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Full collection · 54 products in UK stock

Rainbow Flags – Pride Flag, Rainbow Bunting & Hand Flags

Rainbow flags for Pride month, the parade, the office, the school and the pub garden. Fly the six-stripe rainbow pride flag in 3x2, 5x3 or 8x5ft, the original 1978 eight-stripe or the Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride flag, hang rainbow bunting down the street and hand out rainbow hand flags along the route. Rainbow Union Jack, Welsh Dragon and car flags too.

Rainbow Flag — from £6.99 →Rainbow BuntingProgress Pride Flag
Free 1–2 day UK deliverySame-day dispatch before 2pmFlagtex & DuraFlag grades
Best SellerRainbow pride flag 5ft x 3ft six stripesRainbow Flagfrom £6.99

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The rainbow flag: from eight stripes to six

The rainbow pride flag was designed by Gilbert Baker for San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day parade on 25 June 1978, hand-dyed and sewn with eight stripes: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic and art, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. Hot pink fabric was hard to source so it was dropped within months, and in 1979 turquoise and indigo were merged into royal blue so the flag split evenly down the middle of a parade route, giving the six-stripe flag flown everywhere today. Our rainbow flag is that six-stripe design, red at the top, printed through on woven polyester so the stripes run the right way from both sides; the original eight-stripe rainbow flag is here for anyone who wants Baker’s first version.

The Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride flag adds Daniel Quasar’s 2018 chevron (black and brown for people of colour, plus the trans flag’s colours), with Valentino Vecchietti’s 2021 purple circle on yellow for intersex people; the plain Progress Pride flag and the trans, bi, lesbian, non-binary and other identity flags each have their own page under Pride flags.

Pride month, parades and the year round

June is Pride month and the peak for rainbow flags, but the UK parade season runs from Birmingham and Blackpool in late spring through London, Brighton, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow to the autumn. Councils, universities, hospitals, police forces and the big employers raise a rainbow flag for the month and for LGBT+ History Month in February, schools fly one for Anti-Bullying Week, and bars, barbers and bookshops in gay villages keep one up all year. Football clubs use the rainbow laces weekend in the autumn, and a rainbow flag has become a general symbol of welcome on cafés, churches and campsites well beyond Pride.

Which size rainbow flag?

Bars, house poles and parade floats usually fly the 5ft x 3ft rainbow flag. A window, a classroom or a smaller pole suits 3ft x 2ft; a town hall, a university or a festival stage suits 8ft x 5ft; a bike or a hand pole takes 20x12in. Every six-stripe size flies from a sewn header with brass eyelets; on the rainbow DuraFlag, rope-and-toggle or clip fittings are an option.

Flagtex or DuraFlag?

Buying by the dozen for a parade or a Pride month display? Flagtex is the printed woven-polyester rainbow flag to choose. Flagtex Nylon, at 3ft x 2ft and 5ft x 3ft, is a lighter cloth that lifts when the wind is gentle. A rainbow kept up all year on a council, campus or church pole should be DuraFlag: weightier knitted polyester, twin-stitched hems, strengthened header. Pride orders in by 2pm leave the same day, so a last-minute Pride order still arrives in time; all three Pride grades are stocked in and dispatched from our Stoke-on-Trent warehouse.

Rainbow bunting

Rainbow bunting shows the six-stripe flag on every pennant in rectangle, triangle and giant-rectangle cuts from 3m to 20m, weatherproof polyester sewn to strong tape, for a street, a bar, a school hall or a Pride stall. Rainbow multi-coloured bunting alternates plain pennants in rainbow order for a softer party look, while Rainbow Love, Rainbow Smiley and Rainbow Union Jack bunting offer a mixed run.

Hand flags, table flags, car flags and more

Sold singly or in packs for a parade crowd or a school assembly, rainbow hand flags are 9x6in or 18x12in on wooden sticks. The 6x4in rainbow table flag on its base suits a reception, a bar or a classroom, while a boardroom in Pride month gets the chrome-based satin table flag. The rainbow car flag clips to a car window on the way to Pride, the rainbow windsock flies over a campsite or a garden, and the Rainbow Union Jack, Rainbow Welsh Dragon, Rainbow Peace and Love Is Love flags are the favourite variations.

Rainbow flag FAQs

What do the colours of the rainbow pride flag mean?

In Gilbert Baker’s 1978 design red is life, orange healing, yellow sunlight, green nature, blue (originally turquoise and indigo) art and serenity, and violet spirit. The hot pink stripe for sex was dropped in the first year.

Why does the rainbow flag have six stripes instead of eight?

Hot pink fabric was unavailable in 1978, so the flag went to seven stripes, and in 1979 turquoise and indigo were merged into royal blue so the flag could be split evenly along both sides of a parade route.

What is the difference between the rainbow flag and the Progress Pride flag?

The Progress Pride flag keeps the six rainbow stripes and adds a chevron at the hoist in black, brown, light blue, pink and white for people of colour and trans people; the intersex-inclusive version adds a purple circle on yellow. Both are stocked.

Which way up does the rainbow flag go?

Red stripe at the top, violet at the bottom. Hung vertically, the red stripe goes on the viewer’s left.

When is Pride month?

June, marking the Stonewall uprising of June 1969. UK Pride parades run from May to September, with London usually at the end of June or start of July. LGBT+ History Month is February.

What size rainbow flag for a telescopic pole?

Fly a 5ft x 3ft rainbow flag from a 6m telescopic or garden pole, a 3ft x 2ft from a short pole, and an 8ft x 5ft only from a fixed pole of 25ft or more.