Traceability

Fibre traceability systems built over two decades cannot meet evidence standards now being enforced under EU and US regulations, a new paper has revealed. Material identity is lost before tracking software records it, leaving most origin and recycled-content claims resting on paperwork rather than physical proof across every major fibre category.

The pressures reshaping cotton cultivation across Latin America are real, but they do not fall evenly. Scale, technology access and market proximity determine which producers absorb disruption and which do not. Nelson Dias Suassuna, senior researcher at Embrapa, draws a clear line between the sector's two operating realities and the distinct futures each one faces.

By integrating physical tracers with blockchain-backed data, Aware offers brands and producers verifiable proof of origin, enabling compliance, circularity, and transparency—particularly crucial as regulatory frameworks like the UPV Textiles Act take hold globally. Koen Warmerdam, Co-founder and Brand Director of Aware, shares insights into how the company is transforming textile sustainability using a phygital traceability system.

In a major step toward a more responsible and environmentally conscious leather industry, a strategic collaboration between Oeko-Tex Association and Danish traceability pioneer Spoor will now offer brands the ability to provide consumers with verifiable insights into their leather products' origins and production processes.

Designing for death! You read it right. And then an exhibition that encourages visitors to consider end-of-life decisions and how their choices can impact human and environmental well-being. Dr Sherry Haar, a natural dye and design scholar, investigates all of this and more to generate awareness about green burial through her fibre art.

Most environmental issues in the cotton industry are being discussed and addressed, but the question remains: is enough being done? Award-winning innovation and sustainability leader, Michela Puddu, touches on a diverse range of subjects, from the cotton production and recycling landscape to its huge and fragmented supply chain, the role of standards & certifications, traceability, impact of global climate change, water challenges, livelihoods and more.

A private partnership involving 40 farms in Brazil, pioneering zero-deforestation in the Amazon region, has ensured the first container of 100% traceable Brazilian leather for the European market in Italy.

A milestone in the world of sustainable textiles, the first “full infield-traceable recycled polyester” has been launched by Dutch traceability solutions provider Aware.

Textile Exchange’s electronic traceability system for certified materials has now been made commercially available for the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Recycled Content Standard (RCS).

As the curtains go up today on the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference or COP28, the leather industry is pioneering a zero-deforestation livestock farming system that promotes traceability from cradle to slaughter.