Traceability Needs Collaborative Approach to Engage Entire Value Chain

“Proving origin, protecting reputations” goes the tagline of Oritain, promising as it does to provide excellence in product traceability by testing products and raw materials to provide cold, hard data that can be used to verify where they come from. Chief Commercial Officer Rupert Hodges talks about the importance of certification as a crucial tool that must necessarily be validated by physical testing.

Long Story, Cut Short
  • Verifying the origin of products and raw materials should be the foundation of any sustainable or responsible practice.
  • The industry is awash with greenwashing and often consumers aren’t exactly sure what to ask for.
  • The solution needs to come from brands and regulation if we’re to see any real change.
Oritain’s scientific traceability claims to be a universal solution that works on products and supply chains all over the world, stating that it is the reliance so far on data, packaging, and paper trails that has resulted in the current level of greenwashing predominant in the textile industry.
Testing Solution Oritain’s scientific traceability claims to be a universal solution that works on products and supply chains all over the world, stating that it is the reliance so far on data, packaging, and paper trails that has resulted in the current level of greenwashing predominant in the textile industry. A representative image. Michal Jarmoluk / Pixabay

Discussions about traceability are mostly confined to brands, trade associations, activist groups, etc. But at the end of the day, for traceability programmes to actually change things, it would have to be end-consumers who should stridently demand traceability tags. What is your understanding? How concerned are end-customers about traceability tags, say in the countries that you operate it?
Of course, if the end consumer demanded traceability tags, brands would have to comply or risk losing business, but I think the reality is far more nuanced than that. Traceability represents one aspect of sustainable and responsible shopping, and clothes just one aspect of a consumer’s daily necessities. And so to place the responsibility for traceability at the hands of consumers is asking quite a lot—particularly given the various solutions out there and complexity. The industry is awash with greenwashing and often consumers aren’t exactly sure what to ask for.

Instead, we need to foster a collaborative approach, one that engages all members of the value chain — from the brands to trade associations, activist groups, factories and consumers. We’re finding the latter are becoming more knowledgeable and inquisitive around their purchasing decisions and putting extra pressure on brands, but the solution needs to come from brands and regulation if we’re to see any real change. Unfortunately, the conscious consumer only represents a small percentage of the total. There are still a lot of people relying on fast fashion.

The recent Changing Markets Foundation report on certifications in the textiles-apparel industry have dented the credibility of the entire certification process. Where does Oritain stand?
Certifications are a tricky issue. On the one hand they help to raise awareness and encourage consumers to look at the packaging or labels to see exactly what it is they’re buying. On the other, they can act as a shortcut to consumers believing a brand has done their due diligence and that a product is sustainable, when often this isn’t the case.

Like anything external to the product—packaging, barcodes, data, serial numbers—there’s no guarantee of proof that the underlying product actually is what it says it is unless the product is being tested. That’s one of the main premises behind our scientific traceability. We test the product itself to verify its origin. If you know where something comes from you can then understand how it was made and under what social, environmental and animal conditions. We see certification as a crucial tool but it needs to be validated by physical testing to ensure the integrity of the certificate, so for Origin related claims that are certified we can validate and authenticate these claims by testing the product to ensure the certification is monitored effectively.

The science behind Oritain is clearly laid out on your website. Do you think 'fashion forensics' is the future of traceability in the industry? How much can things change, and how fast? How will brands / manufacturers keep pace of what's happening on the traceability front?
The future of traceability has to lie in product testing. Our reliance so far on data, packaging, and paper trails has resulted in the current level of greenwashing we’re seeing in the industry. This isn’t necessarily because of brands trying to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers, but because of the inadequacy of those methods.

For things to change quickly (and permanently), we need accountability. And for that you need robust, verified, scientific proof. Verifying the origin of our products and raw materials should be the foundation of any sustainable or responsible practice. Once brands know this, they can then confidently look at the rest of their supply chain.

But then, has the practice of introducing traceability mechanisms caught up with the industry at all? So far, it's only a handful of big players who have made an announcement, or it's the cutting-edge small time businesses/startups that have traceability in their DNA?
There are a great number of brands working away in the background to improve the traceability and sustainability of their operations, but who don’t want to communicate this process publicly for fear of greenwashing accusations. We’re working with these brands but we aren’t able to disclose for this very reason. The good news is that brands are trying. They might not be in a position to share these efforts publicly, but the intent is definitely there—whether or not they are a big player or a cutting-edge start up.

How expensive is this? Is it affordable for small and medium businesses? Or will they get edged out, because it's an expensive proposition?
We see ourselves as a partner with the brands we work with, not as a transactional service, and so it’s in all our interests to find a solution that is commercially viable but that doesn’t fall short on our commitment to trust and integrity. We work with our partners to find the high risk areas of their supply chain and design a specific solution around their needs.

The cost to damage of reputation or legal ramifications if found guilty of adulteration/mislabelling is high, but our solution isn’t purely a risk mitigation strategy. Many brands are using it as a marketing tool and seeing returns on products due to increased consumer trust that negate the cost of our service. In both these cases we add significant value and it is that value that is key to understanding cost, and we are proud that we have a retention rate of 97%, which demonstrates our clients are getting that value

The cost to damage of reputation or legal ramifications if found guilty of adulteration/mislabelling is high, but our solution isn’t purely a risk mitigation strategy. Many brands are using it as a marketing tool and seeing returns on products due to increased consumer trust that negate the cost of our service.

The other way things can change is through legislation? What is your understanding, since you operate in a number of countries? One of the reasons why the entire certification process is in a mess is that there are too many of them, and not all of them are on the same page.
Legislation is definitely a sure route to industry-wide improvement but, as you said, it suffers from a lack of alignment across localised legislation. This is where the reliance on certification and regulation can fall down.

Our scientific traceability is a completely universal solution that works on products and supply chains all over the world. We test products and raw materials and provide cold, hard data that can be used to verify where they come from. Legislation should focus on objective solutions like this rather than subjective certification.

Please tell us about your cotton fibre projects with Cotton USA and Supima.
Supima is a premium cotton grower in the United States and one of our first clients within cotton. We’ve since collaborated on a number of projects throughout their supply chain, working with Italian mill, Albini Cotonificio, and US fashion brand, Theory. We verify the origin of Supima cotton so brands using it can rest assured that that’s exactly what they get.

Supima introduced us to Cotton USA who wanted to collaborate and build a cotton database for the whole of US cotton. We can now verify all cotton produced in the US, allowing brands to confidently source US cotton and benefit from its sustainable and ethical farming practices.

Tell us also about your traceability projects with Panda Biotec for hemp and Mohair South Africa for Mohair.
Mohair and hemp are two fairly new products we offer. The mohair industry was hit by some bad publicity that threatened the livelihoods of over 30,000 farmers. Mohair South Africa operate stringent farming practices and wanted a solution to verify the origin of South African mohair back to South Africa so brands could confidently use it in their products, safe in the knowledge they weren’t contributing to environmental, animal or social issues.

Panda Biotech is our first partner within hemp but the technology works much the same way. We have partnered with them to verify the origin of their hemp products, as they roll out their service to manufacturers, brands and retailers.

You have offices in New Zealand, Australia, UK, US and Switzerland. Where will you see opening operations next? How important is fibre tracing in your whole business, given that you handle a number of industries, including dairy and pharmaceuticals?
We aren’t planning any further office expansions. The five key offices we currently have are strategically positioned to help serve our global roster of clients. The majority of these are within fashion but we also have a significant business in food and a growing pharmaceutical offering, as well. We have dedicated teams working within each vertical—with each being as important for us.

We don’t see this as a race between industries but a global problem. One that we all must work together on to help solve.

For things to change quickly (and permanently), we need accountability. And for that you need robust, verified, scientific proof. Verifying the origin of our products and raw materials should be the foundation of any sustainable or responsible practice. Once brands know this, they can then confidently look at the rest of their supply chain.

Rupert Hodges
Chief Commercial Officer
Oritain
Rupert Hodges

Richa Bansal

RICHA BANSAL has more than 30 years of media industry experience, of which the last 20 years have been with leading fashion magazines in both B2B and B2C domains. Her areas of interest are traditional textiles and fabrics, retail operations, case studies, branding stories, and interview-driven features.

 
 
 
  • Dated posted: 10 May 2022
  • Last modified: 10 May 2022