What is the European Union’s new Digital Product Passport, and how will it be implemented in the textile sector?

Consumers are curious and increasingly aware of the environmental impact their choices might have. Throughout the decision-making journey, they search for data such as the origin of the product, materials used, and environmental impact. This means businesses have a tremendous opportunity to empower and influence conscious consumers’ decisions.

The European Union (EU) has recognised the gap between the transparency demanded by consumers and other stakeholders and the information currently shared on product journeys, which is considered unreliable and lacking.

A key component of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force in 2024, is the implementation of Digital Product Passports (DPP). (The ESPR is contextualised in the article “Main mandatory regulations arising from the European Union’s strategy for sustainable and circular textiles“, published by Susplus.)

What is a Digital Product Passport?

A DPP is a digital record aimed to register, process, and share product-related information amongst supply chain businesses, authorities, and consumers.

This product identity card will enhance transparency by providing comprehensive information about a product and its entire value chain, supporting sustainability, promoting circularity, and strengthening legal compliance.

An essential aspect of the DPP is that the passport should not replace but complement non-digital forms of transmitting information, such as information in the product manual or on a label. Intellectual property rights will also be protected by designing a product passport allowing differentiated access to information depending on the type of information and the type of stakeholders.

The Goals of a Textile DPP

The main objectives of the policy options concerning a possible textile DPP are:

1. Transparency: provide precise and accessible information throughout the entire value chain to stakeholders.

2. Sustainability: promotes eco-friendly production, namely the streamlined and reduced consumption of raw materials; boosted creation of durable products; and minimised waste generation.

3. Traceability: enables tracking of a product’s lifecycle, improving supply chain visibility and accountability.

4. Facilitated circularity: encourages longer product lifespan and waste reduction by detailing repairability, reusability, recyclability, and the presence of hazardous materials.

5. Foster product differentiation based on quality: thereby facilitating competition with fast-fashion actors.

6. Consumer empowerment: offers verified product data to support value-based purchase decisions.

7. Regulatory compliance: standardises data for easy compliance with the ESPR and other EU regulations.

The frame for the adoption of a DPP

A DPP isn’t mandatory yet, but it will soon be required in the textile sector (particularly garments and footwear). In an EU study published in June 2024, DPPs for the textile sector are anticipated to be adopted and mandated by the EU between 2027 and 2033.

This study proposed a step-by-step scenario and policy options for the deployment of a DPP for the textile sector in three phases:

Phase 1 (2027): Deployment of a ‘minimal & simplified DPP’ for textiles
This proposal expects to disseminate mandatory information, completed with additional helpful information for lifecycle analysis.

Phase 2 (2030): Deployment of an ‘advanced DPP’ for textiles
For this phase, a progressive extension to other stakeholders is expected for a vast information collection throughout the lifecycle based on the findings from the first phase and experimentation results.

Phase 3 (2033): Deployment of a ‘full circular DPP’ for textiles
For this last phase, the full deployment of a DPP is expected to promote circularity in the textile sector.

A comprehensive understanding of the complexities within the textile supply chain and the complete digitalisation of industry processes is required to effectively implement a DPP. Deploying a DPP in phases helps determine what information should be prioritised, considering the difficulties in collecting it.

Information to include in the textile DPP

It’s expected that the DPP will include a unique product identifier and 16 categories of information: product description, composition, supply chain, transportation, documentation, environmental impact, social impact, impact on animals, circularity, health impact, information on the brand, communication/identification media, quantity, costs usage and customer feedback and, finally, tracking and tracking after sales.

Accordingly to each expected textile DPP implementation phase, information to include is shown below. The green colour highlights the mandatory information to disseminate, and the blue colour highlights the additional information that can be included but it is not compulsory:

Phase 1 (2027): Deployment of a ‘minimal & simplified DPP’ for textiles

Phase 2 (2030): Deployment of an ‘advanced DPP’ for textiles

Phase 3 (2033): Deployment of a ‘full circular DPP’ for textiles

Final notes

The EU has already prepared the roll-out of the DPP. The exact requirements and how to implement a DPP considering the company’s size are still to be determined, but each textile product sold in the EU will need a DPP between 2027 and 2033

It’s expected that the adoption of rules on the identifiers and data carriers will be needed to work on access rights to DPP information and establish a DPP registry and web portal, amongst other supporting activities.

The considerable amount of investment needed for the digitalisation of the textile ecosystem has been considered by the European Union, and funding efforts and instruments in this regard are expected to increase. Possible incentives facilitated by the EU for companies to adopt a DPP might include tax breaks or subsidies.

Undoubtedly, implementing DPP is an imperative and innovative tool to foster ecological transition and align with consumer expectations of transparency and ethical consumption. Complementarily, it might raise concerns for businesses related to the investment required to ensure the product collected data to prepare the DPP is accurate, centralised, and accessible to all stakeholders. Subscribing to technology providers like Susplus, supported by blockchain and IoT to provide real-time access to data and measure environmental impact performance metrics, is key to DPP compliance and your business success.

Useful References

European Parliament (2024) Digital product passport for the textile sector. Brussels: European Union

About Susplus

Susplus is offering a simple, intuitive, and innovative data-driven platform service that supports companies of all sizes to accelerate their path transition to carbon neutrality. We empower companies to start and accelerate their carbon neutrality transition process by measuring and improving their business ecosystem value-chain impact. Susplus platform’s innovative features and intuitive design, will lead you during the transition journey by helping your team to measure carbon emissions in your business value-chain, create action-plans to easily reduce them, and report confidently in compliance with the latest reporting standards. Learn more at susplus.tech, on Linkedin, and on X @susplustech