I am sure we have all seen it before: A torn up, tattered, and faded US flag flying “proudly” in a highly visible location. What was your reaction? When should a flag be retired?
Personally, when I come across such a situation I have to hold myself back from removing the flag. When a United States flag gets to the point of being tattered, faded, and torn it does not represent a proud, American attitude.
When your flag is tattered, you have choices:
-
Properly dispose the flag and purchase a new one
-
Clean and Repair the flag
-
Ignore the flag
Here a few guidelines Custom Flag Company uses to determine if an American flag should be retired:
Color
-
Is the RED dull, light red, or pink?
-
Does the WHITE look grey or have pollution streaks?
-
Is the BLUE starfield dull, almost grey?
-
Are the STARS fading into the blue field?
Length
-
When folded at the end of the BLUE field is stripe length shorter than the blue field?
-
Is the flag a square?
Fabric
-
Is the fabric thin?
-
Does the flag look transparent?
-
Do the fibers of the fabric look open?
-
Does the flag feel very soft?
Answering YES to any of the questions above would indicate the flag may need to be destroyed. This is not an exact protocol but a guideline. Ask yourself, would you want THIS flag hung outside your place of business? Does the tattered represent your business? Does it portray the American spirit you wish to display?
Flags that can be cleaned & repaired:
-
The color is vivid.
-
The blue has a dark blue appearance, the red is vibrant.
-
Stars look clean & bright. There is plenty of length on the fly end of the flag after the repair.
-
The fabric is thick, strong and not transparent.
Each flags life will end at some point so make sure you provide it a proper retirement. Drop if off at a local organization that retires flags or contact Custom Flag Company for more details.
