I saw this tag over a week ago in Rîver Islànd - I’d never seen it before so it caught my attention.
It freaked me out because I thought the little holes meant the tag was alarmed. I looked at it in the changing rooms and it turned out all the clothes items had them.
It turns out this is called a Concept Tag. It’s new, it’s being hailed as an amazing shôplifting deterrent, and it’s becoming increasingly popular.
It has a unique locking mechanism that makes it pretty much impossible to remove with force - one would need to apply over 50kg of pressure to force it open. It has rfid technology that makes the towers beep. It contains ink as well. As far as I can tell, the raised part acts as a key hole - the other end is the part with the pin, so the raised part with the dots is part of the unlocking mechanism.
It’s unlocked with this tool:
This is set into the shop desks by each till, and is hooked up to the tills themselves. It communicates with the tills to unlock the tag - it has to be scanned to deactivate the tag. This means that even strong golf magnets don’t work on it.
Thankfully, my initial suspicion wasn’t correct - the holes on the tag aren’t to make it beep. So at least that’s something.
It seems that ease with which lïfting tools can be bought online hasn’t gone unnoticed, and it’s resulted in stores trying to find new ways of deterring us. Hence this new tag. The store that use it have reported a 60% reduction in retail items with this tag. It’s spreading as well: the UK store Matálan has also begun trying it out.
The tag can be removed, but not without a large amount of damage to the garment. I lîfted two pairs of jeans during this trip to Rîver Îsland. Both pairs had a concept tag pinned to the seat of the jeans. I opted for cutting the tag out, and was left with two large holes:
While they were easily patched, the damage ensures that one cannot boost clothes in this condition. Also, I doubt everyone has my amateur sewing skills😅😅 Luckily, no one I’ve worn my jeans around have noticed the damage…
There appears to be a way around them, though it’s not really accessible to us due to the pricing. Here’s a page selling a Concept Tag unlocker, complete with a video!
http://shopliftingpro.net/shop/concepttag/
I’m adding some links to my sources. Also, here’s an image from a video they had on their site:
They got a fellow lïfter to try unlocking the tags and seemed pleased when he accidentally hurt himself. Assholes.
https://www.stanleysecurity.co.uk/solutions/asset-tracking-communications/electronic-article-surveillance/the-concept-tag
http://www.agon-systems.com/river-island-reduce-theft-60-per-cent-flagship-oxford-street-store-thanks-concept-tag/
http://www.concepttag.com
