Buying a flag: price, size and quality of the Norwegian flag

Anyone buying a flag in Norway will come across large price differences, even between flags that look the same in the pictures. The differences usually have an explanation: size, fabric, stitching and quality. The guide gives no prices, because they vary between makers and retailers and change over time. Instead, it describes what affects the price of a flag, what distinguishes the qualities and which rights consumers have.

What affects the price of a flag?

Size

Size affects the price most. Norwegian flags are sold by length, and common lengths range from 100 to 600 centimetres. Flaggfabrikken stocks sewn flags from 50 to 500 centimetres and pennants up to 600 centimetres, and makes larger sizes to order. Which size suits the pole is covered in the guide to flag sizes, and the flag size calculator works it out.

Sewn or printed

A sewn flag has red, white and blue fields sewn together, so the colours are the same on both sides. A printed flag is printed on a single fabric. Sewn flags take more work and are therefore more expensive. Flaggfabrikken writes that a cross pennant is more expensive to produce than a striped pennant, because the stitching takes more work.

The colours

The Flag Act says bright red, dark blue and white, without colour codes. According to Store norske leksikon, several Norwegian makers use Pantone 200 C for red and 281 C for blue on textile flags. Colourfastness, that is, how well the colours stand up to sun and washing, varies between qualities. The colours are covered in the guide to flag symbolism.

The right flag

Private individuals use the rectangular flag with the proportions 16:22. Under section 2 of the Flag Act, the swallow-tailed flag with swallow tail and tongue is the state’s flag. More in the guide to flag types.

Consumer rights

• Right of cancellation: under sections 20 and 21 of the Cancellation Act, consumers generally have a 14-day right of cancellation when buying online or by phone from a trader, counted from the day the goods are received. Under section 22(e), the right does not apply to goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised, such as a flag with a logo or a name pennant.
• Complaints: under section 27 of the Consumer Purchases Act, a complaint is made within a reasonable time after the defect is discovered, and no later than two years after delivery. For items that in normal use are intended to last considerably longer, the deadline is five years.
• Burden of proof: under section 18 of the Consumer Purchases Act, a defect that appears within two years of delivery is presumed to have existed at delivery unless otherwise proven. That does not apply where the presumption is incompatible with the nature of the goods or the defect.

A flag is a consumable. Wind, sun and salt wear the fabric, and wear is not in itself a defect. How long a flag lasts and how it is looked after is covered in the guide to lifespan and sustainability. The costs of the pole itself are covered in the guide to buying a flagpole.