FORTISVEX Kentucky State Flag 5x8 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

This is commercial territory: a thirty foot flagpole outside a dealership, a bank, a fire station, a church, a school. Homeowners choose it too, when their flagpole is tall enough to make a 4x6 foot flag look undersized.

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

Built to the Kentucky flag specification

The Kentucky flag is set out in Kentucky Revised Statutes 2.030. It is a navy field with the state seal wreathed in goldenrod.

Adopted in 1918.

This statute sets the design, the colors and the seal or emblem, without pinning down a size for an outdoor flag. That is how most states have written their flag laws, and it explains why every manufacturer uses 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

Kentucky Revised Statutes Section 2.030 reads:

(1) The official state flag of the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall be of navy blue silk, nylon, wool or cotton bunting, or some other suitable material, with the seal of the Commonwealth encircled by a wreath, the lower half of which shall be goldenrod in bloom and the upper half the words "Commonwealth of Kentucky," embroidered, printed, painted, or stamped on the center thereof. The dimensions of the flag may vary, but the length shall be one and nine-tenths (1 9/10) times the width and the diameter of the seal and encirclement shall be approximately two-thirds (2/3) the width of the flag. (2) The approved official drawings of the state flag shall be permanently retained in the files of the office of the Secretary of State. All state flags for official use of the Commonwealth shall conform as to color and design with these official drawings.

The emblem itself is defined by reference to the seal, so these words are the frame and not the whole picture.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Kentucky Revised Statutes Section 2.030 in full at FindLaw, and check what we sell against it.

It is the real flag we produce, not a simplified version.

What is on it and what it means

The seal shows two embracing men and the motto United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The goldenrod wreath is the state flower.

What most listings get wrong

The two figures are officially a frontiersman and a statesman. They are not Daniel Boone and Henry Clay. That misidentification appears on most retail listings and in a good deal of published reference material.

Where the Kentucky flag flies

Kentuckians obtain United States Capitol flags through congressional offices, with an online order form offering a choice of sizes and fabrics and personalized certificates.

Fly it on Kentucky’s birthday

Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1, 1792. 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 Kentucky flag has an official reason to go up.

Order it ahead of the date and it is ready to fly that day. Every state’s birthday is listed on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in Kentucky

Nylon statewide at Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green. Polyester where severe storm and tornado wind is a known factor.

For scale, the National Weather Service ultraviolet index forecast for Louisville on July 23, 2026 was 10 at solar noon, in the very high 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.

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.

The part most buyers learn only the second time around: nylon flies in wind too light to move polyester. When it matters that the flag is actually moving — a still morning, a holiday, a funeral, a ceremony — that favors nylon even somewhere polyester would last longer. A flag that hangs motionless is not doing its job either, however durable it is.

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 5x8 Feet is built

At this size the flag works hard, and any failure happens in public: a frayed tip on a business flagpole reads from the road, the same place the flag was meant to be seen from.

The math comes to 40 square feet of nylon at roughly two 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.

At this size, two people beat one, especially in wind. Forty square feet of loose fabric catches wind mid-fold if you are working alone.

A lock stitch ties into the stitch next to it, so one broken thread does not unzip the whole seam — it just stops. 4 rows is not 4 times the strength; it is 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.

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.

Why this flag is harder to make than most

Two human figures inside a floral wreath on navy. Faces are the hardest thing to hold at small print sizes and the goldenrod detail is the second hardest.

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 Kentucky flag placed 66, at 3.16 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

This size belongs on an in-ground flagpole between twenty five and thirty five feet — the standard commercial setup.

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.

What the condition of it says

Before the building registers, the flag does — that is what anyone driving past a business sees first. A frayed, faded flag communicates something, and the cost of that is separate from what replacing it would run.

Specifications

• Size: 5x8 Feet
• Area: 40 square feet
• Material: 100 percent nylon
• 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?

Underneath both tables is a single ratio: a flag a quarter to a third the flagpole’s height. When you land between two rows, that is a real choice, not a rounding error — smaller flies more often, bigger reads further.

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

That same ratio keeps working past a hundred feet, but at that point the flag and the flagpole are no longer separate purchases — the truck, the halyard, the foundation and the wind load all have to be sized together, and a flag chosen without checking the flagpole first damages the pole rather than itself. A handful of well known installations deliberately run past the rule of thumb, and every one of them did it with an engineer, not a chart.

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

A printed flag's reverse face is a mirror image of the front, and that is standard, not a fault — it describes most of the flags flown across the country. Double sided construction, which reads correctly from either face, sews two flags together with a liner and roughly doubles both weight and price. Single sided remains standard, and correct, unless a state's statute specifically calls for double sided.

Flying it with the United States flag

This is governed by the United States Flag Code, Title 4, Section 7: the United States flag always outranks every other flag in position, never displayed below it or to its right at the same level — right from the viewer’s side, that is. Two flagpoles of equal height place the United States flag at the viewer’s left with both flags the same size; if the poles differ in height, it goes on the taller pole; on one pole flying two flags, it sits at the top. The Flag Code carries no penalty for private citizens, but institutions treat it as the standard.

Buy two and they both last longer

Keep two flags and swap them monthly. That single habit will outlast three flags run to destruction, since resting fabric recovers and the fly end is spared the repeated wear of constant flying. Take the flag down ahead of severe weather, since one bad storm night can outdo six calm months. Watch the fly end rather than the center; a little stitching early saves a whole season.

For cities, counties, schools and agencies

Cities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies buy state flags from us as a matter of routine. The tax exempt page is where a tax exempt account is set up; the contact page is where quantity orders, replacement schedules, and sizes not shown here get handled.

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.