A new pilot is testing whether digital product passport data can be captured once at the fabric stage and then reused across multiple brands, a move its backers say could ease one of fashion’s biggest sustainability bottlenecks.
Denim Deal, World Collective and Green Story said the pilot is now live with three denim fabrics from Indian textile mill and manufacturer Bhaskar Savitt Industries. Rather than waiting for passport information to be assembled only when a garment is f...
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inished, the project places product data at the material level, creating what industry participants describe as an intermediary digital product passport.
The idea is straightforward: if suppliers can record verified information once, that data can be shared with every customer using the same fabric, instead of being repeatedly gathered and reformatted for each individual brand. Proponents say that could cut duplication, reduce administrative burden and make it easier for suppliers to compete in a market that increasingly expects traceability.
Akhil Sivanandan, chief executive of Green Story, said the system will only scale if the industry stops treating each finished item as a fresh data-gathering task. He argued that the real value lies in building reusable data blocks across the supply chain.
The pilot builds on a series of recent collaborations in denim. Denim Deal, the global initiative promoting the use of post-consumer recycled cotton in jeans, formed a strategic partnership with Green Story in February, focusing on digital product passports, consumer engagement and regulatory readiness. In May, Denim Deal also teamed up with World Collective to broaden the visibility and reach of suppliers and materials that meet its circularity standards.
World Collective has separately said its work with Denim Deal is intended to support a wider shift in denim sourcing, with the long-term aim of helping the industry produce one billion jeans containing at least 20% post-consumer recycled cotton by 2030.
The three fabrics in the pilot are already listed on World Collective’s platform. Each product page now carries an interactive passport widget giving access to fabric composition, sustainability metrics, supplier details, care guidance and performance test data.
The broader push reflects growing industry interest in digital product passports as fashion groups prepare for tighter European sustainability requirements. In recent months, brands including bonprix have begun trialling enhanced passport systems for denim, using QR codes and labels to give shoppers product information, care advice and styling content alongside supply-chain data.
Earlier projects have also shown how digital labelling can be used to improve transparency and consumer education. The R Collective’s traceable denim work with Levi’s, for example, paired scannable labels with guidance on care, restyling and recycling, underlining how digital tools are becoming part of the wider effort to reduce denim’s environmental footprint.
For the companies behind the latest pilot, the hope is that passports attached to fabric rather than finished goods could help move the industry closer to a standardised, scalable approach. If that works, suppliers may no longer have to start from scratch every time a brand asks for proof.
Source: Noah Wire Services
