FORTISVEX
FORTISVEX Florida State Flag 3x5 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets
- MPN:
- FPAMSTFLNYL3x5G
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Description
This is the default: the size that fits the bracket already on the house, and the size Americans replace more than any other. When someone says flag without qualifying it, this is what they mean.
This is the Florida state flag at 3x5 Feet (15 square feet) in nylon, made in the United States and finished with brass grommets.
Built to the Florida flag specification
The Florida flag is set out in Florida Statutes Section 15.012. It is a red saltire, a St. Andrew’s cross, on white with the state seal centered.
The cross was added by resolution in 1899 and ratified by voters November 6, 1900; the seal was standardized in 1985.
The law governing this flag addresses design, colors and the seal or emblem, but leaves overall size unspecified for a modern outdoor flag. That is typical across most states, which is why the industry has converged on the same standard sizes.
Faithfully reproduced, that is the standard we hold this design to, at the outdoor sizes the whole industry uses and states themselves order. What an outdoor flag needs right is the color, the seal and the emblems, and this one has them right.
The law that defines it, in its own words
Florida Statutes Section 15.012 reads:
The state flag shall conform with standard commercial sizes and be of the following proportions and description: The seal of the state, in diameter one-half the hoist, shall occupy the center of a white ground. Red bars, in width one-fifth the hoist, shall extend from each corner toward the center, to the outer rim of the seal.
The seal is defined at Section 15.03, by reference.
You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Florida Statutes Section 15.012 in full at the Florida Senate, 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 shows a Seminole woman, a sabal palm, a steamboat and sunshine. The documented official reason for the cross is plainer than people expect. Without it, the flag looked like a plain white flag of truce when it hung limp.
Worth knowing about this flag
Whether the saltire is a deliberate Confederate reference is argued either way. The surrender-flag rationale is the one the state itself documents. Florida is also one of only three state flags carrying the words In God We Trust.
Where the Florida flag flies
Bernice Braden Park in Cape Coral, two hundred and fifty feet, billed by the City of Cape Coral as the tallest free standing American flagpole in Florida. Community funded at about three hundred thousand dollars and raised on July 4, 2026. A prior claimant at Uptown Station in Fort Walton Beach, a hundred and seventy foot flagpole flying fifty by eighty foot flags, appears superseded.
Fly it on Florida’s birthday
Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 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 Florida flag has an official reason to go up.
Buy it now and it is on the flagpole for the day. The full list of state birthdays is on our state birthdays page.
Nylon or polyester in Florida
Polyester statewide. Extreme ultraviolet, near universal salt exposure, afternoon thunderstorms and hurricane risk. Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa and Orlando all qualify.
Take flags down for named storms.
For scale, the National Weather Service ultraviolet index forecast for Miami on July 23, 2026 was 12 at solar noon, in the extreme band. That is the sun this flag has to survive.
Fifteen square feet, a house flag: here the material decides two things — whether it moves on a light-wind day, and how quickly it dries out after rain.
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.
There is one more factor, and most people only discover it after buying the wrong material once: a nylon flag moves on days a polyester flag stays limp. If it matters to you that the flag is actually flying on a still morning, a holiday, at a funeral, at a ceremony, that favors nylon even where polyester would outlast it. A flag hanging motionless has failed at its job too.
Institutions commonly cite the American Legion’s figure: the federal government expects about ninety days from a flag flown daily sunrise to sunset, and roughly a quarter of that flown around the clock. On the ground, retailers report three to six months for nylon flown daily, four to eight for polyester, and one to three years for occasional flying. Take these as working estimates, not warranties — exposure can move them a long way in either direction.
How the 3x5 Feet is built
Most 3x5 foot flags fail at the fly end early, because this size is bought on price more than any other. The difference between a season and three seasons is four rows of lock stitching there.
The math comes to 15 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.
Raising or lowering this size is a one person task, and it folds to fit a drawer. Rotating two flags monthly is a minute of effort, no more, at 3x5 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. 4 rows is not 4 times the strength — it is 3 backups. The heading is heavy duty white and reinforced, an inch and a half wide, with two solid brass grommets. Fifteen square feet is enough sail area to work the grommets hard on a windy site.
This flag is commercial grade nylon, light enough to move in a gentle breeze, and it sheds water instead of soaking it up, drying fast — which matters, since a wet flag is a heavy flag that works its own seams harder. UV resistant, field tested ink is what stands between the flag and the sun, since sun is what fades a flag over time.
Why this flag is harder to make than most
A detailed multicolor seal sitting over a cross. The seal is the expensive part and the part that fades first.
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 Florida flag placed 34, at 5.17 out of 10.
Will it fit my flagpole?
Built for the most common residential pairing in the country: a five or six foot house bracket, or an in-ground flagpole between fifteen and twenty feet.
Questions about the 3x5 Feet
What size flagpole does a 3x5 foot flag need? A six foot house bracket, or an in-ground flagpole of fifteen to twenty feet. It is the most common residential pairing in the country.
How long does a 3x5 foot nylon flag last outside? The federal working figure is about ninety days for a flag flown daily from sunrise to sunset, and about a quarter of that flown around the clock. Retailers commonly see three to six months in daily use and one to three years flown on occasions only.
Is this flag printed or sewn? The design is printed in UV resistant ink on one side and reads through in reverse on the back, which is how nearly every state flag sold in the country is made. The construction, the heading, the stitching and the grommets are sewn.
Why this size gets replaced most
It is not that the 3x5 foot flag is weaker. It is that it is the size sold on price, which means most of them are built to a price. A cheap 3x5 foot flag with one or two rows of stitching on the fly end will fray inside a season and be six inches shorter by the end of the next one. The construction is the whole difference.
Specifications
- Size: 3x5 Feet
- Area: 15 square feet
- Material: 100 percent nylon
- Fly end: 4 rows of lock stitching
- Heading: heavy duty white, reinforced, 1-1/2 inch
- Finish: Brass Grommets
- Ink: UV resistant, field tested
- Made in the United States by FORTISVEX
Which size do I need?
Both tables follow the same logic. A flagpole reads best with a flag whose length falls between a quarter and a third of its height. Where a size could go either way, smaller means more flying days and a longer life, bigger means more visibility at range.
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.
Every size in both tables can be ordered, listed here or not. If the size you want does not appear on the website, contact us and we can still supply it.
About the back of the flag
A printed flag reads correctly from the front and reversed from the back. That is normal and it is true of almost every flag flown in the country. A flag that reads correctly from both sides is a double sided flag, built as two flags sewn together with a liner between them, and it costs roughly twice as much and weighs roughly twice as much. Unless the statute for a particular state requires it, single sided is the standard and the right choice.
Flying it with the United States flag
The United States Flag Code, at Title 4, Section 7, sets this out: the United States flag holds the position of honor, never below another flag and never displaced from the viewer’s left when flags fly level. With two flagpoles of matching height, the United States flag takes the viewer’s left and the flags match in size; with unequal heights, it goes on the taller pole; on a single pole carrying two flags, it is at the top. The Code has no penalty attached for civilians, but it remains the standard every institution follows.
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
Our state flags go to municipalities, school districts, fire and police departments, courthouses and state agencies regularly. Tax exempt purchasing is handled on the tax exempt page. For quantity, a replacement schedule, or a size outside this listing, use the contact page.
Why buy it from us
Small and American describes this company, and we stock what we list. Every flag is made in the United States, printed with UV resistant ink, and finished to the construction described above rather than to a price target. We’d rather sell one flag that holds up than three that don’t. Free shipping on orders over twenty five dollars.
Additional Information
Material Type: |
Commercial Nylon |
Flag Size: |
3x5 Feet |
Made in: |
USA |
Finish: |
Brass Grommets |