• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, January 15, 2020

The tracking of things is getting better.

At the National Retail Federation Big Show this week, I caught up with the folks at Digimarc, a company that adds invisible bar codes onto all kinds of consumer goods packaging so products are lightning fast to scan at checkout.

I’ve been tracking Digimarc for years and look them up at every annual NRF show.

In addition to the product tracking this year, Digimarc showed off some nifty tracking of clothing.

Their invisible codes can now be placed on shoeboxes, textiles and garments.

For example, the codes can be on the numbers on sports jerseys so owners can scan the jersey to get more information on their favorite players and teams.

On shoeboxes, the codes can be used to authenticate the footwear, especially some of the bigger ticket items.

The clothing becomes connected.

Consumers now actually can wear the code.