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Designer who has helped ritchey-id's tags become a fashion statement
Greg Wright Deputy Business Editor TAGS designed to stop sheep straying have become fashion accessories in New York.
The super-tough ear tags were created by ritchey-id, based in Masham, North Yorkshire, to help owners identify their livestock.
Now the tags have been attached to a collection of fashion sweaters which have been knitted from wool supplied by a flock of Welsh sheep.
Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma found out about ritchey-id's products when she saw the tags being used at an agricultural show in Builth Wells in Wales.
Ms Meindertsma's sweaters are on show in the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in New York. Ritchey-id's tags are attached to each sweater, with the identification number of the sheep that donated the wool.
Tough enough to withstand the worst weather, ritchey-id labels can be used underground or underwater and are unaffected by grease, grime or solvents.
They can include Radio Frequency Identification, (RFID), which allows large amounts of data to be held on a small tag. RFID can be used to track the movements of goods, animals, and people.
Last year, the company's polyurethane tags helped ensure a rare 17th century gun retrieved from the wreck of the Stirling Castle could be put back together.
The tags were used to label the wooden carriage holding the ship's 49 hundredweight gun. The carriage was recovered from Goodwin Sands off the Kent Coast, where the Stirling Castle sank in a storm in 1703.
The company's tags were also used to record and reassemble a medieval ship recovered in Wales in 2004.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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