The Digital Product Passport and a New Turning Point for Vietnam’s Textile and Garment Industry

For many years, requirements for exported textiles and garments focused primarily on quality, delivery schedules, costs, and the ability to meet chemical standards. However, the market’s focus is shifting. In addition to the final product, importers are increasingly interested in the origin of fibers, the composition of materials, dyeing processes, emissions, product durability, and recyclability after the product is discarded.

This change is particularly evident in the European Union, where policies on ecodesign, the circular economy, and producer responsibility are being developed in a direction that requires more data throughout the product life cycle. For Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, this is not merely a matter of complying with a new regulation. It is also a challenge involving data governance capabilities, traceability, and the reorganization of supply chains.

One concept frequently mentioned in this transition is the “Digital Product Passport,” commonly abbreviated as DPP. This tool is expected to help consumers, businesses, and regulators access product information through a digital identifier, such as a QR code or equivalent technology. For apparel, the data may relate to fiber composition, material sources, repair information, durability, recyclability, and environmental impacts.

Why Product Data Has Become a Competitive Requirement

The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation expands the scope of policy from certain energy-using product groups to many other types of goods. Textiles are among the product groups identified as having significant resource consumption and environmental impacts, and are therefore among the industries receiving particular market attention.

A notable aspect of this new approach is that responsibility does not end at the production stage. A product may be assessed based on multiple factors throughout its life cycle, from the selection of materials, design, production, circulation, and use to end-of-life treatment. This makes claims such as “green product,” “recycled material,” or “sustainable production” increasingly difficult to support independently without an appropriate data file and verification method.

For buyers, reliable data has value at three levels. First, data helps verify compliance with legal requirements and internal standards. Second, it supports supply chain risk management, especially when a product uses materials from multiple countries. Third, data enables businesses to compare suppliers based on criteria beyond price and production capacity.

For Vietnamese textile and garment companies, this change creates a paradox: production capacity may remain an advantage, but it is no longer enough to secure a position in the supply chain if product information is not standardized. A factory may have good processes, but if it cannot provide consistent, verifiable data, it will face difficulties when working with customers who require detailed reporting.

What a Digital Product Passport May Include

At present, the DPP should not be viewed as a fixed form applied identically to every type of garment. The specific content will depend on regulations for each product group and on how individual markets implement them. Nevertheless, for textile products, a complete data system may need to connect multiple layers of information.

From Fiber Composition to Material Sources

The most basic information is the product composition: the proportions of cotton, polyester, viscose, wool, or other fibers; the proportions of virgin and recycled fibers; the sources of materials; and relevant certifications, if any. In practice, this data is often scattered across multiple entities: fiber suppliers, spinning mills, weaving companies, dyeing facilities, and garment manufacturers.

Collecting the data is not simply a matter of entering information into software. Companies must also determine how material ratios are calculated, when they are recorded, who is responsible, and how to handle situations in which data from different suppliers is inconsistent. If a product combines several types of fiber, traceability becomes even more complicated.

Production and Life-Cycle Data

The second group of data concerns the production process. Depending on customer requirements and specific regulations, records may include information on water use, energy, chemicals, emissions, wastewater treatment, or environmental management certifications. Not all information necessarily needs to be made publicly available to consumers, but companies must be able to store and provide data to authorized parties or business partners.

Product durability may also become more important. A garment with a long service life that is easy to repair and whose materials can be recovered will be viewed differently from a product designed for rapid replacement. As a result, design, care instructions, the ability to replace components, and information on post-use treatment may affect customer evaluations.

When a product contains recycled materials, companies also need to clearly distinguish between pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials, while ensuring that claims are consistent with the evidence. This is an area where risks can easily arise if companies use broad environmental terms without a verification method.

The Biggest Challenges Lie in the Supply Chain

The textile and garment industry is characterized by products passing through multiple stages and businesses. An order may use cotton or fibers from one country, be spun in another, woven and dyed somewhere else, and then cut and sewn in Vietnam. Within this chain, each link generates part of the data, but not every entity has the same technological capabilities or records information in the same way.

This is why traceability in textiles is more difficult than attaching a product code at the final stage. A QR code on a label is meaningful only when the information behind it has been created through a reliable control process. If data is entered manually, lacks original documentation, or cannot be cross-checked between stages, a digital system may create an impression of transparency without solving the authentication problem.

Companies must also address data security. Information about suppliers, blending formulas, material consumption norms, and production efficiency may be commercially sensitive. Therefore, a DPP system needs access controls rather than making all data available to everyone. Consumers may only need to know the composition, care instructions, and recycling method, while buyers or inspection authorities may require more detailed records.

Another challenge is the cost of transition. Companies must invest in software, identification equipment, staff training, and process standardization. For large companies, this may be a multiyear digital transformation program. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the new requirements may create greater pressure, especially when they depend on data from suppliers of materials and components.

Where Vietnamese Companies Should Begin Preparing

Preparation does not necessarily have to begin with a complex technology platform. The first step is to map the supply chain for each core product group. Companies need to know where materials come from, which stages they pass through, what data is already available, what data is stored only in paper documents, and which stages cannot yet be verified.

Companies should then develop a minimum data set to be used consistently among departments and suppliers. This data set could begin with material codes, fiber composition, production batches, suppliers, delivery and receipt dates, and related documentation. Once the process is stable, companies can expand it to include data on energy, water, chemicals, emissions, or recyclability.

Equally important is incorporating data requirements into material purchase contracts. If suppliers are asked to provide information only when a customer raises a question, companies will always be in a reactive position. Contracts should specify the types of data to be provided, update frequency, supporting documentation, and responsibility when information is inaccurate.

Companies should also distinguish between certifications and operational data. A certification can help demonstrate compliance with a particular standard, but it does not replace the complete records for each shipment or product. Quality management, environmental management, and chemical control systems need to be connected with traceability processes rather than operating separately.

At the industry level, associations, regulators, and standards organizations have a role in developing a common understanding, supporting smaller businesses, and limiting situations in which every customer uses a different set of requirements. If platforms lack interoperability, compliance costs may rise without a corresponding increase in the effectiveness of transparency.

Opportunities for Early Movers

The DPP is often viewed as a compliance requirement, but it can also create advantages for companies that implement it early. When data is well organized, companies can identify anomalies in material consumption, defect rates, or delivery times more quickly. As a result, data serves not only environmental reporting but also production management and cost control.

Clear traceability can also help companies strengthen relationships with buyers. As international brands face increasing pressure regarding responsibility in their supply chains, they tend to seek partners that can provide stable information rather than merely fulfill a single order. Vietnamese companies can use this advantage to shift from competing purely on price to competing on reliability and management capabilities.

Businesses that invest in more durable design, use traceable materials, and establish product take-back mechanisms may also gain more opportunities to access new business models. However, this is an assessment of a potential direction, not a guarantee that every green investment will quickly generate profits. Results will also depend on the requirements of each market, customers’ willingness to pay, and the quality of implementation.

What is more certain is that product data will increasingly be linked to purchasing decisions and supplier evaluations. In the past, companies could view traceability as work performed for inspection purposes. In the coming period, it may become part of core competitiveness.

For Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, the Digital Product Passport is not a tool that can independently solve issues related to emissions, waste, or working conditions. However, it creates a framework for product information to be recorded, shared, and verified more systematically. Companies that prepare early will have more time to test and adjust processes and clarify responsibilities among the different links in the chain. Companies that wait until the requirements become mandatory before taking action may have to transition within a short period, with higher costs and risks.