(Credit: Textile Exchange)TrusTrace has joined Trace4Value where it will pilot a digital product passport (DPP) that will provide sustainability through transparency and promote a circular textile economy.
TrusTrace is a global SaaS company that offers a platform for supply chain traceability and compliance that gives companies and brands the ability to standardize supply chain and material traceability data. The project is in line with the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which aims to make DPPs mandatory on textiles sold in Europe by 2030.
“Our goal is to effectively test how a DPP can function in practice -- and prepare for future implementation,” TrusTrace Co-Founder and CEO Shameek Ghosh said in a statement. “TrusTrace is uniquely positioned to pioneer this practice based on the in-depth experience we have helping brands map and trace their supply chains. Working together with dozens of industry leaders, the Trace4Value project will allow us to investigate the opportunities and challenges that the DPP will entail for textile and fashion companies, ultimately helping the entire industry comply with this new directive before 2030.”
The project has a number of partners, including TrusTrace, Marimekko, Kappahl, Elis, SIS Swedish Institute for Standards, GS1 Sweden, TEXroad Foundation, Circularista, 2bPolicy, Trimco Group, Rudholm and Haak, and Aalto University. It is partly funded by Vinnova, and coordinated by RISE Research Institute of Sweden. Trace4Value is a broader project that has more than 65 partners.
The textile DPP in the project will be tested by tagging selected Kappahl and Marimekko products in production, which will have an ID carrier on the products. Product information can be accessed through a QR code. Beyond the consumer-facing interface, TrusTrace developed a data protocol for the partners that prioritizes information on the DPP based on the supply chain and legislation. The data includes a Global Trade Identification Number, relevant commodity codes, compliance documents, substances of concern, information about the manufacturer, and more, TrusTrace said.
“There are no standard data protocols for this regulation yet, so we have developed a data protocol that is available for download at the TrusTrace and Trace4Value web pages,” Ghosh said. “We are not creating a separate standard, but testing and learning, and the protocol will be continuously updated as the details on the EU regulation take shape. The protocol has been designed to be flexible to ensure we can adapt to all the changes coming in the future.”
The European Commission is developing the DPP requirements to create a more circular economy in Europe, and they are part of the Eco-design for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) and the European Green Deal under the Sustainable Textile Strategy.
