Anyone who has ever watched The Devil Wears Prada, House of Gucci, Pret-a-Porter – or any of the numerous fashion industry films – will know that fashion is serious business. In 2023, the global fashion industry was valued at an estimated $1.7 trillion. Clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014, and the number of garments purchased per capita between 2000 and 2014 increased by about 60%.
Fast fashion has significantly contributed to the industry’s growth, with shortened production cycles and up-to-date designs allowing shoppers to update their wardrobes quickly and affordably. However, this business model has also had adverse social impacts on workers in manufacturing countries and has led to significant overproduction issues, as shown by the dramatic rise in seasonal fashion trends compared to the early 2000s.
The overproduction of products, increased use of materials, including plastics, and limited reuse of fashion items all contribute to the problematic nature of the fast fashion industry. Fast fashion generates substantial waste, with a high percentage of items being discarded after minimal wear, and over 60% ending up in landfill or incinerated each year. In fact, total greenhouse gas emissions from textile production are estimated at 1.2 billion tonnes a year, and in the EU, textile consumption now accounts for the 4th highest negative impact on the environment and climate, and the 3rd highest for water and land use.
Nevertheless, growing awareness and concerns over sustainability in the fashion industry are beginning to change perceptions and lead to demands for greater transparency, with consumers and regulators alike taking action to better understand the complex, global textile value chain and combat excess waste. In this context, Lee Metters, Group Business Development Director at Domino Printing Sciences, and Regina Wilhelm, Environmental Manager at Brother, explore the role that Digital Product Passports can play in addressing sustainability issues and the benefits for fashion brands in implementing item-level serialisation.
Addressing Waste Through Regulatory Change
In March 2022, the European Commission released its Sustainable and Circular Textile Strategy, which envisions a future where:
“Textile products available in the EU are designed to be durable and recyclable, largely composed of recycled fibres, free from hazardous substances, and produced with consideration for social rights and environmental impact. Consumers benefit from high-quality, affordable textiles that last longer, fast fashion falls out of favour, and economically viable reuse and repair services become widely available. The textiles sector is competitive, resilient, and innovative, with producers taking responsibility for their products throughout the value chain, including their disposal as waste. The circular textiles ecosystem is flourishing, supported by ample capacity for innovative fibre-to-fibre recycling, while the incineration and landfilling of textiles are kept to a minimum.”
The EU’s strategy includes the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which aims to establish “binding, product-specific ecodesign requirements to improve textiles’ durability, reusability, reparability, fibre-to-fibre recyclability, and mandatory recycled fibre content, to monitor and minimise the presence of harmful substances, and to lessen the negative impacts on climate and the environment.”
In addition to these EU-wide regulations, individual member states have also started taking measures to make fast fashion less appealing. For example, France has recently proposed an environmental surcharge on inexpensive fashion items.
Central to these regulations is the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a mandatory electronic record designed to provide all stakeholders in the textile supply chain with “clear, structured, and accessible information on the environmental sustainability characteristics of products.” The DPP is expected to be fully implemented between 2026 and 2030. Although the exact details of the data required are still being refined, it will likely include information from across the supply chain, such as raw material sourcing and manufacturing processes, along with details on repairability, recyclability, and end-of-life options.
Data Carriers for Facilitating the DPP
The primary goal of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is to create a digital replica of a physical product and record event, transactional, and sustainability-related data throughout the product’s lifecycle. For the DPP to be effective for fashion items, it must be accessible through a data carrier that is cost-effective, easily accessible to all key stakeholders—including manufacturers, importers, retailers, and consumers—and durable enough to last the entire life of the product. Possible options include QR codes, RFID tags, or other technologies such as near-field communication (NFC) tagging. Among these, the QR code stands out as the most practical choice due to its cost-effectiveness and compatibility with both consumer smartphones and supply chain scanners.
A highly effective and widely recognised option would be a GS1-powered QR code. This single-barcode solution is specifically designed to provide access to digital product information from multiple sources and can be easily updated without altering the final code. GS1, as an international standards organisation, plays a crucial role in supporting the textile supply chain by offering standards and services that enable all parties to identify, capture, and share essential data to assess a product’s sustainability credentials.
In practice, GS1 QR codes could be applied to existing care labels on items rather than removable price tags—either printed or laser-etched, depending on the material. This approach ensures that the code remains intact for the product’s entire lifespan. Alternatively, QR codes could be printed on specialist films and transferred onto garments using a heat press, sewn directly onto the clothing, or even integrated into the garment’s design.
DPP Solution for Printing QR Codes on Clothing Care Labels, Developed by Tongadive and Printed by Brother
The Benefits of GS1-Powered QR Codes in Unique Item Serialisation
Although printed QR codes are relatively inexpensive, implementing Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for textiles will likely involve costs for clothing manufacturers. This is unavoidable as the transition is regulated and will require the industry to adapt. While item-level serialisation might not be a mandatory requirement of the DPP for textiles, the additional capability represents a small extra expense that can unlock significant benefits and help brands future-proof their operations in case serialisation becomes a future requirement.
These benefits include, but are not limited to:
- Offering consumers enhanced experiences before and after a product purchase, from pre-shipping promotions to after-sales marketing even years later;
- Providing additional services to extend a product’s lifespan, such as including a number of free repairs with the original purchase price;
- Enabling digital deposit return schemes for clothing, which can improve recycling rates or offer money back when items are returned to the store;
- For higher-value items, ensuring authenticity by creating a unique identifier that tracks the product throughout its lifecycle, thus reducing the risk of inadvertently purchasing counterfeit items.
Indeed, digital ID solutions provider Kezzler has noted that some brands are already using GS1-powered QR codes with serialisation, even without a specific current application. By adopting item-level serialisation now, these brands are building infrastructure that will support any future data requirements set by the final DPP regulation. Serialising items also allows brands to distribute the cost of implementation and stay ahead of the curve to explore and benefit from alternative uses in the future.
Final Thoughts: Recycling to Address Excess Waste
The textile value chain is intricate, and one critical area where the industry lacks the necessary data for sustainable change is in recycling. Although clothing made from recycled fibres could help mitigate the waste problem, the mechanisms to track garments and collect those suitable for recycling are currently inadequate. Additionally, the clothing industry faces similar issues to other packaging materials – the waste stream is often contaminated, and there is little to no method for identifying where the contamination occurs.
Sharing data on the volume, location, and composition of waste generated could enable the industry to make significant progress in evaluating the potential for textile recycling. The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is expected to play a crucial role in facilitating data sharing and improving traceability.
Fashion is a major industry, but it is also a significant contributor to waste. As the fashion sector operates within a complex global value chain, it requires industry-wide efforts to rethink extraction, production, and distribution methods, and to drive change in a transparent manner.
The industry’s overall goal is to substantially reduce its carbon footprint and extend the lifespan of clothing. Brands that take steps to achieve this goal can demonstrate their commitment by adopting the DPP early, positioning themselves to turn compliance obligations into valuable business opportunities.
