BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Next month, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will soon be tracking jeans and underwear via radio-frequency ID (RFID) tags, the Wall Street Journal reports. The retailer plans to slowly change over from removable "smart tags" on individual pieces of clothing and other products to RFID tags for better inventory control.

"This ability to wave the wand and have a sense of all the products that are on the floor or in the back room in seconds is something that we feel can really transform our business," said Raul Vazquez, who head all of the western U.S. Wal-Mart stores.

Retailers have used RFID tags to track large shipments, such as boxes and pallets. Wal-Mart??s use of the tags on individual items will be the biggest adoption of this technology in the world.

However, some are expressing concern that RFID tags on clothing raises privacy issues because the tags, while removable from the items, can??t be shut off and would remain trackable. Another fear is that retailers would be able to grab data off newer personal ID cards that carry information strips without the customer??s knowledge or consent.

"There are two things you really don??t want to tag, clothing and identity documents, and ironically that??s where we are seeing adoption," said Katherine Albrecht, founder of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering. "The inventory guys may be in the dark about this, but there are a lot of corporate marketers who are interested in tracking people as they walk sales floors."

If the test goes as planned, Wal-Mart will add the electronic ID tags to other garments and products.