German Footwear Giant to Embed RFID Tags in Shoes

Reno, a German shoe company, is going the way of RFID. The deal between Checkpoint Systems and one of the largest shoe retailers in Europe is a significant one, considering that they not only plan to use the RFID’s for inventory management, but also to track individual products.

The radio frequency identification tags will be embedded in the shoes but will not go home with customers. Checkpoint will deliver systems that make for easy removal of the tiny chips once the shoes have been purchased.

One obvious benefit of having the tags embedded in shoes is a reduction in theft, since store officials would theoretically be able to track the shoes using an RFID tag reader.

The announcement comes just in time for CeBIT, which launches March in Hanover, Germany, and is expected to see a new focus on RFID.