As the world becomes more interconnected, global businesses face the dual challenge of meeting tightening regulations and satisfying an increasingly conscious consumer base. The stakes are high—especially when shipments risk detention at borders due to non-compliance—and the margin for error is slim.
Ana Hinojosa, Oritain advisor and the former executive director of the Forced Labor Division at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), highlighted the gravity of the situation. “Even with all the available information that’s public knowledge regarding supply chain risks, many companies and suppliers have yet to give it the attention it deserves,” she said. “This oversight goes beyond ethics; detained shipments at borders can lead to significant financial repercussions, especially with regulatory bodies demanding heightened transparency and authenticity.”
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CBP statistics show that in the 2023 fiscal year, the law enforcement organization seized more than 5,000 textile shipments worth over $129 million—some of which were held due to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act—and issued about $19.3 million in commercial fraud penalties. Of the 323 shipments they scrutinized in the lab, around 42 percent were found to be either mis-declared or mis-described upon their arrival in the U.S. With President Biden’s budget allocating nearly $25 billion to strengthen CBP enforcement, the message is clear: Compliance in today’s global trade is non-negotiable.
“CBP is constantly searching for information on whether goods contain any forced labor throughout the supply chain. They are not only looking at companies, but also suppliers,” Hinojosa said. She added that, even if a company has no forced labor in its business directly, it is still responsible for ensuring that it’s not present throughout the supply chain.
Dr. Kate Jones, Oritain’s senior scientific advisor, emphasized how validating the origin of goods can mitigate these border risks. “Modern supply chains are complex and often opaque, making them vulnerable to fraud,” she noted. “From raw material substitution to blending, there are many ways in which unethical practices can creep in, damaging the reputation of even the most vigilant businesses.”
Jones pointed out that forced and child labor are known issues in some regions during the cotton cultivation and picking processes, which can potentially taint the global supply chain with unethical practices. Addressing this issue demands thorough verification of raw materials’ origin in addition to auditing manufacturing processes.
Unlike traditional traceability methods that rely on paperwork or passive traceability methods like barcodes and blockchain, Oritain’s approach is innovative.
A natural product’s origin can be identified using “fingerprints” derived from the chemical compositions of plants and animals. These compounds vary naturally throughout the environment and are driven by environmental factors that are specific and unique to individual locations, specific soil composition, precipitation, temperature and altitude. Oritain applies forensic science techniques to measure the range and quantity of these origin-related factors in biological products through the use of trace element and stable isotope analyses.
This origin fingerprint provides product-based traceability throughout the supply chain—from manufacturers or retail, all the way to the very farm where the cotton was grown. Since this traceability is inherent in all products from the natural environment, as they move from raw material to finished products, their origin remains verifiable. This approach is extremely resilient to tampering and cannot be synthesized or recreated.
Per Jones, brands have long relied on trusting packaging instead of testing the product itself. Packaging can be easily manipulated, and the product inside might not contain what it says on the label. “We’ve captured over 90 percent of the world’s cotton production in our database,” she said. “Our extensive research and data acts like a baseline for comparing new samples of cotton to determine if they are authentic or not.”
Cone Denim is the first denim mill globally to use Oritain to verify the origin of its cotton. “Sustainability and traceability are something our customers and consumers value greatly,” said Steve Maggard, president of Cone Denim. “We were excited to partner with a company that could provide legal certainty for our cotton origin.”
For Cone, Oritain’s testing supports verified sustainable messaging. “We’ve got very clear rules about how we do business, but we wanted to take it to the next level and be able to actually document and prove those claims both to our customers and end users,” he added. “Now, with the current scientific capabilities, we can validate these claims using forensic science that’s admissible in court.”
Click here to learn more about Oritain’s cotton origin verification.
