A single thread in a pair of jeans can contain a wealth of data to help retailers meet new requirements.
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Your jeans and nearly all other products sold in the European Union (EU) will soon require their own travel document – a Digital Product Passport (DPP), containing comprehensive information about their origin, materials, environmental impact, and disposal recommendations.
Under the EU’s Green Deal, textiles are one of 30 sectors that are expected to require DPPs for its products by 2030. Some retailers and manufacturers are busy looking for innovative ways to deliver DPPs and support the circular economy and sustainability objectives behind them.
For example, a fashion shop in London’s Covent Garden, Nobody's Child and its partners have already created a passport for its jeans which links to QR codes in wash labels.
This allows consumers to access info about the jeans with their mobile phone cameras.
But Nobody’s Child has now added a clever extra component to its jeans. Behind the 'seams' is a secretive bit of technology that silently proves authentication - a radio frequency identification (RFID) thread sewn into the hem of a garment that links each garment to a unique passport.
The subtle power of RFID
RFID is a highly effective technology for retailers, with 59% of retail decision-makers planning to implement item-level RFID in their operations.
Good American, a certified B-Corp clothes retailer, achieved wall-to-wall inventory counts in 30 minutes or less after implementing a RFID solution across all their retail stores.
RFID labels are often deployed as a loss prevention measure, for example on retail products such as make-up. An RFID tracker sewn into jeans uses the same tech but in a thin thread of wire, just 5cm long.
It’s hidden in the clothing but activated by an RFID reader – be that handheld, fixed, in a point of sale (POS) mat, as part of a kiosk, or inside a mobile computer.
By connecting the RFID thread to the right frequency, manufacturers can easily relay critical intelligence on garments to retailers. The speed and efficiency make circularity and recycling easier for large volumes, and reduces fraud, which is great for Nobody’s Child or any busy retailer.
Jeans on a journey
Imagine a box of jeans arriving at Nobody Child’s store by a local courier. It’s then checked in using an RFID reader, which can ‘see’ through the box’s walls by firing the right frequency of radio waves.
It responds with a URL weblink or number, which is the jeans’ identifier, the master key that links it to its passport. This identifier allows systems to access key data points from the passport, which are needed to track the jeans’ location and understand its composition.
In brief, the RFID reader does a stock take of the garments inside the box while date stamping garments against their passports, in the same way an official stamps our documents at passport control as we traverse the world.
Once the jeans hit the shelves, shoppers can use their own phone or an in-store kiosk to access the passport to see where they were made, what they were made from, and a whole lot more, including any environmental impact information such as CO2 and water usage.
This process also makes for smooth returns, as no receipt is required because the jeans’ genuineness is guaranteed.
And when it's time for them to be recycled, the shopper can bring them back to the store, and the power of the RFID/passport solution means that the jeans are processed properly. A quick scan and the final date stamp goes on its DPP.
The garment’s content and colour are noted, and it’s retired to a skip with equivalent articles so it can be broken down and rebuilt to create something new. It’s circularity in motion.
Connecting the frontline, empowering shoppers
Putting origin, material, and sustainability data on a garment’s digital record makes it accessible to a wide raft of stakeholders - manufacturers, transporters, retailers, shoppers, recyclers, and EU auditors. The data flows to the EU data centre, and the overall carbon footprint is noted and added to a billion other entries.
In-store, DPPs will change the way we shop by allowing consumers to check exactly where their garment came from, what it's made from, and if buying it aligns with their values.
Nobody’s Child and other creative retailers embracing RFID are showing in real time how advanced asset visibility and intelligent automation can both connect the frontline and support society’s hopes for a greener future.
The use cases are limited only by imagination – so find out more about how RFID can help deliver retailers’ goals and meet customer expectations.
