Textile digital product passport and Ecoscore: what to prepare

This article is general information and not legal advice. The timetable of these rules changes often: always check the official source.

1. Composition and weightFibres and grammage per style.
2. Suppliers and stagesWho does what and where.
3. ProcessesDyeing, finishing and making-up.
4. Packaging and transportInputs of each shipment.
5. Calculated footprintValue per style under a recognised standard.

What is the digital product passport?

It is the set of structured data about a product, accessible by electronic means, provided for by Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 on ecodesign. The data each product must contain is specified through delegated acts by product group, so its real scope depends on each one. The glossary defines it as the digital product passport.

What about textiles?

At the glossary’s review date, the Commission expects the first acts for iron and steel, and then for textiles and aluminium, with an application period of at least 18 months. In other words, there is time, but no certainty about the content. That is why it helps to separate two things: what the passport will ask, and what your customers already ask today.

And the French environmental label?

France has worked on product environmental information for clothing, known as Ecoscore. Its timetable and method have changed more than once, so do not treat it as a closed requirement without checking its current status. If you sell in France, check the official source and your adviser.

What should you prepare now?

Without waiting for the rules, some data almost any future request will need per style:

• Fibre composition and weight.
• Fabric supplier and location of each stage.
• Dyeing and finishing processes.
• Packaging and transport.

How does it fit with the product footprint?

The product footprint is a specific figure that your customers already ask for; the passport will be a broader data container. Having the footprint calculated per style to a recognised standard such as ISO 14067 leaves you better placed. More on the textiles page.

What do we still not know?

It is worth being clear about what is open, because plans are built on it:

• The exact content of the textile passport, which will be set out in a delegated act.
• The final timetable, which may change.
• The status and method of the French environmental label, which have changed more than once.

When the content is final, we will update this article. Until then, the useful preparation is the kind that works in any scenario: data in order per style.

A four-step plan without waiting for the rules

1. Style inventory. List what you sell and mark the styles that bill the most or that customers ask for most.
2. One sheet per style. Composition, weight, fabric supplier, processes and packaging in one place.
3. Footprint calculated under a recognised standard. A figure per style under ISO 14067 that you can already show your customers.
4. Periodic review. Update the sheet when you change fabric, supplier or route.

What can you do this week?

Start with a simple spreadsheet with one row per style and the columns from the list above. You do not need a new tool to organise the data; what matters is that each data point has an owner and a date. Mark the styles that sell the most and those you export the most, because they will be asked about first.

Then talk to your two or three most important fabric suppliers and ask them, in writing, for the exact composition, the location of each stage and the dyeing and finishing processes. It is a reasonable request that any serious supplier should be able to meet, and it serves both a future passport and today’s footprint calculation. If one cannot give you that information, you know where your biggest risk is.

• One row per style, with an owner and a date for each data point.
• Exact composition and location of each stage requested in writing from fabric suppliers.
• Footprint calculated under a recognised standard for the best-selling styles.

How does Xain help?

Xain calculates the footprint per style from the technical documentation, with physical factors and a verifiable certificate, so you have a figure of your own to show today and an orderly base for what comes next. In textiles, Xain and Nextil share NextXain. This article is general information: to know what applies to you, check the official source and your advisers. If you want to put your styles in order, talk to us.