Fashion and recycling industries around the world demand unified digital labeling (QR Codes) for clothing to advance a circular economy

BALTIMORE (PRWEB) August 02, 2023

THE PROBLEM: Each year, the annual production of label tape produces approximately 5.7 million miles (about 9.2m km) of tape, which is long enough to stretch from the earth to the moon and back twelve times. Labeling requirements have not been updated since the 1960s. Current outdated labeling requirements are inconsistent and hinder efforts to trace the origins of materials to be more sustainable and support a circular economy.

THE SOLUTION: digital technology solutions – such as QR code labels – would reduce labeling waste and eliminate at least 343,000 MT of emissions from industry supply chains while providing consumers with more detailed and accurate product information. The data would also aid in the garment’s lifecycle, by providing details about resale, repair, rental, upcycling, or recycling. We urge the United States Federal Trade Commission and other entities worldwide to use digital means to standardize labeling requirements.

ACTION NEEDED: We urge government regulators to amend international, national, and local regulations to allow fully digital labeling solutions to be adopted. QR codes would make products more useful and valuable for longer periods in the circular economy while unlocking new opportunities for resale, repair, rental, upcycling, or recycling.

SMART President Steve Rees explained, “Greener e-labeling clears the way for transparency and accountability in the global textile recycling space. QR codes will empower consumers by providing more accessible information and key data that can strategically extend a garment's or item's lifecycle as it moves through the resilient reuse and recycle distribution chain.”

SMART calls on legislative leaders to take immediate action to create stringent digital labeling guidelines, which will lead to more responsible outcomes, helping the world economy and the environment. Please join our global effort and #CutTheTape.

Open Letter to Congressional Leaders:

To Whom It May Concern: 11 July 2023 As representatives of the global fashion and sportswear related industries, and its enablers and stakeholders, we are coming together to urge supranational, national, and local authorities around the world to modernize their domestic textile, garment, footwear, and related accessories labeling requirements and legally allow and support the use of more sustainable and economic, digital labels for required labeling information.

During the past 60 years, a confusing array of labeling requirements – relating to care instructions/symbols, fiber content, importer requirements, and origin of textiles, garments, footwear, and related accessories – have proliferated around the world. Created with the best of intentions to enable consumers to make informed buying decisions, these requirements are now hindering the industry’s efforts to be more sustainable and support the circular economy, including the enhancement of traceability. Industry estimates show that, collectively, these requirements now result in the annual production of approximately 5.7 million miles (about 9.2m km) of label tape – enough to stretch from the earth to the moon, and back, twelve times each year.

Fortunately, digital technology solutions – such as QR code labels – are now available to cut the considerable amount of material that these regulations require our industry to produce. Shifting to the use of digital labels would significantly reduce labeling waste and significantly aid in decarbonization efforts, resulting in the elimination of at least 343,000 MT of CO2e from industry supply chains.

Indeed, reacting to the growing interest by consumers to receive information digitally, governments around the world are starting to embrace digital approaches – such as the proposed EU digital product passport and replacement of traditional labelling requirements with the option to use electronic labeling for consumer electronics products (e.g., Singapore, Australia). But to really move the needle, we need to take bolder action and, if we can do so, the opportunities are endless.

With greater demand for more traceability, transparency, and accountability from all stakeholders in the industry’s global value chain, the time for supranational, national and local authorities to act and update these outdated, inflexible, and complex labeling requirements and empower their consumers with more accessible information through greener e-labeling is now.

We look forward to working with you to build a more responsible and agile industry.

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