Problem Statement
The fashion supply chain is complex, and achieving full traceability is challenging. However, transparency and traceability are essential steps toward a more sustainable industry and should be at the heart of any brand or retailer’s sustainability strategy. As consumers increasingly demand to know the origins of their clothing and the conditions in which they were made, and as governments implement policies to regulate sustainability claims, the need for transparency will only intensify.
To effectively reduce carbon emissions, water usage, and textile waste, it’s crucial to first measure these impacts. Traceability—and the transparency it provides—is the essential driver that empowers supply chain partners to meet their science-based emissions targets and advance the industry’s environmental goals.
Solutions are split into digital platforms and physical tracers:
Digital Platforms are Blockchain or Cloud-based digital platforms that consolidate supply chain data, provide supply chain mapping and visualisation tools, and perform material and product traceability.
Physical Tracers are tracer technologies that supplement existing site-level and transaction-level verification and have the capability to provide physical/material validation alongside the chain of custody, allowing manufacturers and brands to more confidently verify sustainable product claims.
DIGITAL PLATFORMS
Supply Chain Mapping
Supply chain mapping involves gathering, organising, and understanding the intricate network of suppliers and logistics that enable products to reach customers. In the fashion industry, this process enhances transparency and traceability, supporting sustainability efforts by identifying areas for improvement and innovation.
Product Traceability
Product traceability involves tracking when, where, and how each component of a garment is produced, enabling the entire supply chain to be traced from source to consumer. This transparency enhances visibility and supports improved sustainability governance within the fashion industry.
Digital Product Passports
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital record providing comprehensive product information, including materials, origins, production processes, and environmental impact. It promotes transparency and traceability, enabling sustainable choices and circularity. DPPs empower stakeholders across the value chain to make informed decisions, supporting sustainability goals in the fashion industry.
Waste Mapping
Waste mapping involves identifying and analysing the sources, types, and volumes of waste within a specific area or industry. Tools like “World of Waste” map global textile waste hotspots, providing data on waste volume, composition, and type to support recyclers and innovators.
Impact Tracking
Impact tracking involves measuring and analysing the effects of initiatives to assess their success and inform future strategies. In the fashion industry, it evaluates the environmental and social outcomes of sustainable practices, guiding improvements and fostering transparency.
C2C & B2B Engagement
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) engagement involves interactions where consumers directly exchange goods, services, or information with each other, often facilitated by a platform that connects individuals.
B2B (Business-to-Business) engagement is similar but focuses more on exchanging data, information or resources between businesses.
PHYSICAL TRACERS
Forensic Tracers
Forensic tracers analyse the unique micro-particle composition of natural fibres, such as cotton and wool, to verify their geographic origin without adding substances during production. This method enhances supply chain transparency by confirming the authenticity of raw materials.
Additive Tracers
Additive tracers are substances applied to textile fibres or materials—via sprays, inks, or pigments—to enable end-to-end traceability throughout the supply chain. They facilitate the detection and verification of a product’s origin and journey, enhancing transparency in the fashion industry.
SOCIAL INNOVATION
Worker Empowerment
Worker empowerment in transparency and traceability innovations involves leveraging technology to enhance supply chain visibility, ensuring fair labor practices, and enabling workers to access information about their rights and working conditions. This approach promotes ethical standards and improves labor conditions across the fashion industry.
What do we hope to achieve by working in this area?
Fashion for Good is dedicated to empowering brands, manufacturers, and innovators on their journey to establish comprehensive traceability across the supply chain. As regulatory pressures on the industry grow, our bold ambition is to lead the way in creating a more transparent, accountable, and interconnected fashion ecosystem. By driving collaboration, we aim to identify opportunities for greater alignment within the industry and foster enhanced interoperability among diverse supply chain solutions.
How do we address this area?
Fashion for Good has conducted extensive mapping of the landscape, gaining a thorough understanding of both digital platforms and physical tracers available in the market. We align these solutions with emerging policies and directives, such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the U.S. and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Proposal (CSDDD) in the EU, ensuring that brands and manufacturers can meet regulatory and compliance demands effectively.
Where beneficial, Fashion for Good facilitates pilot programmes with our brand and manufacturing partners to validate traceability solutions. These pilots are tailored to address specific challenges in the supply chain, either through individual projects or collaborative consortia that test innovations across multiple suppliers and regions. One notable example is our Textile Tracer Assessment project, conducted in partnership with Textile Exchange, which focuses on standardising data for recycled textiles to improve traceability and support sustainable practices.
The solutions in our portfolio have now got over 65,000 suppliers onboarded to their platforms, representing the depth of their solutions at scale.
Related Projects
EU-Funded Projects
The European Green Deal and the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan highlight textiles as one of the particularly important material streams with regard to circularity potential and environmental footprint.
The Circular Polybag Pilot
The aim of the pilot was to tackle the environmental issues caused by virgin polybags in the fashion industry. This industry-first pilot aimed to create a closed-loop recycling solution for polybags, using post-consumer polybag waste and achieving a high level of recycled content suitable for industry needs.
Organic Cotton Traceability Pilot
This project tested the feasibility of tracking organic cotton, from farms to retail, using on-product markers and blockchain technology.
Piloting a Circularity Solution in E-commerce
This project was led by Fashion for Good, together with Zalando and circular.fashion, a Fashion for Good alumni innovator. The objective was to test the circularity.ID, a traceability solution designed by circular.fashion to increase resale and recycling opportunities for clothing at scale.
Viscose Traceability Pilot
In December 2020, Fashion for Good launched a pilot to test the TextileGenesis™ platform, a blockchain-based solution for tracing sustainable viscose fibres. This pilot involved several partners including Bestseller, Kering and Zalando, in addition to manufacturers Lenzing, ENKA and Tangshan Sanyou. The pilot’s aim was to test the TextileGenesis™ platform and trace responsibly sourced viscose through digital and physical means across the supply chain.
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.
Tracing Textile Waste
The Tracing Textile Waste Project by Fashion for Good and Textile Exchange focuses on improving transparency and traceability of textile waste in the reverse supply chain.
T-REX Project
The T-REX Project brings together 13 major players from across the entire value chain to create a harmonised EU blueprint and business opportunities for closed loop sorting, and recycling of household textile waste. Transforming end-of-use textiles, from waste, into a desired feedstock, and a commodity for new business models that can be adopted at scale.
New Cotton Project
In a world first for the fashion industry, twelve pioneering players came together to break new ground by demonstrating a circular model for commercial garment production.
Feedstock Assessment for Biosynthetic Innovation
Feedstock Assessment for Biosynthetic Innovation, an initiative in collaboration with Bestseller and On aimed at accelerating the industry’s shift towards alternatives to fossil-fuel polymers. The assessment will be conducted in partnership with industry experts, the Nova Institute.
Relevant Resources
Explore tools, news, reports, and insights at the forefront of creating a positive future for the fashion industry.
In Conversation with TextileGenesis: The Innovator Creating Transparent Supply Chains
What is transparency?
From Fibre To Finish To Scale: Tracing Viscose And Beyond
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).
