Perry Ellis International has turned to RAIN RFID tunnel technology to tackle one of the most persistent headaches in wholesale distribution: chargebacks from shipping errors.
The North American fashion group operates a distribution center in the Atlanta area where its B2B outbound operations depend on pick-to-light systems. While effective for guiding warehouse staff through order fulfillment, the final verification step was manual. That meant discrepancies, whether missing items or extras thrown into a box, could slip through unnoticed. For retailers on the receiving end, those errors translate directly into chargeback penalties that can run as high as 20% of the invoice value.
To close that gap, Perry Ellis installed high-density RFID tunnels directly into its existing conveyor lines. The setup works as an automated checkpoint after picking. As each box passes through the tunnel, the system reads every tagged item inside and compares the contents against the expected order data in real time. If something doesn’t match, the box gets flagged before it ever reaches the shipping dock.
The hardware at the core of the deployment is the Clustag MOT Station, an RFID tunnel reader built for high-throughput environments. Each unit can handle up to 1,000 boxes per hour and read as many as 600 individual items per box. That kind of speed is critical in a distribution center where slowing down the line is not an option.
On the software side, Zentup middleware ties everything together. It manages the communication between the RFID tunnels and Perry Ellis’ Manhattan WMS, performing EPC-level validation on every scanned box. Only orders that pass the check are cleared to move forward. Non-compliant boxes get pulled aside for correction, which means fewer problem shipments leaving the building.
Getting the system up and running was not straightforward. Installation crews had to work on mezzanines more than 12 meters off the ground, and the project had to be completed without shutting down daily operations or cutting into throughput. The team managed to pull it off, launching the system with no disruption to the facility’s normal workflow.
The results have been tangible. Since the RFID tunnels went live, Perry Ellis has seen a 17% drop in discrepancies caught downstream. Fewer non-compliant shipments are reaching retail customers, which has translated into real savings on chargeback penalties. On top of the financial benefit, store-level product availability has improved because orders are arriving complete and correct more consistently.
For a company moving large volumes of apparel to major retailers, that kind of accuracy matters. Chargebacks are not just a cost problem. They strain relationships with retail partners and create downstream inventory issues. By automating validation at the point of shipment, Perry Ellis has addressed the root cause rather than just managing the symptoms.
The deployment is a practical example of how RAIN RFID tunnels can deliver measurable ROI in fashion logistics, where item-level tagging is already widespread and the infrastructure exists to support this kind of automated verification.