TrusTrace has teamed with Textile Exchange to advance traceability in the textile sector and fashion industry’s supply chains. The supply chain traceability and compliance platform will evaluate the nonprofit’s multiparty Trackit system, a formative industry-wide program for improved integrity, traceability and efficiency of sustainable material provenance.
The pilot will run throughout 2025, TrusTrace said, marking a “significant step” forward in advancing supply chain transparency. The project will test the performance of an interoperable traceability framework—aka a standardized set of rules and guidelines for supply chain players to follow—functioning across multiple technology platforms.
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The TrusTrace platform, then, was built to improve interoperability, working with multiple enterprise systems and data formats. In 2024, the global Software as a Service (SaaS) company gathered primary data on over 12.9 million global transactions for more than 1.2 billion units, from 60,000-plus suppliers.
Considering the supply chain traceability and compliance platform’s vested interest in interoperability, TrusTrace is excited to get started.
“Interoperability is key to a future where supply chains are traceable, circular and fair,” Shameek Ghosh, CEO and co-founder of TrusTrace, said. “The Trackit test pilot brings the industry closer to a shared ecosystem where technology providers complement rather than compete, ensuring better outcomes for brands, suppliers, and the planet; TrusTrace is honored to contribute to this exciting project and contribute with our vast experience in interoperability at scale.”
On top of analyzing the interoperability of a multiparty system, the pilot hopes to provide a foundation for supply chain innovation. It does so by enabling a few digitized initiatives, ultimately working to ensure brands are prepped and ready for the “emerging legislative and regulatory requirements” with “robust and verified data.” That also includes streamlining data-sharing tools throughout the value chain and giving brands real-time visibility into their supply chains.
“As a leading provider in the traceability landscape, our next step is testing interoperability between systems with a collaborative approach, benefiting brands, suppliers and other industry stakeholders,” Pauline God, policy and partnership manager at TrusTrace, told Sourcing Journal. “In practice, this pilot involves testing how different technology platforms can seamlessly exchange data related to scope certificates and transaction certificates, ensuring a more efficient and transparent flow of information across the supply chain.”
But the pilot goes beyond interoperability, too. Billed as an integral step toward a collaborative and traceable economy, the initiative will work to reduce redundancies and align technological systems—in turn, “empowering” brands and supply chain partners to manage risk and compliance while meeting climate goals.
“This pilot marks a significant step forward in advancing traceability and transparency within the textile and apparel supply chain,” God said. “And can help elevating the industry’s effort to reach better sustainable performance by minimizing the burden on supply chain operators while maintaining a strong and credible standards system to adapt to an evolving legislative landscape.”
