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As regulation moves toward mandatory product-level transparency, competitiveness increasingly depends on data that can be accessed, verified, and reused across the value chain.
For fashion brands, DPPs are emerging as shared infrastructure: a way to connect products with verified data, align internal teams, collaborate more effectively across the value chain, and build trust with consumers and regulators alike. In a sector defined by complex supply chains and growing scrutiny, this infrastructure is quickly becoming the main source of competitive advantage.
In this article, we explore why Digital Product Passports matter now, how they create business value, and what makes them a strategic asset for fashion brands preparing for the years ahead.
What is a Digital Product Passport?
A Digital Product Passport is a digital record linked to a physical product. It contains structured, product-specific information such as material composition, manufacturing details, care instructions, and end-of-life guidance. The passport is accessed through a data carrier, typically a QR code or NFC tag, embedded in or attached to the product.
Under EU policy, DPPs are designed to make product information accessible throughout the entire lifecycle, from production and use to reuse and recycling. While regulation is the main driver, the same data infrastructure can also support business operations, transparency, and circular models.
Why 2026 is a turning point for fashion brands
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) will introduce mandatory Digital Product Passports through product-specific rules, with textiles identified as a priority category. From 2026–2027 onwards, fashion products placed on the EU market will be required to carry structured, machine-readable product data.
This shift moves fashion from voluntary transparency to mandatory product-level information. According to the European Commission, over 80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage, which explains why regulation now focuses on product data, not just corporate reporting.
Brands that wait until requirements are final risk facing rushed implementations, fragmented data, and higher long-term costs. Companies like Tod's, Dondup, Mugler, Bulgari and more have already adopted Digital Product Passports at advanced stages.
Product-level data as a foundation for operational and design decisions
Digital Product Passports do more than support external transparency: they improve internal decision-making.
When product data on materials, suppliers, and processes is structured and centralised, teams across design, sourcing, and compliance can work from a shared reference point. This enables better decisions earlier in the product lifecycle, where environmental impact, cost, and feasibility are largely determined.
Over time, this data foundation reduces inefficiencies, improves supplier collaboration, and supports more consistent product strategies. Transparency becomes an operational asset, not an administrative task.
Digital Product Passports and verifiable product claims
As scrutiny of product claims increases, brands are expected to provide specific, evidence-based information at product level. Generic or unsubstantiated statements are increasingly challenged by regulators and consumer protection authorities.
Digital Product Passports provide the data backbone needed to support verifiable product information. By linking product claims directly to structured product data, brands can ensure alignment between consumer-facing communication, regulatory reporting, and underlying evidence.
This reduces compliance risk, strengthens credibility, and supports fashion transparency grounded in verifiable, product-level information.
Connected products: enabling resale, repair, and circular fashion models
By assigning a persistent digital identity to each product, Digital Product Passports enable products to remain connected throughout their lifetime.
This connectivity supports practical circular use cases such as authentication for resale, access to repair instructions, and ownership transfer. Instead of relying on separate systems, these services are anchored to the same product-level data.
For fashion brands, this means circular business models become easier to implement and scale, while consumers benefit from clearer information on how to extend the life of their products.
Shared product data as the basis for supply chain collaboration
Fashion supply chains are highly interconnected, yet product data is often duplicated across brands, suppliers, platforms, and authorities.
Digital Product Passports reduce this fragmentation by enabling shared, interoperable product data. Information is collected once and reused across the value chain, with controlled access depending on the stakeholder.
This approach lowers administrative burden, improves data consistency, and supports collaboration at scale - a key requirement for managing complex global supply chains under increasing regulatory pressure.
Digital Product Passports as long-term competitive infrastructure
Digital Product Passports represent a structural shift in how fashion products are documented, governed, and communicated. While regulation sets the framework, competitive advantage comes from treating DPPs as long-term infrastructure, not short-term compliance projects.
At Renoon, we see Digital Product Passports as a foundation for connecting products with credible, usable data, enabling fashion brands to meet regulatory requirements while building transparency, resilience, and collaboration across the ecosystem.
Explore Renoon’s insights on Digital Product Passports and discover how connected product data can create shared value for brands and consumers alike.
As 2026 approaches, the brands that invest early in Digital Product Passport infrastructure will be best positioned to operate confidently in a transparent, regulated, and data-driven fashion market.
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