News in Brief

Woven Thread Helps Luxury Brands Fight Fakes

A small label maker in Japan, Nakagawa Industry, has developed an anticounterfeting thread called Shirushi (meaning ‘mark’ or ‘sign’), which is printed with a brand’s name and woven into labels.

The thread, measuring 0.15mm-0.75mm wide, is used by clients including Marlmarl, a high-end apparel brand for babies and children, as well as other upmarket fashion houses.

Nakagawa previously worked on developing labels based on integrated circuit chips. However, many customers wanted to feature their brand names on the labels, so the company instead opted for the printed threads.

While adoption was slow initially, demand is increasing in response to the growing spread of copycat goods on the internet.

The company says it receives inquiries about anticounterfeit labels at least once a month. Nakagawa is now looking to expand its offering beyond apparel products, by providing Shirushi labels to furniture manufacturers for use in sofa covers and drapery.