FORTISVEX Hawaii State Flag 8x12 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Rope and Thimbles

The 8x12 foot flag belongs to institutions: civic buildings, campuses, large commercial sites, on a flagpole forty to fifty feet tall. This is not a size anyone ends up with by accident.

This is the Hawaii state flag at 8x12 Feet (96 square feet) in nylon, made in the United States and finished with a sewn rope and plated steel thimbles.

Built to the Hawaii flag specification

The Hawaii flag is set out in the Hawaii Revised Statutes provisions on the state flag, which carry a detailed heraldic blazon. It is eight horizontal stripes in white, red and blue repeating, with the British Union Jack in the canton.

In use since 1816, with the stripe count fixed at eight by King Kamehameha the Third on May 25, 1845, and retained at statehood in 1959.

The statute for this flag describes the design, the colors and the seal or emblem, but it does not fix an overall size that a modern outdoor flag has to match. That is the normal position across most of the country, and it is why every manufacturer builds state flags in the same standard sizes.

The design here is reproduced faithfully, at the standard outdoor sizes the whole industry works in and that states buy for themselves. What actually matters on a flag flown outdoors is that the colors, the seal and the emblems are correct, and they are.

The law that defines it, in its own words

Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 5-19 reads:

The official description of the Hawaiian flag as authorized to represent the State of Hawaii on land and sea, and authorized for executive state agencies, second to the stars and stripes of the United States shall be: (1) The Hawaiian flag shall consist of eight horizontal stripes, alternately white, red, blue, etc., beginning at the top, having a jack cantoned in the dexter chief angle next to the point of suspension; (2) The jack shall consist of a blue field charged with a compound saltire (crossing) of alternate tincture white and red, the white having precedence; a narrow edge of white borders each red side of the saltire; (3) A red cross bordered with white is charged (placed) over all; (4) The proportion shall be as follows: (A) The fly (length) is twice the hoist (width); (B) The jack is half the hoist (width) in breadth and 7-16 the fly in length; (C) The arms of the red cross with border shall be equal in width to one of the horizontal stripes; the white border shall be one-third the width of the red cross; (D) The arms of the compound saltire (crossing) are equal in width to the red cross, the tinctures white, red, and the border being in the proportion of 3, 2, 1, respectively.

The statute then adds that when the Hawaiian flag is flown from the same halyard as the flag of the United States it shall be underneath the national colors, and gives the ceremonial folding method.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 5-19 in full at the Hawaii State Legislature, 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 eight stripes are the eight major islands, Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau. The Union Jack reflects historic ties to Britain, after Vancouver gave Kamehameha the First a British flag in 1793. The colors themselves carry no individual official meaning.

What most listings get wrong

The Union Jack reflects friendship, not colonial status. Hawaii was never a British colony. The designer is uncertain, either Alexander Adams or George Beckley, and sources do not agree.

It is the only state flag containing another country’s flag, and the only one that flew over an independent kingdom.

Where the Hawaii flag flies

The Hawaii State Archives on the Iolani Palace grounds holds royal standards and historic Hae Hawaii, including Queen Liliuokalani's personal royal standard that flew over Iolani Palace on January 17, 1893, the day of the overthrow. It was seized, disappeared for eighty five years, and returned to Hawaii in 1978. The Archives also holds the Hae Hawaii lowered at annexation on August 12, 1898 and one flown over the capitol on statehood day, August 21, 1959. The popular story that the palace flag was torn into souvenir pieces at annexation is treated by archivists as a myth. The flag was tattered from age.

Fly it on Hawaii’s birthday

Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959. 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 Hawaii flag has an official reason to go up.

Statehood Day, also called Admission Day, falls on the third Friday in August and is an official paid state holiday. In 2026 it is August 21.

Order ahead and this flag is ready for the day. The complete list of state birthdays lives on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in Hawaii

Polyester statewide. Constant trade winds, relentless ultraviolet and salt air everywhere, at Honolulu, Hilo and Kailua.

At ninety six square feet the flag loads its flagpole in earnest. On the exposed sites above, polyester is not a preference but the only sensible choice, and the flagpole and truck need to be rated for it.

What you have here is the nylon, appropriate for the sheltered and moderate wind sites listed above, for any house bracket, and for anywhere the flag is brought down during storms. Two things decide it: it is light, flying on an ordinary breeze rather than going limp, and it dries fast, which is the defense against mildew in humidity. The trade is ultraviolet durability — nylon’s amide bonds break under sun, fading and weakening faster than polyester, and it loses about a tenth of its strength wet. For an exposed site on the list above, the polyester version is worth a look instead.

One more thing that decides it, and it is the part people only learn after buying twice: a nylon flag flies on days a polyester flag will not. If the flag matters to you on a still morning, on a holiday, at a funeral, at a ceremony, that is an argument for this one even on a site where the polyester would last longer. A flag that hangs is not doing its job either.

The benchmark institutions generally lean on comes from the American Legion: the federal government's own expectation is about ninety days for a daily sunrise-to-sunset flag, and roughly a quarter of that flying around the clock. Retailers report three to six months for nylon flown daily, four to eight months for polyester, and one to three years for occasional flying. Treat those as working estimates rather than a warranty, since exposure can shift them a great deal.

How the 8x12 Feet is built

The fly end carries six rows of lock stitching, and the corners use zig zag stitching rather than a straight seam, because a straight corner seam works loose under wind over a season.

Work the numbers and you get 96 square feet of nylon at roughly two ounces a square yard. At thirty miles an hour, the fly end actually outpaces the wind, because the wave running to the tip accelerates along the way — the reason the tip fails first, and the reason fly-end stitching count is the number that matters.

Two people on the ground, two people at the flagpole: this size demands it. Ninety six square feet can knock you off balance in a gust while clipping it on alone.

A lock stitch ties into the stitch next to it, so one broken thread does not unzip the whole seam — it just stops. 6 rows is not 6 times the strength; it is 5 backups. At this size, a single reinforced grommet remains at the center of the heading as a secondary attachment point, but it is no longer the primary one. A nylon rope runs the full length of the heading, ending in two plated steel thimbles, spreading the load instead of concentrating it at two fixed points.

Commercial grade nylon is the material in this flag. Light enough to catch a gentle breeze, it sheds water rather than holding onto it and dries fast, which keeps a flag from staying heavy and stressing its seams. The ink is UV resistant and field tested, since sun exposure is what determines how long the color lasts.

Why this flag is harder to make than most

The compound saltire of the Union Jack has to be proportioned exactly or it reads as wrong to anyone who knows it, and it sits in a canton over eight stripes that all have to line up.

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 Hawaii flag placed 11, at 7.15 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

A forty to fifty foot in-ground flagpole with proper truck and halyard hardware suits this size, not a house bracket.

Questions about the 8x12 Feet

What size flagpole for an 8x12 foot flag? Forty to fifty feet, on a truck and halyard rated for the load. This is an institutional flag.

What are the thimbles for? The rope sewn through the heading ends in two plated steel thimbles. The halyard snaps clip to the thimbles, so the pull runs through the rope along the whole hoist rather than tearing at two grommets.

Can an 8x12 foot flag fly around the clock? It can, on a lit flagpole, but a flag flown twenty four hours lasts roughly a quarter as long as one flown sunrise to sunset. Budget for that.

Why rope and thimbles carry most of the load

Ninety six square feet of pull, concentrated onto two small brass rings, is more than grommets alone can take, which is why a single reinforced grommet at the center of the heading now serves only as a secondary attachment point. A rope sewn the full heading length spreads that load across the entire hoist, with thimbles carrying the attachment instead. It costs more to build, and it is the only way this size lasts.

Specifications

• Size: 8x12 Feet
• Area: 96 square feet
• Material: 100 percent nylon
• Fly end: 6 rows of lock stitching
• Heading: heavy duty white, reinforced, 2 inch
• Finish: Rope, Thimbles and Center Grommet
• Ink: UV resistant, field tested
• Made in the United States by FORTISVEX

Which size do I need?

Both tables come down to one ratio: the flag’s length wants to be a quarter to a third of the flagpole’s height. When a size sits on the border between two rows, the smaller flag will fly on more days and outlast the bigger one, while the bigger flag is the one people notice from further off.

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

The rule keeps holding above a hundred feet of flagpole, but the buying decision does not stay simple: the flag, the truck, the halyard, the foundation and the wind load now have to be specified as one engineered system, and a flag chosen without checking the flagpole rating puts the pole at risk before the flag. Some of the most recognizable flags in the country deliberately run larger than the rule, always with an engineer behind that call.

What is on the website is not the limit of what we carry. Any size in the tables above can be ordered, listed or not.

About the back of the flag

Every printed flag looks right from one side and mirrored from the other, and that is simply how the overwhelming majority of American flags are built. Making both sides read correctly means building what is really two flags stitched together over a liner, at roughly twice the price and twice the weight. Single sided is the standard, and it is the right choice unless a state’s statute specifically requires 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 supply state flags to municipalities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies. Tax exempt accounts are handled through the tax exempt page. For quantities, replacement schedules or sizes not listed, use the contact page.

Why buy it from us

We run a small American company and stock the flags we sell. Each one is made in the United States, printed in UV resistant ink, and built to the construction described above instead of built to hit a lower price. One durable flag beats three that fail, in our view. Free shipping applies to orders over twenty five dollars.