and buyer reviews. Customers can call shopping guides through the screen. In addition, the number of times the clothes were tried on, the final destination, etc. can be tracked.

It is understood that Hailan Home and La Chapelle have all started to use RFID technology, but they are still exploring.

Doubt:

Will it expose privacy? Is there radiation?

For merchants, electronic tags can help to obtain big sales data and facilitate businesses to do business, but for consumers, there are still many questions.

Citizen Ms. Wang said that since she learned about the function of this label, she was worried that she would reveal her whereabouts without knowing it. Mr. Lin, who is engaged in Internet education, said that it was the first time he heard that clothes labels have this function. "It turns out that many brands in the wardrobe have been installed with radio 'tracking' technology." Mr Lin said he was more worried about radiation. "Now that electronic products are flooded, radiation is even more difficult to prevent. After all, it is a signal that can send and receive data, so is there radiation?"

The reporter contacted a company specializing in the production of RFID technology electronic tags - Xiamen Xinda IOT Technology Co., Ltd. The person in charge of the company told reporters that the company cooperated with a number of clothing companies to produce electronic labels. According to his introduction, before the electronic tag fails, the information of clothes can be collected through the special reader device, including the logistics track of clothes from production to sales, the number of times a certain clothes are removed from the display by customers, the try-on rate, the transaction rate, etc. It is convenient for brand owners to do data analysis and provide decision-making basis for design, production and marketing. "After the clothes are sold, generally consumers will cut off the wash label before wearing; on the other hand, even if the consumer does not remove the wash label, the electronic label will become invalid after multiple washings, and consumers do not have to Fear of being 'tracked' all the time leading to privacy leaks."

As for radiation, he said that the ready-to-wear uses passive passive electronic tags, no batteries, and will not actively emit any signals, and there will be no radiation in the non-working state.

According to reports, the cost of an electronic tag is only a few cents, which will not increase the purchase cost of consumers.

Quality Supervision Department: There is no standard for emerging electronic labels

As the supervision department of clothing labels and labels, the relevant person in charge of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Quality Supervision said that my country has a relatively complete set of regulations and standards for labeling and labeling of clothing, and electronic labels are emerging types. few. At present, there is no normative standard for electronic label countries.

For the radiation problems that citizens are worried about, the quality supervision department will cooperate with relevant departments to conduct radiation tests in due course. When it comes to the function of merchants to collect big data information, the quality supervision department said that it will cooperate with the information management department to supervise.

Lawyer: advise customers to dismantle so as not to reveal privacy

Merchants use electronic tags on clothes and can track them. Does this violate the rights of consumers? Guangzhou lawyer Liao Jianxun believes that the products provided by merchants should ensure the personal and property safety of consumers, including consumer privacy rights. And personal information is not leaked. Therefore, in the process of using electronic labels, merchants must first ensure that consumers' privacy will not be leaked. In addition, merchants should do their best to remind consumers, for example, on the label, remind consumers to cut the label after purchasing. to eliminate possible hidden dangers.

Expert: Electronic label application will become a trend

Professor Wang Xianqing, director of the Institute of Circulation Economics of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, believes that in the scope of daily necessities, the application of electronic tags will become more and more extensive, which will facilitate the tracking of industrial products from source to end, and the whole process of product ins and outs. Management is more convenient. For merchants, they can also be more familiar with consumers' consumption tastes, so as to produce more suitable products. He believes that with the development of the Internet and the economy, this kind of application will become more and more common, which is beneficial to the development of the whole society.

Regarding consumers' concerns, he believes that in the era of Internet big data, information is becoming more and more transparent. "Compared to other privacy concerns, the fear of being exposed after wearing a piece of clothing with an electronic tag is superfluous."

But he also said that the current application of electronic tags is still in the exploratory stage, and the standardization should be strengthened in the future. While improving technology, businesses should consider issues such as professional and technical recycling.