>Alex, a good quality laser scanner good to ~36" from the gun to the label is going to cost well over $500 - more in the $750-1000 range for something "industrial grade" (IOW, if you drop it once it is not going to be broken.) A long-distance laser is going to cost considerably more, and the size of tghe bar code is going to need to be larger.

Hi Ed!

I think the above would be overkill... I've looked at these racks. They usually have a big label (about 4" x 2") every 5 'hooks'. This label could be made a bit larger and have a preprinted barcode, or hang a little tablet off it vertically with the barcode.

The user's hand gets quite close to this label when they place the garments on the rack, which means that they can scan the garments, then look for an empty space and as they hang the clothes, scan the rack's label.

Since this label is preprinted and will not change, you can use any process you want to make it chemically inert (is that the right word?).

Alex