UHF RFID

UHF RFID (typically 860–960 MHz) is the standard for pallet, carton and item-level inventory. A single sweep can read hundreds of tags at once, which is why fashion retailers use it for store stock counts.

It is not consumer-tappable — phones don't have UHF readers — so UHF and NFC are complementary, not substitutes. A typical premium garment carries both: a UHF tag for the supply chain, an NFC tag for the buyer.

UHF Gen2 (a.k.a. EPC Gen2) is the dominant standard, governed by GS1.