News

A Passport for every garment: Digital Product Passports in Textiles

From fragmented textile data to trusted transparency, Zentrix is building Europe’s Digital Product Passport backbone – linking every fibre to its origin, journey, and sustainable future through standards, smart tagging, and traceability technologies.

By Nenad Gligoric from Zentrix, November 2025

 

Why Do Clothes Need a “Passport”?

Every year, Europe discards over 5.8 million tonnes of clothing – about 11 kg per person – yet only 1% of that gets recycled into new clothes[1]. This staggering waste is fueled by fast fashion and a lack of information flow across a textile product’s life. Most of us know very little about our clothes beyond the tag that says “Made in.” In fact, for 93% of brands the only traceability info on the product label is the country of manufacture[2]. Once a shirt or dress is sold, its story essentially goes dark – we don’t know what materials it contains, how to care for it sustainably, or how to recycle it when it’s worn out. This lack of traceability and lifecycle data leads to fragmented information and piles of textile waste in landfills.
Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a context that allows information about the clothes, linked to a specific information, revealing each garment’s “life story.” Just as a personal passport records that can indicate a person’s place of origin and location over time, a DPP records can show where a product was made, what it’s made of, how it has been used, and where it should go next (repair, resale, recycling). The EU is mandating this change: by 2027, every textile product sold in Europe must carry a Digital Product Passport under new sustainability regulations. The DPP developed in the textile domain under the STREP project is not a first effort on the topic, but it is maturing and extending this vision.

 

Why the Textile Industry Needs Digital Product Passports

A lack of transparency and traceability: Today’s fashion supply chains are global and complex, yet end-consumers and even recyclers have scant information about each product. The typical clothing label provides minimal data (perhaps fabric type and country of origin)[2]. This makes it hard for consumers to make informed choices and for recyclers to sort materials correctly. A Digital Product Passport directly addresses this gap by embedding detailed, item-specific information with each product – creating true product transparency rather than just brand-level claims[4]. With a DPP, anyone (consumer, regulator, or recycler) can scan a code or tag and instantly access that item’s materials, manufacturing processes, and sustainability credentials.
Mountains of textile waste: The current linear fashion model (“take-make-waste”) has led to enormous waste. Europe’s textile consumption exerts one of the greatest pressures on the environment due to resource-intensive production and very low recycling rates[5]. As noted, over 5 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away annually in the EU, yet only a tiny fraction are recycled. One major reason is the “information problem” – without knowing a garment’s composition and history, sorting and recycling it properly is difficult. The DPP is designed to tackle this challenge by capturing all relevant data from fiber content to dye types, making it easier to direct items to proper reuse or recycling streams instead of landfill.
Fragmented lifecycle data: Traditionally, traceability in textiles stops at the point of sale to the consumer[7]. What happens afterward – repairs, second-hand resale, or disposal – remains untracked. This fragmentation means lost opportunities to extend the product’s life or improve recycling. A Digital Product Passport creates a continuous record of a garment’s lifecycle. For example, if a jacket is resold or professionally repaired, those events can be logged in its passport. STREP’s approach recognizes that valuable data is generated not just during production, but throughout a product’s use and end-of-life. By recording events after the initial sale (e.g. maintenance, ownership changes, recycling), the DPP “keeps the story going”[8]. This not only helps in waste reduction but can unlock new circular business models – think of services for authenticating second-hand products or feedback loops to designers about how products fared in use[9].
In short, a Digital Product Passport directly addresses key pain points in the textile industry: it improves traceability, helps reduce waste, and connects data across the entire lifecycle of a product.

 

Zentrix’s Innovative Approach: Tech-Powered Transparency

Zentrix is advancing the Digital Product Passport concept with new technologies to ensure the system is tampered-proof, trustworthy, and geared for a circular economy. Here’s how STREP’s DPP solution stands out:
• RFID Smart Tags for Every Item: Physical-to-digital link. Each textile item in STREP’s pilot carries an RFID tag embedded in textile or similar smart label that holds a unique ID. This tag survives throughout the product’s life (such as number of washing, recycling, etc) and enables contactless scanning without human intervention (e.g. product line). Because RFID does not require direct line-of-sight, even heaps of collected clothes can be automatically identified. This makes it feasible to track products through use, return, and recycling with minimal human effort. It’s akin to giving every garment a tiny beacon that says “here I am, this is my ID, look up my passport!”.
• Distributed Ledger Technology: Securing data integrity. Zentrix leverages DLT (blockchain) to store or verify critical passport data, ensuring it remains tamper-proof and trustworthy. In a global supply chain with many players – suppliers, brands, recyclers – a decentralized ledger provides a single source of truth. For example, when a manufacturer logs the material composition of a sweater or a recycler logs that they processed it into fiber, those entries can be time-stamped and immutable on the ledger. This builds confidence that the information in the passport hasn’t been altered or overstated by any one party, tackling the issue of “greenwashing.” Blockchain-based DPP systems mean data integrity and trust are built in – much like a passport that’s very hard to forge, a digital passport on a blockchain is extremely difficult to falsify.
• Circular Data Model: Designing for multiple lifecycles. Unlike a traditional product database that might only track a product until sale, STREP’s DPP uses a circular data model tailored to textiles. This means the data structure is built to accommodate each stage of a circular lifecycle: initial production, the use phase (with potential events like washing, repairing), re-use (ownership transfer or resale), and end-of-life processing (sorting, recycling, or disposal). All relevant attributes – from fiber content and chemical treatments to repair history and recycled output – have a place in the model. This holistic view ensures that the passport carries the information needed to enable circular decisions. For instance, if a garment is made of a polyester-cotton blend, the model can include fields for how easily it can be separated or recycled, guiding recyclers on the next steps. STREP’s facilitates standardized data model, extended and aligned with emerging industry standards and EU guidelines, so it can interoperate with other systems and future regulations.
• Open APIs and Interoperability: Connecting the ecosystem. The STREP DPP platform provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow different stakeholders’ software systems to connect with the passport database. This means manufacturers can automatically feed production data from their PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems into the DPP, or retailers can integrate it with inventory systems to update a product’s status (e.g., sold or returned). Recyclers’ sorting machines could query the DPP via API to retrieve material info in real time as they scan incoming textile waste. By building the solution with interoperability in mind, STREP ensures the DPP isn’t a standalone silo but a hub of data exchange. It can plug into existing supply chain management tools, consumer apps, and compliance systems via these APIs, making adoption much easier across the industry.

 

Benefits for All Actors in the Textile Value Chain

One of the most exciting aspects of the Digital Product Passport is that it creates win-win benefits for virtually everyone involved with a textile product. By improving information flow and trust, the DPP under STREP unlocks value for manufacturers, recyclers, retailers, and consumers alike:

• Manufacturers & Brands: Enhanced traceability and brand trust. With DPPs, manufacturers can track the source and quality of the materials they use and ensure they meet sustainability criteria. This end-to-end traceability can improve internal quality control and responsible sourcing. Moreover, by disclosing product-level details via the passport, brands demonstrate transparency to consumers, building trust. Early adoption of DPPs signals a commitment to sustainability, which can differentiate brands in a competitive market. Manufacturers also gain feedback data – e.g., learning which products had longer lifespans or were successfully recycled – informing better eco-design in the future.

• Recyclers & Waste Sorters: Streamlined sorting and higher recycling yields. For textile recyclers and sorting facilities, the DPP is like getting clear recycling instructions for each item. Instead of relying on guesswork or laborious manual sorting, a scanner can read an item’s passport to know its material composition (cotton vs. polyester vs. blends), presence of treatments (like flame retardants or metallic fibers), and even its history of repairs. This information helps determine the optimal recycling route – whether the item can be reused, needs to be downcycled, or processed through a specific recycling technology. By enabling more precise sorting, DPPs can significantly improve recycling rates (STREP aims to boost textile recycling by 25% in three years). Recyclers also save costs and reduce contamination issues, as they can avoid mixing incompatible materials. In essence, the DPP gives recyclers the data to turn waste into value more effectively.

• Retailers & Distributors: Inventory management and customer engagement. Retailers can use DPP data to optimize their stock and after-sales services. Knowing the exact contents and durability of products, retailers might plan better return and resale programs (since the passport can authenticate an item’s origin and quality for second-hand sale). Product authentication via DPP can combat counterfeiting and assure customers they’re buying genuine, responsibly made goods. At the point of sale, a retailer can scan a product’s DPP to instantly retrieve details for a customer inquiry (e.g., “Is this jacket made with recycled material?”) – providing a new level of transparency in customer service. Retailers can also bolster loyalty by helping eco-conscious consumers see the impact of their purchase (like showing the carbon footprint or water saved, as recorded in the DPP).

• Consumers: Informed choices and longer product life. For everyday shoppers, the Digital Product Passport offers unprecedented visibility into the products they buy. By scanning a code on a garment with their smartphone, consumers can learn about the item’s origin, the materials and chemicals used, and even the product’s expected longevity or repair options[16]. This empowers people to make informed, sustainable choices – for example, preferring a garment that has a lower environmental impact or that is designed to be recyclable. After purchase, the DPP continues to add value: it can provide tips for care (so the product lasts longer), instructions for repair or where to find spare parts, and guidance on how to eventually dispose or recycle the item properly. In a way, the passport invites consumers to participate in the circular economy, making it easy to do the right thing at end-of-life. Additionally, when selling or donating a used item, the DPP can serve as a “digital pedigree” proving the item’s history and authenticity, potentially increasing its resale value.

Overall, consumers benefit from greater trust, assurance, and convenience – they know what they’re buying and how to extend its life.