FORTISVEX California State Flag 5x8 Feet Polyester - Made in USA Bear Flag with Brass Grommets

Exposed commercial sites — a dealership on the highway, a bank on the corner, a fire station on a ridge — call for this polyester 5x8 foot flag, forty square feet that stays strong wet and colorfast in sun.

This is the California state flag at 5x8 Feet (40 square feet) in polyester, made in the United States and finished with brass grommets.

Built to the California flag specification

The California flag is set out in California Government Code Section 420, one of the most precise flag statutes in the country. It is two thirds as tall as it is long, with a red stripe along the bottom exactly one sixth of the height, a grizzly bear walking left across a green grass plot of twelve tufts and measuring two thirds of the flag’s height from nose to hind paw, one red five-pointed star in the upper hoist corner, and the words California Republic in condensed gothic capitals between the grass and the stripe.

Adopted in 1911 and standardized to its current form in 1953; it derives from the original Bear Flag raised at Sonoma during the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, when a short-lived republic declared independence from Mexico and lasted twenty five days; the design is credited to William Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln, who painted the original at Sonoma.

California is precise about proportion. Government Code Section 420 makes the flag two thirds as tall as it is long, which is two to three, and a 4x6 foot flag, an 8x12 foot flag, a 10x15 foot flag and a 12x18 foot flag all match it exactly. A 3x5 foot flag is a three to five ratio and is therefore slightly deeper than the statute describes, which is true of almost every 3x5 foot state flag sold in the country.

What we build is a faithful reproduction of that design, sized to the standard outdoor sizes every manufacturer uses and the states themselves order in. On an outdoor flag, the colors, the seal and the emblems are what has to be right, and here they are.

The law that defines it, in its own words

California Government Code Section 420 reads:

The Bear Flag is the State Flag of California. As viewed with the hoist end of the flag to the left of the observer there appears in the upper left-hand corner of a white field a five-pointed red star with one point vertically upward and in the middle of the white field a brown grizzly bear walking toward the left with all four paws on a green grass plot, with head and eye turned slightly toward the observer; a red stripe forms the length of the flag at the bottom, and between the grass plot and the red stripe appear the words CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC. Dimensions, excluding heading and unfinished flag ends: The hoist or flag width is two-thirds of the fly or flag length; the red stripe width is one-sixth of the hoist width. The state official flag hoist widths shall be two, three, four, five, six and eight feet.

The section continues with the proportions of the star, bear, grass plot and lettering, then the Textile Color Card Association references: White cable 70001, Old Glory red 70180, Irish Green 70168, Maple Sugar brown 70129, Seal dark brown 70108. The bear illustration itself appears only in the printed Statutes of 1953, chapter 1140.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read California Government Code Section 420 in full at Justia, and check what we sell against it.

This is what we actually make, not a stand-in for it.

What is on it and what it means

The bear is a California grizzly, a subspecies now extinct. The last one held in captivity, a bear named Monarch, was the model used when the flag was standardized. The star recalls the lone star of the 1836 California revolt. The original 1846 flag was destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906.

What most listings get wrong

Three errors are repeated constantly by other retailers and by general reference sites. The bear walks on all fours; it does not stand upright. The words California Republic sit below the bear, not above it. And the word Eureka belongs to the state seal, not to the flag, so any California flag carrying it is wrong.

Where the California flag flies

The Superflag, five hundred and five by two hundred and twenty five feet and about three thousand pounds, was made for Thomas Demski of Long Beach and was recognized by Guinness as the world's largest flag in the 1994 and 1995 editions. Its 1996 unfurling at Hoover Dam made it the largest flag flown. It no longer holds the world title but is still cited as the largest American flag. Calipatria in Imperial County has a one hundred and eighty four foot municipal flagpole so the flag flies at sea level in a town one hundred and eighty four feet below it. Dorris is documented as having one of the tallest United States flagpoles.

Fly it on California’s birthday

California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. Under the United States Flag Code as amended July 7, 1976, a state flag flown on the state’s birthday takes its place beneath the United States flag, and that day is the one date every year the California flag has an official reason to go up.

California Admission Day is September 9, a legal observance, and some cities close offices for it.

Buy it in time and it goes up on the day it matters. Every state’s date is on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in California

Nylon in the mild sheltered coastal valley metros, the Los Angeles basin, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento. Polyester on the immediate coast for salt, in the high wind passes at San Gorgonio and Altamont, and in the high ultraviolet desert at Palm Springs and the Bakersfield edge.

For scale, the National Weather Service ultraviolet index forecast for Los Angeles on July 23, 2026 was 11 at solar noon, in the extreme band. That is the sun this flag has to survive.

The heading takes real load at forty square feet in any gust, and the exposed sites above will reveal the difference between nylon and polyester within a season.

This is the two-ply polyester listing, suited to the exposed, windy, coastal and high sun sites named above, and to a flagpole flown around the clock. The reason is in the fiber itself: polyester’s ester bonds resist ultraviolet, unlike nylon’s amide bonds, so color and strength hold longer under sun. Water is barely absorbed, so it is as strong wet as dry, salt sheds off rather than soaking in, and there is less to freeze. Its open weave passes fast wind through the fabric, which is why it beats nylon on exposed poles. It costs you calm-day movement — heavier, it hangs still on quiet afternoons where nylon would keep moving. A sheltered site is where the nylon version flies more often.

Most people only learn this after buying twice: replacing a flag every six months on a tall pole is not just about the flag’s price. There is the ladder, the halyard work, the time, and on a commercial site, someone’s paid hour on top. The heavier material costs more once and avoids repeating all of that. Over three years on an exposed flagpole, it works out cheaper, even though it costs more up front.

Institutions commonly cite the American Legion’s figure: the federal government expects about ninety days from a flag flown daily sunrise to sunset, and roughly a quarter of that flown around the clock. On the ground, retailers report three to six months for nylon flown daily, four to eight for polyester, and one to three years for occasional flying. Take these as working estimates, not warranties — exposure can move them a long way in either direction.

How the 5x8 Feet is built

Forty square feet of flag on a business flagpole fails visibly, from the road, the same vantage point it was put up to be seen from in the first place.

The math comes to 40 square feet of two-ply spun polyester at roughly four ounces a square yard. In a thirty mile an hour wind, the fly end moves faster than the wind that is driving it, since the wave headed for the tip speeds up as it travels — which explains why the tip wears out first and why fly-end stitching count is worth checking on any listing.

This size is easier with two people, particularly when it is windy — forty square feet of loose material will catch the wind while one person tries to fold it.

Lock stitching means each stitch is knotted into the next, so a broken thread stops where it broke rather than unzipping the seam. 4 rows does not mean 4 times the strength; it means 3 backups. This size steps the heading up to two inches, heavy duty white and reinforced, with brass grommets and tooth washers. Forty square feet in a gust pulls hard, and that extra half inch of heading earns its place.

Two-ply spun polyester, the heavier material, is what this flag is built from. Its open weave lets wind pass through instead of fighting it, it keeps its strength when wet, and it resists fading longer under strong sun. The trade off is real: extra weight means it needs more wind to fly, and it costs more up front.

Why this flag is harder to make than most

A detailed bear silhouette, a twelve-tuft grass plot, lettering and a star, and a statute that fixes proportions precisely enough that a sloppy reproduction is visibly wrong.

For what it is worth, the North American Vexillological Association surveyed 72 state, provincial and territorial flags in 2001 and rated them from zero to ten. The California flag placed 13, at 7.00 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

An in-ground flagpole of twenty five to thirty five feet is the pairing most commercial sites use for this size.

Questions about the 5x8 Feet

What size flagpole for a 5x8 foot flag? Twenty five to thirty five feet in the ground, which is the standard commercial flagpole. This is the size on most dealerships, banks and fire stations.

Should a business choose nylon or polyester at 5x8 Feet? Nylon flies more often and looks better on a calm day. Polyester lasts longer on an open, windy or coastal site. The section above names which your state is.

How often does a 5x8 foot commercial flag need replacing? A flag flown daily on an exposed commercial flagpole is typically replaced two to four times a year. A rotation of two flags swapped monthly stretches that.

Read from the road

People judge a commercial flag from a distance, often without ever seeing the building close up. Polyester's longer color life under sun is exactly what a road-facing flag needs.

Specifications

• Size: 5x8 Feet
• Area: 40 square feet
• Material: 100 percent two-ply spun polyester
• Fly end: 4 rows of lock stitching
• Heading: heavy duty white, reinforced, 2 inch
• Finish: Brass Grommets
• Ink: UV resistant, field tested
• Made in the United States by FORTISVEX

Which size do I need?

One rule sits under both tables: the flag should run about a quarter to a third the height of the flagpole. On the border between two rows, the smaller flag flies more and lasts longer; the larger one is the one you can see from the road.

If you know your flagpole height, start here.

• 6 Feet house bracket: 2x3 Feet or 3x5 Feet
• 15 to 20 Feet flagpole: 3x5 Feet or 4x6 Feet
• 20 to 25 Feet flagpole: 4x6 Feet or 5x8 Feet
• 25 to 35 Feet flagpole: 5x8 Feet or 6x10 Feet
• 35 to 45 Feet flagpole: 6x10 Feet or 8x12 Feet
• 45 to 60 Feet flagpole: 8x12 Feet or 10x15 Feet
• 60 to 80 Feet flagpole: 10x15 Feet or 12x18 Feet
• 80 to 100 Feet flagpole: 12x18 Feet or 15x25 Feet
• 100 to 120 Feet flagpole: 15x25 Feet or 20x30 Feet
• 120 to 150 Feet flagpole: 20x30 Feet or 20x38 Feet
• 150 to 200 Feet flagpole: 20x38 Feet or 30x50 Feet
• 200 to 240 Feet flagpole: 30x50 Feet or 30x60 Feet
• 240 Feet and above: 30x60 Feet or 50x80 Feet, engineered to the flagpole

If you know your flag size, start here.

• 2x3 Feet: 4 to 8 Feet bracket or garden flagpole
• 3x5 Feet: 6 Feet bracket, or 15 to 20 Feet in-ground flagpole
• 4x6 Feet: 18 to 25 Feet in-ground flagpole
• 5x8 Feet: 25 to 35 Feet flagpole
• 6x10 Feet: 30 to 40 Feet flagpole
• 8x12 Feet: 40 to 50 Feet flagpole
• 10x15 Feet: 50 to 60 Feet flagpole
• 12x18 Feet: 60 to 80 Feet flagpole
• 15x25 Feet: 80 to 100 Feet flagpole
• 20x30 Feet: 100 to 120 Feet flagpole
• 20x38 Feet: 120 to 150 Feet flagpole. This is the garrison size under Executive Order 10834, at a one to one point nine ratio rather than the two to three of the commercial sizes, and it is the size flown at the White House and the Capitol
• 30x50 Feet: 150 to 200 Feet flagpole
• 30x60 Feet: 200 to 240 Feet flagpole. This is the largest standard commercial size
• 50x80 Feet: 240 Feet and above, engineered to the flagpole

Nothing about the ratio breaks above a hundred feet, but the purchase does: the flag, the flagpole, the truck, the halyard and the foundation become one system that has to be specified together, and skipping that check risks the flagpole before it risks the flag. Some of the largest flags flown in the country are deliberately oversized for their rule-of-thumb flagpole, always on an engineer’s sign-off.

We carry the full range whether or not every size appears on this website. If the size you need is not listed, we can still supply it.

About the back of the flag

The back of a printed flag shows the design reversed, not missing. That is true of almost every flag in the country, and it is normal rather than a flaw. Getting both sides to read correctly means sewing two flags together with a liner between them, which roughly doubles the cost and the weight. Single sided is standard practice, and the right choice unless a particular state’s law says otherwise.

Flying it with the United States flag

The rule comes from Title 4, Section 7 of the United States Flag Code: no flag is displayed above the United States flag, and none is placed to its right at the same level, which from the viewer’s position means the left. Equal-height flagpoles carry the United States flag on the viewer’s left with matching flag sizes; unequal flagpoles put it on the taller one; a single flagpole with two flags carries it at the top. Civilians face no penalty for departing from the Flag Code, but it is the standard institutions hold to.

Buy two and they both last longer

The simplest way to make a flag last is to own two and rotate them monthly — that alone outlasts three flags flown to failure, because rest lets the fabric recover and the fly end is not hammered day after day. Take it down ahead of real storms, since one bad night of wind can undo six good months. Watch the fly end, where fraying starts, and a quick repair there is worth a whole extra season.

For cities, counties, schools and agencies

We regularly supply state flags to cities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies. Tax exempt accounts run through the tax exempt page. Quantity pricing, replacement schedules, or a size that is not listed all go through the contact page.

Why buy it from us

This company is small and American, and what is on the site is in stock. Every flag here is made in the United States, uses UV resistant ink, and is built to the construction described above rather than priced down to a cheaper build. We would rather you buy one flag that lasts than replace three that do not. Orders over twenty five dollars get free shipping.