Shanghai's Donghua University researchers have invented a microchip that can be implanted into clothes so as to prevent manufacturing of fake garments of well known brands.
The invention was displayed at the opening of the 2006 International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering.
More than 200 scholars in the field of intelligent control from home and abroad will take part in the event.
Garment manufacturers can implant a special product code into the Donghua chip before it is inserted into clothing.
Chips can be sewn into a shirt collar, or placed in a button.
A salesperson can scan the chip with a decoding machine after a customer has bought the clothes to ensure its genuiness, said Ding Yongsheng, Deputy Dean of Donghua's college of information science and technology.
Ding said the chip is not easy to fake compared to laser labels being used on clothing to detect counterfeits.
The State Intellectual Property Office has already awarded a patent for the chip.
Several garment factories have evinced interest in the invention whereas some are worried about its cost of yuan10 ($1.23) being too high for manufacturers.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
