FORTISVEX Texas State Flag 12x18 Feet Polyester - Made in USA Lone Star Flag with Rope and Thimbles

The polyester 12x18 foot flag is two hundred and sixteen square feet of two-ply spun polyester. This is the flag material the big installation flags are made from, for the reason that nothing else survives.

This is the Texas state flag at 12x18 Feet (216 square feet) in polyester, made in the United States and finished with a sewn rope and plated steel thimbles.

Built to the Texas flag specification

The Texas flag is set out in Texas Government Code Chapter 3100, at a two to three proportion, with the statute giving precise star geometry. It is a blue vertical hoist stripe one third the length carrying a white five-pointed star, with white over red horizontal stripes.

This was the 1839 national flag of the Republic of Texas, drawn by Peter Krag and approved by President Lamar January 25, 1839; it became the state flag at annexation in 1845 and was re-adopted August 31, 1933 after a period with no active flag statute.

Texas is precise about proportion rather than size. Government Code Chapter 3100 requires a width to length ratio of two to three, which a 4x6 foot flag, an 8x12 foot flag and a 10x15 foot flag all match exactly. A 3x5 foot flag is a three to five ratio and is therefore slightly deeper than the statute describes.

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

Texas Government Code Section 3100.002, Description: In General reads:

(a) The state flag is a rectangle that: (1) has a width to length ratio of two to three; and (2) contains: (A) one blue vertical stripe that has a width equal to one-third the length of the flag; (B) two equal horizontal stripes, the upper stripe white, the lower stripe red, each having a length equal to two-thirds the length of the flag; and (C) one white, regular five-pointed star: (i) located in the center of the blue stripe; (ii) oriented so that one point faces upward; and (iii) sized so that the diameter of a circle passing through the five points of the star is equal to three-fourths the width of the blue stripe. (b) The red and blue of the state flag are: (1) the same colors used in the United States flag; and (2) defined as numbers 193 (red) and 281 (dark blue) of the Pantone Matching System. (c) The red, white, and blue of the state flag represent, respectively, bravery, purity, and loyalty.

Section 3100.001 separately states that the state flag is the 1839 national flag of the Republic of Texas.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Texas Government Code Section 3100.002 in full at the Texas Legislature, and check what we sell against it.

That is the flag we build, not a rough version of it.

What is on it and what it means

The lone star stands for Texas unity, one for God, State and Country. Chapter 3100 assigns the colors directly: blue is loyalty, white is purity, red is bravery.

Worth knowing about this flag

For most of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Texas had no flag statute in force. The 1933 act put the Lone Star Flag back into law.

With Hawaii, it is one of only two state flags that previously served as the flag of a sovereign nation.

Where the Texas flag flies

The original Battle Flag of San Jacinto has hung in the Texas House of Representatives at the State Capitol in Austin since 1933, with a reproduction displayed when the House is not in session to protect the fragile original. The World's Largest Texas Flag, one hundred by one hundred and fifty feet, was made by Dixie Flag and Banner of San Antonio and is unfurled at Longhorns football games.

Fly it on Texas’s birthday

Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845. 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 Texas flag has an official reason to go up.

Get it now so it is flying on the day itself. See every state’s birthday on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in Texas

Polyester across the wind and ultraviolet Panhandle and West. Amarillo at 13.5 and Lubbock at 12.4 miles per hour are among the very windiest American stations, and El Paso for ultraviolet. Polyester also on the Gulf Coast at Houston and Corpus Christi. Nylon acceptable in the sheltered central metros at Austin, San Antonio and the Dallas interior.

Two hundred and sixteen square feet makes this an installation flag. Where the sites above call for polyester, they call for it without exception, and the flagpole must be engineered for the load.

This listing is the two-ply polyester. It is the right choice for the exposed, windy, coastal and high sun sites named above, and for any flagpole that flies around the clock. The reasons are in the fiber. Polyester’s ester bonds resist ultraviolet where nylon’s amide bonds break, so it keeps strength and color longer in sun. It absorbs almost no water, so it is as strong wet as dry, sheds salt instead of holding it, and has less in it to freeze. The open weave lets high speed wind pass through the fabric, which is why it outlasts nylon on an exposed flagpole. What it gives up is calm days: it is heavier, and on a still afternoon it will hang where a nylon flag would still be moving. If your site is a sheltered one, the nylon version of this flag will fly more often.

One more thing usually learned after buying the wrong material once: changing a flag twice a year on a tall pole is not just the cost of the flag. It is the ladder trip, the halyard, the time, and on a commercial site, somebody’s paid hour. The heavier material costs more upfront and eliminates that expense. On an exposed flagpole, this flag is the cheaper option over three years, even though it costs more today.

Most institutions work from the same benchmark, reported by the American Legion: the United States government's expectation is roughly ninety days for a flag flown daily sunrise to sunset, and about a quarter of that for one flown around the clock. In practice, retailers report three to six months for nylon flown daily, four to eight for polyester, and one to three years for a flag flown only on occasions. These are working numbers, not a guarantee, and exposure can move them substantially either way.

How the 12x18 Feet is built

The construction here — six rows on the fly end, zig zag stitched corners — exists for one reason: managing a load that would destroy a house flag inside an afternoon.

Work the numbers and you get 216 square feet of two-ply spun polyester at roughly four 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.

Treat this as a scheduled operation rather than a quick task. Two hundred and sixteen square feet goes up and down with the site in mind, and never when the wind is already blowing.

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. Two plated steel thimbles finish a full-length nylon rope sewn into the heading, spreading two hundred and sixteen square feet of load across the entire hoist.

The material is two-ply spun polyester, built for punishment. Woven open, it lets wind pass through rather than resisting it, it stays just as strong wet as dry, and it holds its color under strong sun far longer. The honest trade off is weight — it needs more wind to fly, and it costs more.

A design that reproduces cleanly

Three colors and one star. It is among the cheapest state flags to build properly and among the longest lived, because there is no fine detail to fail.

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 Texas flag placed 2, at 8.13 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

This size needs a flagpole between sixty and eighty feet, with hardware sized to match.

Questions about the 12x18 Feet

What size flagpole for a 12x18 foot flag? Sixty to eighty feet with hardware engineered for two hundred and sixteen square feet of load.

Who buys a 12x18 foot state flag? Civic sites, memorial grounds, highway frontages and campuses, anywhere the flag is meant to be seen from a long way off.

Does a flag this size need special care? It needs a rotation, hardware checks, and taking down in severe weather. Flown properly it lasts. Flown carelessly it does not last a season.

Built for the installation

At this scale the flag and flagpole are effectively one unit, and polyester is what installation flags are made of — it holds strength wet, resists fading in sun, and passes wind rather than resisting it.

Specifications

• Size: 12x18 Feet
• Area: 216 square feet
• Material: 100 percent two-ply spun polyester
• Fly end: 6 rows of lock stitching
• Heading: heavy duty white, reinforced, 2 inch
• Finish: Rope and Thimbles
• 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

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.

The full range is available to order even where a size is not shown on the site. If what you need is not listed here, ask and we can still get it made.

About the back of the flag

The reverse of a printed flag mirrors the front, which is ordinary and true of nearly every flag in the country. To have both faces read correctly requires a double sided construction: two flags joined with a liner in between, at about twice the material and twice the price. Single sided is the industry standard, and the sensible pick unless a state’s statute says otherwise.

Flying it with the United States flag

Section 7 of Title 4, the United States Flag Code, addresses this directly: the United States flag is never outranked in position, staying above every other flag and to the right at the same level, which reads as the viewer’s left. Same-height flagpoles put the United States flag on the viewer’s left with matching flag sizes; different heights put it on the taller pole; one flagpole with two flags puts it at the top. There is no legal penalty for civilians under the Flag Code, but it is what every institution follows anyway.

Buy two and they both last longer

Two flags, alternated month to month, beat three flags flown until they fall apart, because the material recovers on its days off and the fly end is not worked in the same place every day. Severe weather is the one time to take it down; a real windstorm can cost more in one night than six ordinary months of flying. Fraying starts at the fly end, not the middle, and a few minutes with a needle there adds a 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 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.