Thanks to increasing awareness of the global impact of fast fashion, more and more brands are moving towards more sustainable practices. These practices work to promote the circular economy model, which involves reusing and recycling existing materials and products instead of throwing them away.
In clothing industry terms, circular fashion is now being used to describe the slower consumption of goods, the use of more sustainable materials and the recycling and upcycling of garments. This much-needed move towards sustainability has started to make progress in a field which has contributed to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
What are digital product passports?
One relatively new idea which fits well with the circular fashion model is the introduction of digital product passports. These passports which, depending on the technology used, can be scanned via QR code or Near Field Communication (NFC) or attained via Bluetooth, have the potential to improve transparency when it comes to production methods and materials among others. Essentially digital clothing tags, they allow brands to include much more information on them than their physical predecessors.
The aim is to give consumers a clearer picture of the history of the garments they purchase, and numerous brands have already started using this new tech, including H&M, Chloé, Pangaia, Mulberry, Net-A-Porter and more.
What are the benefits of digital product passports?
Given the space limitation of traditional clothing tags, minimal information can be printed on them, which means the buyer never really gets the full picture of what they’re purchasing and the impact of that particular purchase on the environment. Physical tags don’t tell the buyer about the labour conditions in which the piece was manufactured or the exact breakdown of materials used to make it and how they were procured, for example.
With more and more brands committing to including this information in digital form, those who look to buy from sustainable brands can do so knowing that they’re well-informed about the background of the pieces they buy.
Helping with care and authentication of luxury clothes
Having more detailed information available to the consumer can help them take better care of their garment, prolonging its life. Having a detailed breakdown of the materials can also help simplify the recycling process making it easier to reuse the materials used to create the pieces because products can be “checked in” and their materials validated at specific recycling facilities.
Having digital product passports for clothes can also directly benefit the consumer when it comes to larger purchases. Along with detailed information, these passports can provide authenticity to designer goods, giving the consumer peace of mind when they purchase second-hand. This idea comes off the back of packaging and labelling company Avery Dennison’s partnership with Certilogo, a digital authentication platform, which led to the creation of digital clothing labels that facilitate the authentication of garments.
The new normal?
In the near future, EU-based companies may soon be legally required to use digital product passports. It’s thought that businesses based outside of the EU will also follow suit. In enforcing digital passports for clothing, bodies are forcing brands to be transparent about their practices, and in doing so, make decisions that will diminish the impact on social and environmental health.
With the EU setting out its intentions to implement legislation to enforce the use of these digital passports in the textiles, electric vehicle batteries and construction industries, it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be scanning all of our clothes to find out exactly how they ended up in our closets.