Textile Tracer Assessment
This project involved a detailed analysis and assessment of physical tracer technologies for the textile industry, aimed at improving the traceability of fibres and materials across the supply chain. It evaluated forensic and additive tracers as solutions to verify the origins of materials and strengthen transparency in the textile supply chain.
What's the challenge?
The textile industry faces challenges in verifying the origin of fibres and materials across the supply chain, leading to transparency issues and a risk of false sustainability claims. Existing verification systems (site-level, transaction-level) fall short of providing material-level traceability, making it hard to prevent issues like counterfeiting and material substitution.
Executive Summary
The Textile Tracer Assessment provided a first-of-its-kind benchmark for physical tracer technologies in the textile industry. It categorises tracer technologies into forensic and additive tracers and evaluates their application in verifying the origins and authenticity of textile fibres. The report encourages the use of these technologies to enhance supply chain traceability and transparency, aligning with sustainability goals. It identifies use-cases for implementing tracer solutions, such as verifying recycled fibres and ensuring sustainable sourcing.
Goals of the Project
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Benchmark physical tracer technologies for fibre traceability.
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Enable the identification of appropriate tracer technologies based on specific use cases.
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Support the development of supply chain transparency and sustainability through tracer technology adoption.
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Provide guidance on implementing tracer technologies alongside digital traceability systems.
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Facilitate the use of tracers in recycling processes to verify sustainable fibre content.
Project Results
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Analysis of 17 tracer companies, resulting in two primary categories: Forensic Tracers (geographic verification) and Additive Tracers (material-level verification).
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Successful identification of technologies that can be used across different tiers of the textile supply chain.
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Key insights into the operational feasibility of using tracers for synthetic fibres and recycled materials.
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Recommendations for combining physical tracer technologies with digital traceability efforts for comprehensive supply chain transparency.
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Relevant Resources
Assessing Tracer Technologies to Boost Traceability
What is traceability?
Blockchain: Unlocking Transparency and Traceability in The Fashion Supply Chain
A major recent breakthrough in the traceability space occurred with the creation of the Aura Blockchain Consortium – whose members include LVMH, the Prada Group and Richemont (owner of Cartier). The Consortium operates as a non-profit, luxury-specific blockchain technology platform with the goal of developing passports to ensure authenticity and traceability of the brand’s products. The passports offer lifecycle tracking, proof of origin, and protection of intellectual property after being given a unique digital identity based on a non-fungible token (NFT).
Fashion Brands, Ready To Accelerate Your Sustainable Transformation with Digital Traceability?
TrusTrace, a market-leading platform for supply chain transparency and product traceability within the fashion and retail industries, has joined forces with Fashion Revolution and Fashion for Good to accelerate sustainable transformation in the fashion industry with the help of a one-stop guide.
Other Projects
Sorting for Circularity Rewear
Fashion for Good expanded its Sorting for Circularity framework to address the challenge of sorting for rewearable textiles to understand better their resale potential and the demand across the second-hand market. We launched an 18-month initiative in January 2024 in collaboration with Circle Economy, brand partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co. and Zalando to enhance the sorting of rewearable textiles using innovative AI technologies. The project seeks to improve garment recovery for resale, promoting circularity in the fashion industry.
Behind the Break
Behind the Break is a multi-phase research initiative developed by Fashion for Good in collaboration with The Microfibre Consortium. The project takes a research-led approach to advance the fashion industry’s understanding of fibre fragmentation, addressing uncertainties in existing testing protocols and key knowledge gaps. By supporting the development of a more credible and consistent foundation, the initiative aims to enable stakeholders to make informed decisions and take decisive action to mitigate fibre fragment pollution, while leveraging the best available science.
Behind the Break 2.0
Behind the Break 2.0 is a targeted research initiative focused on addressing fibre fragmentation in textiles, building directly on the work started in Phase 1.0 (2024–2025), which tested the strengths and limitations of different methods used to measure fibre loss, identifying how much results vary between labs, and exploring what drives fibre shedding across three fabric types: cotton knit, cotton woven, and polyester knit. Phase 2.0 seeks to increase confidence in data quality, consolidate and refine existing testing approaches and knowledge across selected fabric archetypes, and deepen supplier engagement to support wider data collection within the space.
