FORTISVEX West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia flag specification

The West Virginia flag is set out in adopted by the Legislature March 7, 1929, at a proportion of about ten to nineteen. It is a white field bordered in blue with the state coat of arms centered, showing a farmer and a miner flanking a boulder dated June 20, 1863, with crossed rifles and a liberty cap beneath, wreathed in rhododendron and topped by a red ribbon reading State of West Virginia.

Adopted March 7, 1929.

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.

We build a faithful reproduction of that design at the standard outdoor sizes the industry uses, the same sizes states order for themselves. Correct colors, seal and emblems are what an outdoor flag has to get right, and that is what this one gets right.

The law that defines it, in its own words

Senate Joint Resolution 18, adopted March 7, 1929 reads:

That the Legislature of West Virginia hereby adopts a State Flag of the following design and proportions, to-wit: The proportions of the flag of the State of West Virginia shall be the same as those of the United States ensign; the field shall be pure white, upon the center of which shall be emblazoned in proper colors, the coat-of arms of the State of West Virginia upon which appears the date of the admission of the State into the Union, also with the motto, "Montani Semper Liberi" (Mountaineers Are Always Free). Above the coat-of-arms of the State of West Virginia there shall be a ribbon lettered, "State of West Virginia," and arranged appropriately around the lower part of the coat-of-arms of the State of West Virginia a wreath of Rhododendron maximum in proper colors. The field of pure white shall be bordered by a strip of blue on four sides. The flag of the State of West Virginia when used for parade purposes shall be trimmed with gold colored fringe on three sides and when used on ceremonial occasions with the United States ensign, shall be trimmed and mounted in similar fashion to the United States ensign.

There is no codified Code section for the West Virginia flag. The design lives in this 1929 joint resolution of the Legislature.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read Senate Joint Resolution 18 in full at the West Virginia Legislature, 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 date is West Virginia’s admission. The farmer and miner are the state’s two great industries. The crossed rifles and liberty cap carry the motto Montani Semper Liberi, Mountaineers Are Always Free. The rhododendron is the state flower.

What most listings get wrong

The crossed rifles and the liberty cap are frequently omitted in cheap reproductions, and they are the whole point of the lower half of the arms.

It is the only state flag bearing crossed rifles.

Where the West Virginia flag flies

West Virginians obtain United States Capitol flags through congressional offices, with published prices by size and fabric. The gold domed Cass Gilbert capitol, completed in 1932, is the state's signature.

Fly it on West Virginia’s birthday

West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863. 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 West Virginia flag has an official reason to go up.

West Virginia Day is June 20, a state holiday celebrated with festivals across the state.

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 West Virginia

Nylon statewide in the sheltered valleys at Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown. Polyester on exposed Allegheny ridgelines.

For scale, the National Weather Service ultraviolet index forecast for Charleston on July 23, 2026 was 10 at solar noon, in the very high band. That is the sun this flag has to survive.

This size, ninety six square feet, puts real load on a flagpole. On the exposed sites above polyester is not optional — it is the only sensible call, and the hardware needs to be rated for it.

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.

The working benchmark most institutions use comes from the American Legion, which reports that the United States government expects a flag flown daily from sunrise to sunset to last about ninety days, and one flown around the clock about a quarter of that. Retailer experience runs three to six months for nylon and four to eight for polyester flown daily, and one to three years for a flag flown only on occasions. Those are working figures, not a warranty, and exposure moves them a long way in either direction.

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 math comes to 96 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.

Handling this size, on the ground or at the flagpole, is a two person job. A gust can take one person off balance while clipping ninety six square feet onto the halyard.

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. This size drops grommets entirely. The heading carries a nylon rope its full length, ending in plated steel thimbles, so the load runs through the rope instead of two vulnerable points.

Commercial grade nylon is the material in this flag. Light enough to catch a gentle breeze, it sheds water rather than holding onto it and dries fast, which keeps a flag from staying heavy and stressing its seams. The ink is UV resistant and field tested, since sun exposure is what determines how long the color lasts.

Why this flag is harder to make than most

Two human figures, crossed rifles, a liberty cap, a rhododendron wreath and a ribbon, all on white inside a blue border. One of the most element-heavy flags 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 West Virginia flag placed 51, at 4.16 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

Forty to fifty feet of in-ground flagpole, on a truck and halyard rather than a bracket, is the right fit.

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

Ninety six square feet of pull, concentrated onto two small brass rings, is more than grommets alone can take, which is why a single reinforced grommet at the center of the heading now serves only as a secondary attachment point. A rope sewn the full heading length spreads that load across the entire hoist, with thimbles carrying the attachment instead. It costs more to build, and it is the only way this size lasts.

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?

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

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.

We carry the full range whether or not every size appears on this website. If the size you need is not listed, we can still supply it.

About the back of the flag

Hold a printed flag up to the light and the reverse side shows the design in mirror image. That is not a defect — it is how nearly every flag flown in America is made. A flag correct on both sides is a double sided flag, two flags sewn together around a liner, and it runs roughly double the price and double the weight. Unless a state’s own statute calls for it, single sided is standard and it is the right call.

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

Alternate two flags on a monthly schedule and you will get more life from both than from three flags flown until they wear out, because resting fabric recovers and the fly end stops absorbing the same repeated stress. A severe storm is the one condition worth taking the flag down for; it can do more damage in a night than six calm months. The fly end frays first, not the center, and stitching it early 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.