Retailers Weigh Putting Radio-Emitting Threads Into Clothes to Curb Thefts
A conductive ink that emits radio signals is drawing interest from merchants like Zara, eager to outsmart thieves.
To stop shoplifting, merchants have tried everything from adding more guards and cameras to placing products under lock and key to deploying new security tags attached to garments. Still, theft—which can be due to both outsiders and employees—resulted in an estimated $73 billion in lost sales for retailers in the US alone in 2022, according to the latest survey released by the National Retail Federation. In the UK, losses from store thefts doubled in 2023, to £3.3 billion ($4.3 billion), from the previous year, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Now retailers are considering something new: weaving radio-emitting threads into some clothing, turning the garments themselves into anti-theft devices.