Digital Product Passport for textiles

What is a Digital Product Passport in textiles?

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a standardized, digital record that captures and shares key information about a product’s materials, origin, and lifecycle.

For textile products, it acts as a detailed ID that travels with the item—from design and manufacturing to resale, repair, and recycling.

The EU aims to make DPPs mandatory for all textile products sold in the region as part of its efforts to promote circularity and sustainable production.

This means that brands will need to collect, store, and share structured product data in a format that is accessible to regulators, retailers, and consumers.

Typical data fields in a textile DPP may include:

• Product ID and SKU
• Material composition and origin
• Manufacturing location
• Certifications (e.g., OEKO-TEX®, GOTS, Fair Trade)
• Care and repair instructions
• End-of-life guidance (recycling or reuse options)
• Environmental impact metrics (e.g., water or carbon footprint)

The goal is to assign a digital identity to every textile item, supporting transparency, traceability, and compliance.

With a product information management, or PIM system in place, textile brands can centralize and maintain this evolving data with speed and accuracy.

When do textile brands need to be DPP-ready?

The European Commission’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles outlines a clear goal: by 2030, all textile products sold in the EU must meet new durability, recyclability, and transparency standards—including the use of Digital Product Passports.

The DPP is a core pillar of the upcoming Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which will require structured product data to be available for inspection and public access.

While the final format of the DPP is still in development, textiles are among the first sectors chosen for phased enforcement. Here’s a simplified view of the rollout:

EU Textile DPP Timeline

• 2022: ESPR proposal adopted
• 2023–2024: Stakeholder consultations and DPP working groups
• 2025–2026: Technical specs finalized and pilots begin
• 2027–2028: Gradual enforcement by product category
• 2030: Full compliance expected across the textile market

Who’s affected?

Any business that sells textile products in the EU, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, and private label brands, will be required to comply.

This applies to EU companies and non-EU sellers bringing products into the European market.

How DPPs could work in the real world

While full-scale DPP adoption is still underway, here’s how different textile sectors might use them to meet both compliance and customer expectations.

Denim – cotton origin and water impact

Brands like Levi’s, Wrangler, and MUD Jeans are already tracing cotton sourcing and reporting water usage to address environmental concerns.

A DPP could consolidate this information into a structured format, making it accessible to both regulators and end consumers.

What does this mean for you? If your brand produces denim, now is the time to start capturing and centralizing data on fiber origin, water usage, and manufacturing processes. This builds a strong foundation for your DPP strategy.

Sportswear – managing blends and recycling

Sportswear brands often work with complex synthetic fabrics, which are difficult to recycle without detailed material data. A DPP can help track each component, making it easier to route items to appropriate recycling or reuse pathways.

What does this mean for you? Begin mapping out the material breakdown of your products—down to thread level where feasible—and prepare to communicate recyclability through product data.

Luxury fashion – ethical sourcing and certifications

Luxury labels are increasingly promoting animal welfare, artisanal craftsmanship, and traceable origins. A DPP enables these values to be verified and shared transparently across channels.

What does this mean for you? Collect and digitize your certification data (e.g., for wool, leather, or dyes) to future-proof your brand story and support sustainability claims in a regulated market.

Will retailers and marketplaces require DPP data before it’s mandated?

Even before formal EU enforcement begins, major retailers and marketplaces in both Europe and the U.S. are already becoming more transparent about their products.

Structured product data, such as that captured in a Digital Product Passport (DPP), is quickly becoming essential.

In the EU, platforms like Zalando are already requiring sustainability disclosures through third-party verification tools.

While in the U.S., programs like Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly rely on product-level certifications (Bluesign, Global Organic Textile Standard, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Cradle to Cradle) to flag environmentally responsible items.

Walmart and Target also highlight verified sustainable products through their “Built for Better” and “Target Zero” initiatives.

Consumer-facing platforms are also shaping expectations. DoneGood and Remake in the U.S., as well as Fairly Made and Good On You in Europe, help shoppers filter and compare brands based on traceable data and ethical standards.

If you’re selling through major retailers or DTC, the demand for verified product data is already here. Preparing your Digital Product Passport infrastructure now will future-proof your listings and strengthen your value with both partners and consumers.

What technologies make DPPs work? And why do they matter for textiles?

DPPs rely on a tech stack that ensures accurate, traceable, and usable product data across the supply chain. For textile companies, this technology supports compliance and unlocks operational and commercial value.

Blockchain: securing raw material claims

Blockchain technology enables the creation of unchangeable records of sourced data. For textiles, it can verify where cotton was grown, whether recycled fibers meet standards, or how a material moved through the supply chain, building trust with both regulators and consumers.

IoT: real-time data from production

Internet of Things (IoT) sensors can capture real-time data from mills, dye houses, or sewing factories.

This allows brands to track processing stages, flag bottlenecks, and ensure accurate timestamps for manufacturing locations—data often required in a DPP.

AI: turning DPP data into business insights

With DPPs generating large volumes of structured product data, AI tools can identify trends in sustainability performance, material efficiency, or consumer response.

For example, brands can identify which fabric combinations have the lowest environmental impact or predict which certified attributes increase online conversion rates.

How can a PIM system prepare you for Digital Product Passports?

DPPs demand detailed, accurate data across a product’s lifecycle—from raw materials to sales.

A PIM system helps manage this complexity and prepares your textile business for compliance at scale.

1. Centralizing supplier and production data

To build a reliable DPP, you need data from suppliers, mills, and manufacturers in one place. A PIM system consolidates material specifications, sourcing certifications, and production data into a central hub, facilitating easier management and traceability. This is especially valuable when combined with product traceability software.

2. Maintaining accuracy for compliance audits

With regulators set to scrutinize product-level claims, accuracy isn’t optional. PIM ensures consistent, complete, and always audit-ready product data, helping brands manage complex supply chains and seasonal releases.

3. Onboarding new DPP attributes quickly

As the EU finalizes DPP requirements, brands will need to add new data fields—like repair instructions or recyclability details—without slowing down time-to-market. A flexible PIM system makes these changes simple to roll out across product catalogs.

4. Sharing consistent data across marketplaces and retailers

Retailers and platforms are increasingly demanding information on sustainability and compliance. PIM ensures that the correct DPP data is delivered to each channel, formatted to their specs, and kept up to date.

5. Enabling collaboration across the value chain

A well-structured PIM platform enables suppliers, internal teams, and retail partners to collaborate from a single source of truth.

This collaboration is essential for maintaining shared standards and meeting product compliance management requirements.

What are the first steps to build a Digital Product Passport strategy?

Here are three foundational steps to begin your DPP journey:

1. Audit your current data architecture

Begin with a comprehensive review of where your product data resides. This includes ERP systems, supplier spreadsheets, legacy databases, and manual processes.

Identify gaps in key DPP fields, such as material origin, certifications, and care instructions. The goal is to understand how fragmented your data is—and where improvements are needed.

2. Align teams on what data needs to be captured

DPP readiness is a cross-functional effort. Product development, sourcing, compliance, and marketing teams all touch the data required for a complete passport.

Align stakeholders early to define responsibilities and agree on standards for data accuracy, ownership, and formatting.

3. Integrate or upgrade your PIM system

A scalable PIM system is essential for storing, managing, and distributing DPP data. Whether you’re implementing a PIM for the first time or upgrading an existing one, focus on flexibility, traceability, and integration capabilities across your tech stack.

What makes Inriver ready for DPP compliance

For textile brands preparing for Digital Product Passports, Inriver offers a purpose-built solution that simplifies complexity and accelerates compliance.

With a scalable data model, Inriver can support evolving DPP requirements—whether you need to track fiber origin, attach certifications, or add repair instructions across thousands of SKUs.

Its flexible structure makes it easy to onboard new attributes without disrupting your product workflows.

Inriver also enables supplier collaboration at scale. Its built-in tools help brands onboard, validate, and maintain third-party data from across the supply chain, ensuring the information that populates your DPPs is accurate, complete, and up-to-date.

Proven across regulated industries such as automotive, life sciences, and industrial manufacturing, Inriver provides global brands with the structure to manage compliance-heavy product data efficiently.

Whether you’re preparing for EU DPP mandates or aligning with marketplace transparency requirements, Inriver provides the capabilities to move quickly and strategically. As expectations around traceability grow, Inriver offers the platform to turn DPP readiness into long-term business value.

Published: December 18, 2024
Updated: July 7, 2025