This week, TrusTrace — a global platform for product
traceability and compliance — unveiled the second iteration of its industry
playbook.

Released in collaboration with Fashion for Good, the TrusTrace Traceability
Roadmap features
interviews and insights from iconic brands including
ASICS
and Tapestry — parent company of Coach, Kate
Spade and Stuart Weitzman — on implementing traceability to foster
sustainable transformation, as well as expert insights from
Kharon and Policy Hub
into how the future regulatory landscape shapes the needs for traceability.
Furthermore, it looks at how industry standardization and collaboration can be
achieved, with expert commentary from GS1 and the
Maritime Anti-Corruption Network. The Traceability Roadmap
was officially unveiled on June 27th at the Global Fashion
Summit in Copenhagen.

“In just a few short years, supply chain traceability has become recognized as
the central tenet of sustainable transformation. Brands that want to communicate
product information with consumers, adhere to certification criteria, abide by
current and incoming regulations, and avoid
greenwashing
can only do so by tracing their complex network of suppliers and manufacturers.
Yet despite its importance, there is still a lack of understanding on
implementation,” said TrusTrace CEO and co-founder Shameek
Ghosh. “Our first Traceability Playbook
focused on why traceability is
needed.
Now, our new Traceability Roadmap provides the industry with a detailed guide on
how it can be achieved, with learnings from global leaders in traceability.”

TrusTrace’s first industry
playbook,
which quickly garnered thousands of downloads upon its release in June 2022,
outlined the business case for implementing traceability and the wider
considerations for brands — including incoming regulation, material innovation
and the circular economy. TrusTrace’s Traceability Roadmap hones in on the
journey to implement traceability — including defining company needs,
navigating
legislation,
ensuring your organization is aligned and ready, finding the right solution,
implementing successfully, and standardizing and scaling traceability
industry-wide.

While primarily leveraging examples from the fashion industry, the guide can
also be a useful reference for other industries currently grappling with similar
supply chain challenges and legislation.

“The TrusTrace Traceability Roadmap serves as a guide for brands, suppliers and
ecosystem players to understand and implement traceability effectively,” said
Kathleen Rademan,
Director of Fashion for Good’s Innovation Platform. “It helps companies choose
useful digital and physical tracing solutions to meet their business, policy and
ESG needs.”

The chapters of the Roadmap include expected outcomes, theory, secrets to
success, case studies, expert interviews and toolkits with downloadable
templates and worksheets that brands can use to get started.

According to Kit Conklin,
VP at research and data analytics firm Kharon, the playbook also offers
unparalleled insights into a precedent-setting law that has put many industries
on edge: the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection
Act
(UFLPA).

“Since being instituted in June of
2022,
the UFLPA law has catalyzed the adoption of traceability solutions for
compliance,” Conklin said. “It’s imperative that brands across industries
understand the impact, and what’s required of them, in order to comply. The
Traceability Roadmap provides in-depth insights as to why and how brands can
prepare for this game-changing law.”

The TrusTrace Traceability Roadmap also features an in-depth case study on the
traceability programs of Tapestry and ASICS, and how the initiatives tie into
their broader mission.

“The long-term vision is to have traceability and transparency throughout
the entire life cycle of a product,” Sherry
Fazal, Tapestry’s
Senior Manager of Global ESG & Sustainability Solutions, explains. “How we get
there won’t be linear — that’s the important part. We learn, we tweak, we pivot.
Our work in ESG is not an add-on or something that we ‘should’ have; it’s a key
part of our business that is making us more resilient and forward-looking. ESG
is part of our DNA as a company.”

ASICS CSR and Sustainability Lead Matthew
Xu shares his insights from
the company’s traceability program, which is treated as a company-wide
transformation project to move from a linear to a circular business model:
“Traceability plays a vital role in achieving transparency — not only to share
our story but also to exchange best practices and foster collaboration in
addressing challenges.”

Ghosh believes the new Traceability Roadmap will continue to support and guide
brands on their journey to initiate and implement a traceability program —
regardless of which solution they use.

“As an industry leader, we want to support fashion’s decision-makers by defining
the best practice for supply chain traceability,” Ghosh concluded. “Across the
industry, everyone from the C-Suite to sustainability, legal, production and
sourcing teams are facing unprecedented challenges and demands to change their
supply chains for the better. Our aim is that this will help them get there
successfully, faster, and through increased collaboration.”