Maidenform Picks CYBRA for RFID

June 28, 2011 Alex Woodie

The next time you or your loved one purchases intimate apparel from Maidenform, it will include a little something extra: an RFID tag. What’s more, that RFID tag will be encoded by Maidenform using software from CYBRA.

The Yonkers, New York, software company announced this month that Maidenform selected its EdgeMagic software as part of its item-level RFID tagging program. This will enable Maidenform and downstream retailers to track the whereabouts of individual items, which will bring efficiencies to inventory handling in the supply chain. (Consumers need not worry that Maidenform items will transmit location information.)

Maidenform’s vice president of U.S. distribution, Sheila White, says the company picked CYBRA after an extensive vetting process. “The EdgeMagic solution will also enable Maidenform to address a wide range of auto-ID printing and encoding needs, including fabric care labels, carton labels, and other documents in addition to the item-level RFID tags,” she states in a press release.

Item-level RFID tagging is gaining popularity as the cost of electronic tags comes down and the comfort level with radio frequency identification goes up. While item-level tagging is still primarily reserved for higher cost items, the retail supply chain is widening its adoption of item-level tagging as the technology becomes more mature and costs go down.

EdgeMagic runs on IBM i in addition to other operating systems. Although most of CYBRA’s customers are IBM i shops, Maidenform is running EdgeMagic on Windows Server 2008 and the Oracle database, a CYBRA spokesman says.

CYBRA provides RFID tagging technology to many retailers, including JC Penney, Walmart, and Dillard’s, says CYBRA president Harold Brand. For more information, see www.cybra.com.