Textile Exchange and TextileGenesis announces pilot release of traceability technology

Textile Exchange and TextileGenesis™ announced the pilot release of Textile Exchange’s Electronic Trackit “eTrackit” program, a digital system for granular traceability using novel technologies applied to Textile Exchange Standards. The ground-breaking solution produces detailed material accounting of certified materials at the article level across the supply chain, allowing peer-to-peer validation and the use of third-party Certification Bodies in the transaction verification process. The pilot initiative will debut in November at Textile Exchange’s annual global conference in Dublin, with the initial phase focusing on the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS).

Claire Bergkamp, COO of Textile Exchange, said that supply chain transactions, as well as a product-level chain of custody, will be validated digitally on the platform for the first time in the industry. eTrackit is an online alternative to PDF-based transaction certificates that tracks the volume of certified material for each product using e-tokens. Their goal is for this technology to hasten good effects across the supply chain while also giving brands the validated data they need to make confident product claims.

Bestseller, H&M Group, Inditex, tentree, and VF Corporation are among the seven global companies that will pilot this new traceability solution for GRS and RCS-certified goods across their supply chains. Control Union, USB Certifying, IDFL, Intertek, and Bureau Veritas are among the certification bodies taking part. Following these tests, scaling strategies will be developed to enable a commercial launch. The traceability system will be expanded further to include animal fiber standards in 2022, followed by the Organic Cotton Standard (OCS).

Merel Krebbers, Product Owner at H&M Group Business Tech, said that H&M Group believes that supply chain traceability and transparency should go hand in hand to increase accountability for where resources and products come from, as well as to drive positive change in the fashion sector. Furthermore, they believe that by collaborating inside and across sectors to develop shared solutions, they may have a greater impact; combining technology and shared-industry databases can help boost supply chain traceability. They’re thrilled to be a part of this exciting cooperation, as it represents a significant step forward in digitizing the chain of custody and traceability, making it easier for all supply chain participants to trace certified items and advancing transparency.

Amit Gautam, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of TextileGenesis™ said that with increasing consumer demand and compliance risks, CEOs and Boards of the majority of top 100 fashion brands have committed to using sustainable fibers over the next five years, with transparency and traceability being a core part of business priorities. Sustainability and traceability have become deeply interconnected, and Textile Exchange is leading the way for the whole fashion sector to follow. Using their Fibercoins™ traceability technology, their supply chain traceability platform offers strong and scalable material accounting for Textile Exchange’s fiber standards at the product-article and lot level.