Radio ID tags to go on men's clothing items at Wal-Mart

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is putting electronic identification tags on men's clothing, including jeans, starting Aug. 1 as the world's largest retailer tries to gain more control of its inventory. But the move is raising eyebrows among privacy experts.

The individual garments, which also include underwear and socks, will have removable smart tags that can be read from a distance by Wal-Mart employees with scanners.

In seconds, the employee will be able to know what sizes are missing and what is on hand in the stock room. Such instant knowledge will allow store clerks to have the right sizes on hand when shoppers need them.

The tags work by reflecting a weak radio signal to identify the product. They have long spurred privacy fears as well as visions of stores being able to scan an entire shopping cart of items at one time.

Wal-Mart's goal is to expand the tags to other types of merchandise, but company officials say it's too early to estimate when that will occur.

"There are so many significant benefits in knowing how to better manage inventory and better serve customers," said Lorenzo Lopez, a Wal-Mart spokesman.

Wal-Mart and other stores have used the tags, called radio frequency identification tags, only to track pallets or cases of merchandise in their warehouses.

Wal-Mart, which generated annual revenue of a little more than $400 billion in its latest fiscal year and operates almost 4,000 stores, has huge influence with suppliers. That makes other merchants tend to follow its lead.

"This is a first piece of a very large and very frightening tracking system," said Katherine Albrecht, director of a group called Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering.

Ms. Albrecht worries that retailers could track movements of customers in some border states such as Michigan and Washington who carry new driver's licenses containing RFID tags that ease border crossing.

She fears that retailers could scan data from such licenses and combine that with other personal information. She also says that even though the smart tags can be removed from clothing, they still can be tracked.

Wal-Mart officials said they are aware of privacy concerns but insist they are taking a "thoughtful and methodical approach."

Dan Fogelman, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said that the smart label is being used "strictly to manage inventory."

To assuage privacy concerns, Wal-Mart, which is financing some of the suppliers' costs, is asking vendors to embed the smart tags in removable labels rather than in clothing.