FORTISVEX Iowa State Flag 6x10 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

Residential ends here. A 6x10 foot flag is sixty square feet of commercial flag for a commercial flagpole — and the last size still finished with grommets rather than a sewn rope.

This is the Iowa state flag at 6x10 Feet (60 square feet) in nylon, made in the United States and finished with brass grommets.

Built to the Iowa flag specification

The Iowa flag is set out in Iowa Code Section 1B.1. It is a vertical tricolor of blue, white and red with an eagle at the center carrying a ribbon and the word Iowa in red below.

Designed by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt for the Daughters of the American Revolution and adopted March 29, 1921.

The design, the colors and the seal or emblem are set by statute; the size of a modern outdoor flag is not. That is the case in most of the country, and it is why manufacturers across the industry all build to the same standard sizes.

We reproduce that design faithfully, in the standard outdoor flag sizes the whole industry uses and that the states themselves buy. What matters on an outdoor flag is that the colors, the seal and the emblems are right, and they are.

The law that defines it, in its own words

Iowa Code Section 1B.1 reads:

The banner designed by the Iowa society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and presented to the state is hereby adopted as the state flag for use on all occasions where a state flag may be fittingly displayed. The design consists of three vertical stripes of blue, white, and red, the blue stripe being nearest the staff and the white stripe being in the center. On the central white stripe is depicted a spreading eagle bearing in its beak blue streamers on which is inscribed the state motto, "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain" in white letters, with the word "Iowa" in red letters below the streamers.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Iowa Code Section 1B.1 in full at Justia, and check what we sell against it.

That is the flag as we build it. Nothing about it is approximate.

What is on it and what it means

The tricolor recalls French rule over the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. The eagle is drawn from the United States. The ribbon carries the state motto, Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain, which comes from the state seal.

Worth knowing about this flag

The motto on the ribbon comes from the state seal rather than being written for the flag, and the tricolor is there for the territory’s French history rather than for any resemblance to the French flag itself.

Where the Iowa flag flies

The Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel in Bettendorf, a hundred and fifty feet, called Iowa's largest pole by the Quad City Times, flying a thirty by fifty foot flag.

Fly it on Iowa’s birthday

Iowa became the 29th state on December 28, 1846. 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 Iowa flag has an official reason to go up.

Have it on hand before the date arrives and it is on the flagpole in time. The full state-by-state list is on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in Iowa

Polyester leans favorable statewide at Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport for open plains wind and severe storms. Nylon acceptable in sheltered towns.

This is a commercial flag at sixty square feet, and on the exposed sites named above, material choice separates a one-season flag from a three-season one.

This listing is the nylon. It is the right choice for the sheltered and moderate wind sites named above, on any house bracket, and anywhere the flag comes down in storms. Two things decide that. Nylon is light, so it flies on the breeze most yards actually get instead of hanging limp, and it dries fast, which is what fights mildew in a humid climate. What it gives up is ultraviolet life: nylon’s amide bonds absorb ultraviolet and break, so under hard sun it loses strength and color faster than polyester, and it loses roughly a tenth of its strength while it is wet. If your site is one of the exposed ones above, look at the polyester version of this flag instead.

This is the detail people usually only figure out after buying twice: nylon will fly on a day too calm for polyester to move at all. If flying on a still morning, a holiday, at a funeral, or at a ceremony matters to you, that is reason enough to choose nylon even where polyester would survive longer. A motionless flag fails at its purpose regardless of how durable it is.

The figure most institutions use is from the American Legion, citing the United States government's expectation of about ninety days for a flag flown daily from sunrise to sunset, and roughly a quarter of that around the clock. Retailers see three to six months in practice for nylon flown daily, four to eight for polyester, and one to three years when flown occasionally. These are practical figures, not a guarantee, and real-world exposure shifts them considerably.

How the 6x10 Feet is built

Six rows of lock stitching replace four at this size, because sixty square feet generates far more force at the fly end than any house flag experiences. Four rows would not hold.

Work the numbers and you get 60 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 and a clean, open surface are what this size needs for a proper fold. A tailgate will not do at sixty square feet.

Each lock stitch knots into the one beside it, so a broken thread stays broken right where it snapped instead of unraveling the whole seam. 6 rows is not 6 times the strength — it is 5 backups. The heading is two inches of heavy duty white, reinforced, with two solid brass grommets and tooth washers. At this size the heading is the part under the most sustained strain.

Nylon, commercial grade, is what this flag is made from. It is light enough to move in a gentle breeze, sheds rather than soaks up water, and dries quickly — a wet flag is a heavier flag, harder on its own seams. The ink is UV resistant and field tested, because sun exposure is what actually fades a flag.

A design that reproduces cleanly

An eagle and a long motto ribbon over a tricolor. The ribbon lettering is small and it is the first thing to become unreadable on a cheap print.

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 Iowa flag placed 42, at 4.72 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

It suits an in-ground flagpole of thirty to forty feet.

Questions about the 6x10 Feet

What size flagpole for a 6x10 foot flag? Thirty to forty feet. At this size the flag is commercial and the flagpole has to be an in-ground pole with a truck and halyard.

Why does the 6x10 foot flag have grommets when the 8x12 foot flag has a rope? Sixty square feet is the most two brass grommets can be asked to carry. Above this the load is spread along a rope sewn the length of the heading.

Does a 6x10 foot flag need a heavier flagpole? A sixty square foot flag in a gust loads a flagpole hard. If the pole was sold for a 4x6 foot or 5x8 foot flag, check its rating before stepping up.

The last size on grommets

Above this size, every flag switches to a full-length sewn rope instead of two grommets, because two points can no longer bear the load. The 6x10 foot flag sits right on that line, which is why it carries six rows of stitching and a two inch heading while still keeping grommets.

Specifications

• Size: 6x10 Feet
• Area: 60 square feet
• Material: 100 percent nylon
• Fly end: 6 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?

The proportion that makes both tables work is simple: length equal to roughly a quarter to a third of the flagpole’s height. Sitting between two sizes is common, and the choice there is really a trade between a flag that flies often and one that is seen from a distance.

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

Push the flagpole past a hundred feet and the same ratio still applies, but it stops being a simple lookup: the flag, the truck, the halyard, the foundation and the wind load need to be engineered as a unit, and skipping that step damages the flagpole before it damages the flag. A number of famous large flags deliberately break the rule of thumb, on an engineer’s word rather than a table’s.

If a size in either table is missing from the website, it does not mean we do not carry it. The full range is available to order regardless of what is currently listed.

About the back of the flag

It is normal for a printed flag to read backward from behind — almost every flag flown in America works this way. A flag that reads correctly from both sides is double sided: two flags sewn together with a liner, at roughly double the weight and cost. Single sided stays the standard and the right choice except where a state’s own law requires the double sided build.

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

Rotate two flags on a monthly cycle and they will outlast three flags flown until they fail, because the fabric gets a rest and the fly end is not taking the same beating in the same spot every day. Bring it down before severe weather; one real windstorm can do more damage overnight than six ordinary months. Check the fly end, not the middle — a few minutes of stitching at the first sign of fraying buys another season.

For cities, counties, schools and agencies

State flags go out to municipalities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies as a matter of course. Tax exempt purchasing runs through the tax exempt page, and anything involving quantity, a replacement schedule or a size we do not list goes through the contact page.

Why buy it from us

We are a small company based in America, and we keep in stock what we sell. Every flag is made domestically, printed in UV resistant ink, and finished to the construction described above rather than scaled down to a price. Selling a flag that lasts matters more to us than selling three that don’t. Orders over twenty five dollars ship free.