Digital Product Passports: A New Turning Point for the Textile Industry in the Green Supply Chain

The textile industry is entering a phase in which on-time delivery and cost control are no longer the only criteria determining competitiveness. Data on raw material sources, fiber composition, chemicals used, production processes, durability, and recyclability is increasingly regarded as part of a product’s value.

Against this backdrop, the digital product passport, commonly known as the Digital Product Passport, is emerging as a tool that could change how textile products are designed, manufactured, circulated, and handled after use. It is not a new label that completely replaces traditional product labels, but a digital data system linked to a product or product group. Depending on specific requirements, the data can be accessed through a QR code, an identifier, or another electronic method.

The European Union has placed the digital product passport within its policy framework for ecodesign for sustainable products. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, issued by the EU in 2024, provides a legal basis for developing requirements concerning durability, repairability, recyclability, resource use, and product information for many groups of goods. Textiles are one of the sectors receiving attention because of the volume of raw materials, chemicals, and waste generated throughout the product life cycle.

Why has data become a central issue for textiles?

Within the textile supply chain, a finished product typically involves multiple stages and many suppliers. Fibers may be produced in one country, spun into yarn in another, woven or knitted somewhere else, and then undergo dyeing, finishing, cutting, sewing, and distribution. Each step generates its own set of data, but these data are not always standardized or connected.

For purchasing companies, verifying information can therefore take considerable time. A recycled-material certificate is not related only to the final garment factory; it also depends on the source of the waste, the recycler, the yarn manufacturer, and the control system at each stage. Similarly, information about water, energy, or chemical use needs to be placed within a clearly defined measurement scope before it can be compared across factories.

This tool is expected to help restructure the flow of information. Instead of providing only a short label on a product, companies can create an electronic profile containing data appropriate for each user group. Manufacturers need information about materials and processes. Retailers need data to meet purchasing requirements. Consumers may be interested in fiber composition, care instructions, and repairability. Recyclers, meanwhile, need to know what types of fibers a product contains, whether they are blended, and which components need to be removed.

One data system, many user groups

Not all data needs to be made equally public. Companies may need to distinguish between information intended for consumers, information intended for regulators, and sensitive commercial data shared only among authorized partners.

This is an important consideration for Vietnamese textile manufacturers. Transparency does not mean publicly disclosing an entire production formula, raw material purchase prices, or a supplier list. An appropriate system needs to determine which data must be provided, which data can be verified by a third party, and which data must be protected because it relates to trade secrets.

If data is structured consistently from the outset, companies can reduce the situation in which every customer requests a different form. Conversely, if digitization is carried out only to satisfy individual requests, management costs may increase and data can become fragmented.

What information may appear in a product passport?

The specific content of a product passport will depend on the regulations for each product group and the requirements of each market. For textiles, data fields may focus on the following main categories:

• Fiber composition and the proportion of each type of material;
• The origin or traceability information of materials within the required scope;
• Information about manufacturers, processing facilities, and key production stages;
• Instructions for use, washing, care, repair, and extending the product’s useful life;
• Data related to durability, disassembly, reuse, or recyclability;
• Information about environmental certifications or claims where there is a basis for verification;
• Instructions for sorting and handling the product after it is discarded.

The list above does not mean that every company must immediately provide all data for every product. Legal requirements are generally developed for specific product groups and may be accompanied by technical standards, rules on data accessibility, or requirements concerning the responsible entity.

The core point is that data must be verifiable. A statement such as “green product” or “environmentally friendly” has little value if the company cannot define the scope, calculation method, and supporting documentation. For textiles, the differences between virgin fibers, mechanically recycled fibers, chemically recycled fibers, and blended fibers can affect both environmental claims and the ability to handle the product at the end of its life.

Immediate impacts on Vietnamese textile companies

For businesses, this tool is not merely an information technology project. It concerns how companies collect data, verify it, and take responsibility for it. As a result, its impact will be felt across multiple departments at the same time, from procurement and production to quality management and exports.

Traceability must begin with raw materials

A garment factory will find it difficult to build a reliable profile if information about incoming fabrics, yarns, accessories, and chemicals is incomplete. Companies may need to require suppliers to provide batch numbers, material composition, testing documents, and relevant certificates in a format that can be processed by a digital system.

This is particularly important for products that use multiple types of materials. A shirt may include the main fabric, sewing thread, zippers, buttons, labels, coatings, and reinforcement materials. If these components are not recorded, information about the product’s recyclability will be incomplete. In some cases, even a small component can affect how the product is sorted or handled after use.

Data management becomes part of quality management

In the past, quality management departments generally focused on defects, technical specifications, and product stability. As traceability requirements increase, data quality also needs to be controlled in the same way as product quality. Companies must know where data comes from, who approves it, when it is updated, and how discrepancies are handled when they are discovered.

This requires a clear authorization mechanism. The procurement department may be responsible for supplier information. The technical department confirms composition and processes. The environmental department checks data on energy, water, or chemicals. The export department monitors the specific requirements of each market. Without clearly assigned responsibilities, a digitization system can easily become a document repository rather than a control tool.

Investment costs involve more than software

Companies often think about the cost of building a platform, encoding products, or integrating with existing management systems. However, the more difficult part may involve cleaning up old data, standardizing material names, harmonizing supplier codes, and training employees.

For large companies, connecting data across multiple factories and processing units can be a significant challenge. For small and medium-sized businesses, the issue is choosing an appropriate level of investment without creating a system that is overly complex for their operating capacity. A solution could begin with a group of key export products and then expand once the process has stabilized.

How can product passports promote the circular economy?

The value of a product passport is not limited to helping regulators inspect goods. In the long term, this tool can support business models that extend product life, such as repair, resale, rental, or collection for recycling.

To repair or reuse a product, the handling organization needs to know what materials it is made from and which parts can be replaced. For recycling, it needs to identify the fiber composition and any materials that could hinder the sorting process. If this information is provided in an easily accessible format, the cost of manual inspection may decrease, although actual effectiveness will still depend on collection infrastructure and recycling technology.

It is important to avoid the simplistic assumption that a product becomes circular merely because it has a QR code. The access code is only a means of access. A circular economy also requires suitable product design, collection networks, sorting capacity, markets for recycled materials, and business models capable of maintaining post-sale operations.

Data in the passport can also enable companies to reassess their designs. If the data shows that a product is often discarded because it is difficult to repair or separate into materials, the company has a stronger basis for changing its structure. If an accessory reduces recyclability without creating equivalent value, designers can consider another solution.

Risks that need to be controlled

Data transparency creates opportunities but also risks if companies implement it without adequate preparation. The first risk is inconsistency between stages. One supplier may use a trade name, while the factory records the material under a technical name. Without a shared catalogue, the system will be difficult to reconcile.

The second risk is making environmental claims that go beyond the evidence. Terms related to recycling, low emissions, or sustainable production need to be linked to an appropriate measurement method and supporting verification documents. If data is collected only for communications purposes and does not fully reflect the product life cycle, companies may face doubts about the accuracy of their claims.

The third risk concerns security and access rights. Supply chain data can reveal production structures, factory capabilities, and commercial relationships. Companies therefore need policies for user authentication, access control, backup, and incident response. The use of third-party platforms should also be accompanied by clear agreements on data ownership, storage, and sharing.

Finally, there is the risk of dependence on a single system or format. Product passports need to be interoperable with different platforms across the supply chain. If data is locked into a system that cannot connect with others, companies may have to enter the information repeatedly, reducing efficiency and increasing the possibility of errors.

Where should companies begin?

Rather than waiting until all mandatory requirements have been issued, companies can begin with a pilot program with a controlled scope. First, they should select a product group with a relatively clear supply chain, such as a product line that uses a limited number of materials and has stable output.

The next step is to map the data. Companies need to answer questions such as: What data is currently available? What data is held by suppliers? What data has not been verified? What data must be updated for each batch? What data only needs to be updated when the design changes? This approach helps distinguish technology problems from governance problems.

Companies can then build a minimum data set for the pilot product, establish approval procedures, and test traceability from the finished product back to the raw materials. The pilot should also include situations in which data is changed, a product is repaired, or there is a discrepancy between the supplier’s records and the actual inspection results.

In terms of personnel, digital transformation will be more effective if it is viewed as a cross-departmental responsibility. The factory needs people who understand production processes, the technology department needs to understand data structures, and the sales and export departments need to understand customer and market requirements. Training should not focus only on how to enter data; it must also explain why that data matters to quality, compliance, and competitiveness.

For small businesses, industry collaboration can help reduce costs. Harmonizing terminology, forms, and data-exchange principles among suppliers, factories, and customers will be more useful than having each company build an incompatible system independently. Associations and solution providers can also support training, but companies still need to take responsibility for the accuracy of the information they provide.

The outlook for a data-driven supply chain

Even so, a digital product passport will not immediately solve the textile industry’s major problems, such as resource consumption, waste, or price pressures. Nor will this tool replace technical standards, independent certification, or factory inspections. Its value lies in its ability to create a layer of structured information that helps stakeholders make decisions based on clearer data.

For Vietnamese companies, this change may create additional compliance pressure when entering markets with strict environmental and traceability requirements. However, early preparation can also provide an opportunity to upgrade their position in the supply chain. Companies will not only receive orders based on their garment-making capacity; they will also be able to demonstrate their ability to manage materials, control processes, and provide reliable data.

In the coming period, the advantage will belong to companies that view product data as an operational asset rather than a procedural burden. When information is collected correctly from the beginning, a product passport can support compliance objectives, design improvements, supply chain risk reduction, and the development of circular business models. This transformation requires investment and coordination, but it also opens a new approach for the textile industry in a market that increasingly values transparency.