National flag of Switzerland

National flags suitable for both outdoor and indoor use.

Made of special polyester material with increased UV and weather resistance.

Intense and vivid colors, with excellent front/rear visibility.

Polyester Material:

• 100% polyester, weight 110 gr/m2
• The material is treated as fire-resistant class B

The material is printed using the latest generation technologies with water-based ecological ink.

The edges are finished with a double perimeter hem, and in the attachment part there may be:

• pylon/handle pocket
• reinforced tape and plastic carabiners, for attaching to the mast
• Fasteners: metal grommets/eyelets

The national flag of Switzerland (German: Schweizerfahne; French: drapeau de la Suisse; Italian: bandiera svizzera; Romansh: bandiera da la Svizra) displays a white cross in the centre of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross or the federal cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6. The size of the cross in relation to the field was set in 2017 as 5:8.

The white cross has been used as the field sign (attached to the clothing of combatants and to the cantonal war flags in the form of strips of linen) of the Old Swiss Confederacy since its formation in the late 13th or early 14th century. Its symbolism was described by the Swiss Federal Council in 1889 as representing "at the same the Christian cross symbol and the field sign of the Old Confederacy". As a national ensign, it was first used during the Napoleonic Wars by general Niklaus Franz von Bachmann, and as regimental flag of all cantonal troops from 1841. The federal coat of arms (eidgenössisches Wappen) was defined in 1815 for the Restored Confederacy as the white-on-red Swiss cross in a heraldic shield. The current design was used together with a cross composed of five squares until 1889, when its dimensions were officially set.

The civil and state ensign of Switzerland, used by Swiss ships, boats and non-governmental bodies, is rectangular in shape and has the more common proportions of 2:3. The Swiss flag is the only square national flag in the world. The emblem of the Red Cross is the Swiss flag with switched colours.

Design

Construction sheet.

According to the 2017 flag law (SR 232.21), "the Swiss flag shows a Swiss cross on a square background". Special provisions are made for the naval ensign and for civil aircraft identification. The Swiss cross is defined as

"a white, upright, free-standing cross depicted against a red background, whose arms, which are all of equal size, are one-sixth longer than they are wide."

Swiss Standard German consistently uses Fahne (cognate with vane) rather than the term Flagge used for national flags in Germany. The name of the flag of the Swiss Confederation is a nominal compound, Schweizerfahne.

The flag is emblazoned in English as, "Gules, a cross coupée argent."

Proportions

While the proportions of the cross have been fixed since 1889, the size of the cross relative to the flag (the width of the margin separating the cross couped from the edge of the flag) had not been officially fixed prior to 2017.

The annex to the flag law provides an image specifying that the margin is to be of the same width as the cross arms, so that the total height of the cross is fixed at 20:32 = 5:8 of the height of the flag (in other words, the width of the margin is 6:32 = 3:16). This ratio is also given as a "vexillological recommendation" in the flag regulation used by the Swiss Armed Forces. Flags with a cross of larger relative widths than the prescribed 20:32 = 62.5% remain in wide use; common ratios include 20:26 ≈ 76.9% and 20:28 ≈ 71.4%.

• 

  20:32 ratio

 
• 

  20:28 ratio

 
• 

  20:26 ratio

 
• 

  2:3 ratio (proportions of the 1841 military flags, no longer recommended)

 
• 

  3:5 ratio (regular division of the field into 25 squares, not recommended)

For the ensign, the ratio of the size of the cross to the height is likewise 5:8, so that the ratio of cross to flag width is 5:12.

Colors

The shade of red used in the flag was not defined by law prior to 2017. Since then, the colour of the flag is defined as pure red, with the color values as follows:

Flag using Hexadecimal #FF0000, which correspond to the RGB and CMYK colours.

Flag using Hexadecimal #DA291C, which corresponds to Pantone 485C.

Variants of the swiss red on the flag and coat of arms