Digital Product Passports: A New Era of Transparency
American business owners who have any plans for growth in Europe need to be aware of the Digital Product Passport (DPP). This is not just another compliance checkbox—it's an opportunity to future-proof your business.
As a consultant, I've noticed many American small businesses are unaware of the DPP, a mandatory EU requirement that has already begun its phased rollout. This isn't just about compliance; it's a monumental shift toward a sustainable future for our industry. For the first time, a major market is legislating radical transparency and actively driving a circular economy. DPPs are the tool to make that happen.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which provides the legal framework for the DPP, entered into force in July 2024. The first working plan outlining which products will be prioritized was adopted in April 2025. This means the timeline for compliance is now in motion, and key deadlines for certain products are as early as 2027. Preparing for this monumental shift now will guide your sourcing decisions and give you a powerful competitive edge. By embracing these changes, U.S. brands can lead the way toward a more sustainable and transparent global economy.
The need for this change is urgent. In places like Nepal, stories highlight how mountains of discarded clothes, fueled by fast fashion, have turned fertile farmland into toxic landfills. In Chile’s Atacama Desert, piles of unsold garments are so vast they can be seen from space. Even in wealthier nations, cities are grappling with overflowing thrift stores and textiles choking municipal waste streams. This is a global waste crisis that requires a systemic solution. Digital Product Passports (DPPs) provide a way to trace a product's journey from start to finish, ensuring its story doesn’t have to end in a landfill.
What Are Digital Product Passports?
A Digital Product Passport is a digital record that provides comprehensive information about a product's entire lifecycle. This data, which can be accessed by scanning a unique QR code or barcode on the product, covers everything from raw material sourcing and manufacturing to its potential for repair, reuse, or recycling.
Launch Timeline, Goals, and Standards
The European Union's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is the driving force behind the DPP, with a goal for nearly every physical product sold in the EU to have one by 2030. The rollout is phased, with the first major categories like batteries, textiles, and iron and steel facing deadlines as early as 2027.
The primary goals of DPPs are to:
Promote a Circular Economy: Facilitate a product's repair, reuse, and recycling by providing clear data and instructions, thereby reducing waste.
Increase Transparency: Offer consumers detailed information on a product's environmental impact, empowering them to make informed choices and helping to combat greenwashing.
Improve Supply Chain Efficiency: Provide brands with better visibility into their supply chains for more effective resource management and anti-counterfeiting measures.
Challenges, Benefits, and Environmental Impact
Challenges for Brands:
Data Management & Interoperability: Brands must centralize and standardize product data, ensuring that their systems can communicate with a network of global suppliers and recyclers.
Cost & Accuracy: Implementing the necessary IT upgrades and data management systems requires a significant investment. Brands are also held accountable for the accuracy of all information in the DPP, which can be complex.
Benefits for Brands:
New Revenue Streams: DPPs can enable new business models, such as leasing, resale platforms, and take-back programs, which can double a product's lifetime value.
Brand Loyalty: By providing transparency and a unique product story, brands can build trust with consumers and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Competitive Advantage: Proactive brands that adopt DPPs will be better positioned to navigate the new regulations and gain a competitive edge.
Environmental Benefits:
Sustainable Design: DPPs incentivize designers to create products that are more durable and repairable by providing a transparent record of their environmental footprint.
Waste Reduction: DPPs provide recyclers with the information needed for efficient disassembly and material recovery, boosting recycling rates and minimizing landfill waste.
Resource Optimization: The transparency across the supply chain encourages brands to select materials with a lower environmental impact, reducing resource consumption, emissions, and pollution.
Leading Traceability & DPP Solutions
Here is a roundup of some of the leading companies providing traceability and digital product passport software.
Retraced: A software solution specifically for the fashion industry that helps brands map their supply chains and collect data on materials and production to ensure ethical and sustainable practices.
TrusTrace: A market leader in the fashion and textile industry, TrusTrace provides a platform for supply chain traceability and compliance, helping brands collect granular data to create comprehensive DPPs.
Fairly Made: A B-corp that helps fashion brands measure and improve the social and environmental impact of their supply chains, providing the data needed for a transparent DPP.
Scantrust: Secure QR codes and connected packaging to authenticate products and link to track‑and‑trace data and DPP content.
Circularise: Blockchain-based traceability and mass‑balance accounting platform used in plastics and textiles for secure data sharing.
Ettos: End‑to‑end traceability and compliance hub for fashion/footwear with supplier onboarding and DPP creation.
Circular.Fashion: Agency and standard for circular product design with digital IDs to enable resale, repair and recycling pathways.
Textile Genesis: Material traceability network for the textile ecosystem connecting fiber producers to brands with verified chain-of-custody data.
Vestis Labs: A platform designed for the fashion industry that helps brands with digital workflows, including digital sampling and integrated data management for DPPs.
Savian: A company offering solutions for supply chain visibility and traceability, which are essential components for building a DPP.
Portia: A product management and development platform designed for the fashion industry that helps brands with everything from collection planning to supply chain traceability and the creation of digital product passports.
Alu: AI co‑pilot for apparel operations that captures product & supply data across tools and generates DPP/traceability outputs with minimal manual work.
The Digital Product Passport is more than a regulatory requirement; it is a catalyst for innovation and a transparent, circular economy that benefits everyone. Brands that prepare now are not just meeting a new standard—they are building a more sustainable and resilient business for the future.
Digital Product Passports in Action
To see what a Digital Product Passport looks like for consumers, check out this example from a brand that has already implemented the technology:
https://www.dedicatedbrand.com/gb/t-shirt-stockholm-happy-mountain-black-black
