The ongoing T-REX Project has identified nine overarching and highly interconnected themes that would be essential for driving the digital transformation of the industry towards data standardisation and system interoperability.
- These have been made in a white paper, Connecting Threads: Assessing Digital Solutions and Needs for Circular Textiles, released on Wednesday.
- It is based on an extensive analysis of primary and secondary data to identify gaps and opportunities for digital solutions in circular textile value chains. The analysis initially focused on three key segments, including Waste Mapping, Supply Chain Traceability, and Digital Product Passports.
The themes: The analysis yielded insights into the opportunities and gaps associated with digitisation and circularity. As a result of primary and secondary research, the themes were identified:
- Industry Alignment, defined as the need for value chain stakeholders to align on how to gather, analyse, present and exchange necessary data across the supply chain.
- Transparency Regarding Data, which discusses the need for improved traceability via improved supply chain visibility and simultaneous development of digital infrastructure.
- Trust Across the Value Chain, which focuses on how stakeholders blindly trust the accuracy of data received without additional verification, leading to inaccuracy in claims and product data.
- Oversaturation of the Market, defined as the plethora of certification schemes, digital tools, and stakeholder-generated proprietary/legacy systems which often are not interoperable with one another.
- Cultural Differences Across Industry, which speaks to the need for data communication to consider the global and complex value chain of the industry, and subsequent cultural practices and norms.
- Consumer Storytelling, which discusses the need to eliminate consumer confusion and build trust through transparent communication to consumers by providing accessible and reliable information.
- Physical and Digital Infrastructure, which speaks to the establishment of a comprehensive and reliable system that encompasses both physical and digital components for a (reverse) supply chain.
- Building Capacity and Capabilities for Data and Digitisation, which focuses on the need for education and training programs to equip the industry with necessary skills and knowledge for digitisation.
- Communication Across Industry, defined as the need for interoperability among digital platforms and systems used for collecting and sharing data between stakeholders.
The project: T-REX Project ultimately aims to contribute to a paradigm shift, understanding and identifying the infrastructure, technology and policy needed to encourage the growth of circular value chains.
- Twelve major players from across the entire value chain work collaboratively towards a scalable solution to textile recycling challenges at hand. The organisations are located in different EU States, and will work in synergy to drive textile recycling excellence.
