The Digital Product Passport for textiles and apparel.
A digital product passport for textiles is the product-level data record that the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation will require for clothing and footwear once their delegated act is adopted, reachable from a data carrier on each item.
Textiles are a first-priority category under the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. Garments sold in the EU are expected to need a Digital Product Passport reachable from a data carrier on the product — and the regulation already bans destroying unsold clothing. Here is what applies, when, and what to do now.
DPP for textiles & apparel, in three facts.
ESPR 2024/1781 · textiles named in the first ESPR working plan · destruction of unsold apparel banned for large companies from July 2026.
Since 19 July 2026 large companies may not destroy unsold apparel and footwear in the EU; medium-sized companies follow on 19 July 2030 and micro and small companies are exempt (ESPR Article 25).
Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1781The Commission's first ESPR working plan (April 2025) prioritises iron and steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres and mattresses; the delegated-act dates for each group are not yet fixed.
Source: European Commission, Digital Product PassportThe European Commission opened the Digital Product Passport Registry on 20 July 2026.
Source: European Commission, 23 July 2026
Fiber to garment, on the record.
A passport per product
A structured digital record — fiber composition, recycled content, origin, repairability, chemical compliance — reachable from a data carrier on the garment or its label.
A data carrier that survives retail
The carrier must stay readable through distribution and sale. Textiles allow woven, heat-transfer and hang-tag carriers; a chip survives what print does not.
The unsold-goods destruction ban
ESPR prohibits destroying unsold apparel and footwear — large companies from July 2026 and medium-sized ones from July 2030; micro and small companies are exempt. Proving what happened to unsold stock requires unit-level identity.
Supply-chain claims that hold
Recycled-content and origin claims in the passport must be substantiated. A passport built on unverifiable claims trades one problem for another.
The timeline, as it stands.
ESPR entered into force in 2024. The Commission's first working plan names textiles among the priority categories; the delegated act sets the binding data fields and dates for the category.
Three moves that de-risk the deadline.
Map SKUs to the delegated act
Inventory which product lines fall in scope and which data fields you can already populate — fiber, origin, recycled content — and where the gaps are.
Choose a carrier that survives the garment
Decide woven chip, care-label inlay or hang-tag per product line. Test read-rates after wash and wear, not just at the factory.
Run one line live
Issue real passports for a single product line first. One live line surfaces every data and process gap before the whole catalog is committed.
The passport, bound to the garment — not the label.
Aeroz binds each garment's identity to its passport with a tamper-evident chip resolved through GS1 Digital Link, writing custody as EPCIS 2.0 events. A photographed QR resolves to a passport; it cannot prove the garment in hand is the one the passport describes. For apparel — a heavily counterfeited category — that difference is the point.
DPP for textiles & apparel, answered.
When do textiles need a Digital Product Passport?
ESPR is in force now and textiles are named in the Commission's first working plan. The textile delegated act sets binding data fields and dates, with the textiles act expected in 2027 and its requirements applying at least 18 months after adoption. Brands shipping to the EU should treat 2026 as preparation time, not waiting time.
What data goes in a textile DPP?
Expect fiber composition, recycled content, chemical compliance, origin and repairability information, set precisely by the textile delegated act. The passport is reached through a data carrier on the product.
Does the unsold-goods ban really apply to apparel?
Yes. ESPR bans the destruction of unsold consumer apparel and footwear for large companies from July 2026 and medium-sized ones from July 2030. Micro and small companies are exempt. Companies need evidence of what happened to unsold units — which requires unit-level identity.
Can a printed QR code satisfy the textile DPP?
A printed code can carry the link, but it can be photographed, reprinted and applied to a counterfeit. A chip-bound identity proves the garment in hand is the unit the passport describes — which is what buyers, customs and brand-protection teams actually need.
From the Aeroz blog
- The DPP and the End of Unverifiable Sustainability Claims: What August 2026 Changes for Every Brand in the EU
- The Transparent Era
More answers: Digital Product Passport questions in the compliance FAQ
Know exactly where you stand — in 14 days.
A fixed-fee Aeroz audit maps your products against DPP for textiles & apparel requirements and returns a written readiness assessment, a data-mapping review, and a scoped pilot plan with cost and timeline.