As 2023 comes to a close, we're also sharing our highlights from another year of growth and learnings from TrusTrace. Thanks to you all for making it another successful year where we reached many milestones together. Let's go:
The Traceability Roadmap that features ASICS & Tapestry
For the second year in a row, the team at TrusTrace published a traceability guide. This year’s theme: turning ambition for establishing traceability into an actionable roadmap based on organizational readiness. With nearly 2000 downloads already in only 6 months, The Traceability Roadmap is a guide on successfully implementing traceability and features best practices and case studies on customers including the Tapestry group (Coach, Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman) and ASICS. This also includes a feature from GS1. Get your copy of The Traceability Roadmap.
Empowering More Responsible Sourcing with Global Brands
Gathering supply chain data from Tier 2 and 3 suppliers remains a challenge for many brands due to indirect ownership or simply complexity in the supply network. Our traceability solution empowers brands to identify Tier 2 and 3 suppliers faster and collect data at scale.
We're proud to be included in sustainability reports of leading brands like Primark, Brooks Running, New Look and Kappahl demonstrating our commitment to traceable, circular and fair value chains, and empowering our customers with data to get there. Our customers, including Brooks, are now connected to Tier 3 suppliers, tracing POs from an earlier stage to ensure compliance, and they able to make more informed decisions to maintain responsible sourcing. We're excited to continue to support more brands in their efforts to enhance their impact on their value chains.
Expanding Across Footwear, Fashion and Workwear
We continue our business growth and empowering more fashion and footwear supply chains by signing an additional 13 enterprise brands this year including Renfro Brands, New Look, Brooks Running, PIP and some of the largest brands in footwear, luxury and high street fashion. Check more in the Press Center.
But the efforts don’t stop there. We know that achieving traceability requires more than software, and given it's unchartered territory for most, access to peers with whom to share knowledge, learnings and ideas is crucial. This is why we started bringing our customers together in dedicated cohort events as meeting points amongst peers to move the industry data standards forward together.
Direct Training Sessions with our Customers’ Suppliers
As we continue to grow and add more brands, we also see more suppliers from a range of tiers, joining our platform. This year we conducted several supplier training events as part of the effort to help supplier users have a smooth onboarding onto TrusTrace. The trainings focus on what data is required for regulations, the importance of tracing by PO or shipment, and how they can best prepare for sharing this with brands.
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In the last few months, we have met with over 500 suppliers including in China and India to continue our efforts towards creating a valuable platform for brands and suppliers.
Early Working DPP Prototypes with Trace4Value, Marimekko, Kappahl and GS1 Sweden
In the fall we shared learnings and a data protocol from the Trace4Value project. TrusTrace is one of several companies in Sweden involved in pilot a solution for the Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enable sustainability through transparency. We’re excited to see the pilot go public in January 2024 for Kappahl and Marimekko.
This pilot aligns the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles that calls for DPPs to be mandatory on textiles sold in Europe by 2030. The goal of the DPP? To encourage sustainable production, enable the transition to a circular economy, and help consumers make more sustainable choices. Read more.
Jenny Wärn, Director of Product Operations at TrusTrace, was a guest speaker on the Scandinavian MIND podcast to share more details on the Trace4Value project:
Our Work Recognized by McKinsey, the Business of Fashion and Gartner
Traceability has gained more traction and attention this year, and this ongoing trend is supported by growing number of reports on the Traceability technology landscape. TrusTrace’s ongoing work and successful implementation with Brands including Brooks and Adidas is recognized by McKinsey and BoF in the State of Fashion 2024 and consistently by Gartner as an emerging ESG and sustainabilty software.
Speaking Milestones including COP28
Our team continues to share knowledge on some big world stages, and we were beyond thrilled to see Saravanan Parisutham, COO and Co-founder of TrusTrace, as a panelist on "Beyond Aspirations: Taking Concrete Actions in the Fashion World" at COP28. Other stages where we presented on traceability as a key priority for address supply chain compliance and sustainability include: PV Paris, Vogue Business, Drapers, FDRA, WEAR, AAFA, among other events.
Solving for Supply Chain Challenges with New Technology Partnerships
As the technology offerings and options for supply chain sustainability and compliance become more complicated and complex, our philosophy is that we cannot be a silver bullet for supply chain challenges. We believe in collaboration and maintaining focus on what we do great to be able to deliver value to our customers and the greater tech ecosystem for fashion and footwear supply chains.
So in 2024, we initiated a few new technology partnerships including with Peftrust and Kharon. The partnership with Peftrust was announced at PV Paris, and it is pivotal in connecting data required for LCA and other regulations to calculate the product environment footprint. Together with Peftrust, we also shared more on how LCA and Traceability data come together for assessing environmental footprint: View webinar.
Continuous and Open Knowledge Sharing on Regulations
Besides the Traceability Roadmap, our policy expert colleagues have published several resources to clarify what is important for textile supply chain operators to know about the incoming regulations in the US and EU. The downloadable resources give an overview of the regulation requirements and key objectives and offer guidance on the type of data required to prove that supply chains are compliant.
- Key US Regulations for Textile Supply Chains
- Key EU Regulations for Textile Supply Chains
- An Overview of the EU Sustainable Textiles Strategy
- Traceability’s Role in Due Diligence and Forced Labor
Winner of the MASSIV Award from Mastercard Lighthouse
Congratulations to our team for winning the MASSIV award from the Mastercard Lighthouse program. This award recognizes TrusTrace as the best nomination for making and scaling social impact in the Nordics and Baltic Region of their program. Thank you Mastercard Lighthouse!
