The rapid and affordable wardrobe refreshes that fast fashion offers, along with its shorter production cycles and cutting-edge designs, have contributed significantly to the industry’s rise. The fast fashion business model has resulted in substantial overproduction difficulties and negative social repercussions on workers in manufacturing nations, as seen by the sharp rise in seasonal fashion trends when compared to the early 2000s.
The fast fashion sector has challenges due to its excessive manufacturing of goods, increased consumption of resources (plastics included), and restricted repurposing of fashion items. Fast fashion produces a lot of trash since so many of the things are thrown away after just a short while and more than 60% are burned or dumped in landfills annually. In actuality, the EU’s textile consumption today has the fourth-highest negative effect on the environment and climate, and the third-highest impact on water and land usage. The total greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture of textiles are estimated to be 1.2 billion tons annually.
However, growing awareness of sustainability issues in the fashion industry is beginning to shift attitudes, resulting in calls for increased transparency. Both consumers and regulators are acting to combat excess waste and gain a better understanding of the intricate global textile value chain.
Reducing waste by changing regulations
Textiles sold in the EU are durable, can be remade, and are mostly made from recovered fibers. They also don’t contain any harmful materials and are made in a way that respects workers’ rights and the environment, according to the Sustainable and Circular Textile Strategy published by the European Commission in March 2022. High-quality, reasonably priced textiles benefit consumers for a longer period of time; rapid fashion is out of style; and reuse and repair services are widely accessible and lucrative.
Producers accept responsibility for their goods throughout the value chain, even when they become trash, in a competitive, resilient, and inventive textiles industry. With less textile incineration and landfilling, the circular textiles ecosystem is flourishing due to ample capacity for creative fiber-to-fibre recycling.
One way the EU is putting this strategy into action is by making “binding product-specific ecodesign requirements to increase textiles’ performance in terms of durability, reusability, reparability, fiber-to-fiber recyclability and mandatory recycled fiber content, to minimize and track the presence of substances of concern and to reduce the adverse effects on climate and the environment.”
In addition to these legislative initiatives throughout the EU, individual member states have also taken action to reduce the appeal of fast fashion. One such measure is France’s recent proposal to impose an environmental tax on inexpensive fashion goods.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP), a required electronic record that would provide all parties involved in the textile supply chain access to “clear, structured, and accessible information on the environmental sustainability characteristics of products,” is the foundation for these requirements. The DPP’s complete implementation date is anticipated to fall between 2026 and 2030. The specifics of the data required to be included in the DPP are still being worked out, but at the very least, it will probably consist of recorded product data from all points of the supply chain, including the sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing processes, in addition to extra details on options for repair, recycling, and end-of-life.
Data transporters to enable DPP
The DPP’s main objective is to digitally replicate physical products and capture event, transactional, and sustainability-based data throughout the course of the product’s lifespan. In order for a DPP for fashion products to be successful, it must be able to be accessed by an affordable data carrier, be available to all relevant parties, such as retailers, importers, producers, and customers, and be able to survive the duration of the product.
QR codes, RFID tags, and other technologies like near-field communication (NFC) tagging are examples of potential uses. Given its relative affordability and interoperability with both consumer mobile phones and supply chain scanners, the QR code seems to be the most logical option among the various technologies.
A QR code powered by GS1, a single-barcode solution created especially to give access to digital information about a product to multiple sources, would be one of the most seamless and well-known solutions available worldwide. It can be easily updated without requiring changes to the final code. GS1, an international standards organization, is a valuable partner for all parties involved in the textile supply chain. Its standards and services enable them to recognize, gather, and exchange critical information that is necessary to assess a product’s sustainability.
In order to extend the lifespan of a product, GS1 QR codes might be put to current item care labels in place of detachable price tags. These labels could be printed or laser coded, depending on the material used. As an alternative, the QR code might be created and printed on specialized films for direct-to-film applications, which would allow it to be heat-pressed into the clothes, sewed onto it, or even incorporated into its design.
The advantages of GS1-powered QR codes for unique item serialization
Although printed QR codes are more affordable, garment makers will inevitably have to pay for the implementation of DPPs for textiles. This is because the move is regulated by law and will compel the sector to comply. Although it is unlikely that the DPP for textiles will require item-level serialization of products, having this additional capability is a small incremental cost that will allow brands to future-proof their operations in the event that serialization is added as a requirement. This compliance obligation also offers the greatest opportunity to unlock additional benefits.
These advantages consist of, but are not limited to:
Offering customers a variety of experiences both before and after they buy a product, such as pre-shipping discounts and after-sales marketing that continues for a year or more.
Supplying extra services, such many free repairs included in the initial purchase price, to extend the life of a device.
The availability of digital deposit return programs for apparel (such as those that increase recycling rates or reimburse money for returned goods to retailers).
The assurance of authenticity for more expensive products via the development of a distinctive product ID that can be tracked throughout the course of its lifespan reduces the possibility that phony or counterfeit goods will be unintentionally bought.
In fact, Kezzler, a developer of digital ID solutions, recently noted that certain businesses are already using serialized QR codes powered by GS1 without a defined purpose at this time. These brands are building an architecture that will accommodate any data obligations imposed by the final DPP legislation by implementing item-level serialization today. Brands may spread the installation costs by serializing products, and they’ll be first to market to investigate and profit from new applications in the future.
Lastly, recycling may help reduce extra garbage.
The textile value chain is intricate, and recycling is one area where the industry lacks the data necessary to make long-term changes. Although clothes composed of recycled fibers may help address the waste problem, there is currently no system in place to monitor apparel and gather items that are appropriate for recycling. In addition, the apparel sector has the same problem as other packaging material industries: a polluted waste stream that is difficult or impossible to locate.
With the DPP playing a major role in promoting data exchange and traceability, exchanging data on the amount, location, and composition of waste created might assist the industry take crucial steps in assessing the full potential of textile recycling.
Although it generates a lot of garbage, the fashion industry is quite profitable. The fashion industry must work together to reevaluate extraction, manufacturing, and distribution methods in order to effect change in an open and honest manner, given its intricate network of global value chains.
The industry’s overarching goals are to significantly lower its carbon impact and increase the lifespan of apparel. By putting the DPP into place as soon as possible, brands that are working toward this objective will be able to demonstrate their efforts and will also be better equipped to convert their compliance needs into a genuine economic opportunity.
