Status Quo Analysis - Textile Sector

3.4. Implementation Barriers and Challenges

Despite these drivers, significant barriers impede widespread traceability adoption. Supply chain volatility presents a fundamental challenge, with (Schenten et al., 2019) describing how complex and price-driven supply chains complicate consistent traceability implementation.

Policy shortcomings create additional barriers. (Wiesmeth and Häckl, 2015) identify how current environmental policies often lack necessary elements to support traceability initiatives, including insufficient incentives for adopting design-for-environment practices and managing hazardous chemicals effectively.

Resource constraints particularly impact smaller enterprises. The (Doyle et al., 2024) report outlines how SMEs often lack the technical capacity and financial resources needed for comprehensive chemical management systems, creating an implementation gap between large and small industry players.

The barriers to chemical traceability extend beyond technical challenges, revealing a deeper issue of organisational and cultural mindset limitations. These include an entrenched habituation to traditional chemical management approaches focused on restricted substance lists and declarations, a conservative bias toward familiar tools like MS Excel for managing SVHCs, and a prevalent misconception that Digital Product Passports alone ensure chemical traceability. This resistance to change is further compounded by a status quo bias and a focus on short-term roll-out costs while neglecting mid-term benefits. Despite available technological solutions like Full Material Declaration (FMD) systems, as demonstrated by IMDS in the automotive sector, the lack of awareness about the importance of cooperation and supplier engagement continues to impede progress toward comprehensive chemical traceability.