Stockholm-based TrusTrace, a software as service (SaaS) company with a platform for product traceability and supply chain transparency in fashion and retail, is launching TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance to enable near real-time traceability at the material level.

The solution covers a broad spectrum of requirements for material compliance, including multi-component products, documenting the percentage of certified compared to non-certified material content and supporting different chain of custody models.

TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance gives brands granular visibility into product sustainability metrics, ensuring compliance with standards and regulations and enabling streamlined decision-making and tighter integration with suppliers worldwide. The solution directly addresses emerging industry methodologies and pending government regulations that will require brands to base sustainability claims on verifiable and precise data.

“In the midst of global greenwashing and challenges with unsubstantiated claims, brands and regulators are moving quickly to instill confidence among consumers that products are, indeed, as sustainable as they claim to be,” said Shameek Ghosh, CEO of TrusTrace. “Brands seeking to establish near real-time traceability at the lot level by mapping the movement of raw materials to finished goods – and automatically calculating the sustainability metrics of those goods – now have a proven solution.

“Linking all purchase orders to production steps, certificates, supplier declarations and quality reports on the TrusTrace platform helps brands manage risk and compliance and allows them to prove sustainability claims with confidence.”

Origins and integrity

Near real-time traceability allows brands to capture data from supply chain transactions as products and materials move through the value chain, meaning that finished goods have traceability information already associated with them when they arrive at market, allowing brands to easily tell the story of their products’ origins and material integrity.

The solution can also help identify material waste in the supply chain by intelligently calculating discrepancies between inputs and outputs, supporting greater efficiencies in production while keeping waste out of landfills or otherwise harming sustainability efforts.

The EU is considering regulatory initiatives such as requiring claims to be backed by common measurement methodologies and France and Denmark have already crafted legislation on documentation requirements for ESG (environmental, social and governance) claims.

Adidas is one of the first large companies to adopt TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance and provided early input on the product’s development, focusing on a scalable, digital solution integrating seamlessly with enterprise systems like PLM, purchase order system and supplier management systems to minimise the need for manual intervention. Being able to track materials in a standardised, digital and scalable way helps adidas to create more transparency on its sustainability goals, including moving to 100% recycled polyester by 2024, and having nine out of ten of its articles featuring a sustainable technology, material, design or manufacturing method by 2025.

“As part of its commitment to sustainability, adidas has worked with TrusTrace to gain more visibility into our complete supply chain down to the materials level,” said Katja Schreiber, senior vice president of sustainability at adidas. “The information gleaned from TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance will help us to create even more transparency.”

www.trustrace.com