FORTISVEX South Dakota 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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota flag specification

The South Dakota flag is set out in South Dakota Codified Laws Section 1-6-4, at a ratio of about three to five. It is a sky blue field with the state seal on a serrated gold sun, and the words South Dakota and The Mount Rushmore State.

Originally adopted in 1909 as The Sunshine State, redesigned in 1963, with the current nickname version adopted in 1992.

South Dakota specifies a ratio. Section 1-6-4 gives a field one and two thirds as long as it is wide, which is three to five, and defines the seal, the sun and the lettering as fractions of the width. A 3x5 foot flag matches the ratio.

The reproduction here is faithful to the design, in the standard outdoor sizes used industry wide and bought by the states themselves. On an outdoor flag, correct colors, seal and emblems are what counts, and that is what you get.

The law that defines it, in its own words

South Dakota Codified Laws Section 1-6-4 reads:

The state flag or banner shall consist of a field of sky-blue one and two-thirds as long as it is wide. Centered on such field shall be the great seal of South Dakota made in conformity with the terms of the Constitution, which shall be four-ninths the width of the flag in diameter. The seal shall be on a white background with the seal outlined in dark blue or, in the alternative, shall be on a sky-blue background with the seal outlined in dark blue thereon. Surrounding the seal in gold shall be a serrated sun whose extreme width shall be five-ninths the width of the flag. The words "South Dakota" symmetrically arranged to conform to the circle of the sun and seal shall appear in gold letters one-eighteenth the width of the field above the sun and seal and the words "The Mount Rushmore State" in like-sized gold letters and in like arrangement shall appear below the sun and seal. Flags designed of such material as may be provident for outdoor use need have no fringe but flags for indoor and display usage shall have a golden fringe one-eighteenth the width of the flag on the three sides other than the hoist.

The emblem itself is defined by reference to the great 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 South Dakota Codified Laws Section 1-6-4 in full at the South Dakota Legislature, and check what we sell against it.

This is the flag we make. Not an approximation of it.

What is on it and what it means

The seal sits on a serrated gold sun, which carries over from the original 1909 design when the flag was called the Sunshine State flag.

What most listings get wrong

The nickname on the flag changed. Before 1992 it read The Sunshine State. Flags reading Sunshine State are pre-1992 and are no longer current.

Where the South Dakota flag flies

A genuine state capitol program. Requests to have a flag flown over the State Capitol are handled by the Bureau of Administration's Property Management division in Pierre, with about three weeks' notice requested and the requester covering the cost of the flag plus mailing. Exact price, sizes, materials and any residency limit were not published in the sources found. The Bureau's Central Supply separately sells United States, South Dakota and prisoner of war flags. A distinctive history: one of the two original 1909 handmade state flags, linked to the Old West lawman Seth Bullock and designed by Ida Anding, was displayed for decades in the Secretary of State's office at the Capitol, went missing in January 2015, and was recovered in Washington later that year. A separate Memorial Flag Program running since 1987 flies flags for deceased veterans in Hilgers Gulch Park.

Fly it on South Dakota’s birthday

South Dakota became the 40th state on November 2, 1889. 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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota

Polyester statewide at Sioux Falls and Rapid City.

Ninety six square feet genuinely loads a flagpole. On an exposed site from the list above, polyester stops being a preference and becomes the only sensible choice, with the flagpole and truck rated to match.

The nylon is what you are looking at here — the right choice for the sheltered and moderate wind sites named above, for a house bracket, and for anywhere the flag comes down ahead of storms. Two things settle it. It is light enough to fly on an ordinary yard’s breeze rather than sag, and it dries fast, fighting mildew in humid conditions. What it gives up is resistance to ultraviolet — nylon’s amide bonds break under sun, costing strength and color faster than polyester, and it loses roughly a tenth of its strength while wet. If the site is one of the exposed ones above, the polyester version fits better.

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 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 8x12 Feet is built

This size gets six rows of lock stitching on the fly end and zig zag stitched corners, since a straight-sewn corner is exactly what a season of wind will work open.

The arithmetic behind that: 96 square feet of nylon at roughly two ounces a square yard. In a thirty mile an hour wind the fly end of a flag this size travels faster than the wind itself, because the wave running out to the tip accelerates as it goes. That is why the tip wears out first and why the stitching count at that end is the number worth reading on any listing.

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.

Lock stitching means each stitch is knotted into the next, so a broken thread stops where it broke rather than unzipping the seam. 6 rows does not mean 6 times the strength; it means 5 backups. The grommets are gone at this size. A nylon rope is sewn the full length of the heading with two plated steel thimbles, so the load runs through the rope rather than tearing at two fixed points.

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

A busy seal, a serrated sun and two lines of lettering, one of them long. Among the most crowded designs in the country.

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 South Dakota flag placed 68, at 3.12 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

This size needs an in-ground flagpole between forty and fifty feet, with a truck and halyard, not a 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

Two grommets alone cannot carry ninety six square feet of pull — it concentrates too much force on two small rings, which is why a single reinforced grommet at the center of the heading serves only as a secondary attachment point. A full-length sewn rope spreads that load across the entire hoist instead, with thimbles taking the attachment. More expensive to build, but the only way this size holds up.

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?

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.

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

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

Municipalities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies all buy state flags from us regularly. The tax exempt page handles tax exempt accounts, and the contact page is the route for quantity orders, replacement schedules or a size not shown here.

Why buy it from us

We are a small American company and we stock what we sell. Every flag here is made in the United States, printed in UV resistant ink, and finished to the construction described above rather than to a price point. We would rather sell you one flag that lasts than three that do not. Free shipping on orders over twenty five dollars.