In the US, ANSI standards specify the reflective and conspicuous power of reflective work wear for road workers, first responders etc. However, for reflective accessories, there is no standard to lean on to know if we are doing our job or not to manufacture effective pedestrian safety reflectors. That’s why we turn to the EN13356 standard.
The European EN13356 standard for “Visility Accessories for non-professional use” has instead become the defacto world standard. Manufacturers and resellers use it everywhere from the Far East to the Americas. It specifies minimum size and minimum reflective power at different angles. Read more about the standard here.
The higher the quality of the reflective material, the smaller the safety reflector tag can be and still have enough reflective power. For the smallest allowed size, only a few manufacturers make reflective material that is powerful enough. 3M is one of them. The three little triangles on the reflective material tell you that they are made from 3M™ Scotchlite™.
