Status Quo Analysis - Textile Sector

4.4. System Map Analysis for Textiles: Fragmented Accountability and Emerging Solutions

The textile industry’s system map highlights various stages spanning raw and recycled material sourcing, production, distribution, use, and end-of-life processes. This structure creates several challenges for chemical traceability:

1. Lack of Uniform Standards: Different regions and organisations follow varying regulatory and operational standards for chemical management, which complicates traceability efforts. Companies operating internationally face additional difficulties in aligning their practices with inconsistent global frameworks (Fischer and Pascucci, 2017).
2. Technological Integration Gaps: While Industry 4.0 technologies are being adopted to enhance traceability, these solutions are not yet uniformly implemented across the value chain (Khan et al., 2021). Smaller suppliers, especially in developing economies (mostly in the Global South), often lack the technical infrastructure or resources to integrate such systems. Several EU-funded initiatives focus on supporting SMEs in adopting traceability technologies, providing financial assistance, resources, and collaborative opportunities to drive innovation and sustainability. Notable examples include the TRACE4EU project, part of the Digital Europe Programme, which leverages blockchains to enhance document traceability and expand the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure. The STEP Scale Up scheme, under the European Innovation Council (EIC), provides substantial funding to scale innovations in strategic sectors, including traceability. The European Union supports SME digitalisation through complementary programs. The Digital Europe Programme leads this effort by providing comprehensive support through funding mechanisms, Digital Innovation Hubs, skill development initiatives, transformation projects, sustainability-focused solutions, and collaborative networks. This enables businesses to adopt advanced technologies while addressing key barriers such as costs, expertise gaps, and infrastructure limitations. Complementing these efforts, the COSME Programme specifically focuses on facilitating SMEs' access to finance for technology integration, creating a robust support ecosystem for digital transformation. Finally, the Horizon Europe Programme, the EU's flagship research and innovation initiative, enables SMEs to participate in collaborative projects aimed at advancing traceability technologies. These programmes aim to collectively empower SMEs to improve transparency, efficiency, and sustainability in their operations.

3. Consumer Pressure: Growing consumer demand for transparency and sustainable products is driving innovation in chemical traceability within the textile industry, notably through Digital Product Passports that detail chemical composition and environmental impacts (Schenten et al., 2019; Calderon-Monge et al., 2020; Ospital et al., 2023). While larger textile companies lead these efforts through comprehensive traceability measures and digital tools due to their superior resources and supply chain management capabilities (Garcia-Torres et al., 2022; Plakantonaki et al., 2023; Alves et al., 2023), smaller enterprises struggle to adopt similar innovations due to limited resources and expertise, often falling behind in implementing these costly and complex traceability systems (Harsanto et al., 2023; Luján-Ornelas et al., 2020). 

Despite these challenges, system maps for textiles reveal significant opportunities for improvement. Enhanced collaboration between textile manufacturers, their suppliers, recyclers, and technology providers can facilitate data sharing and drive circularity within the industry. 

While direct harmonisation of international chemical regulations remains complex due to varying legislative systems, REACH and the EU Green Deal can serve as model frameworks for developing chemical traceability approaches in other regions. These EU frameworks provide valuable principles and practices that other jurisdictions might adapt according to their specific contexts. This could contribute to the development of more consistent chemical traceability practices globally, while emphasising the critical need for a harmonised digital transparency and traceability system that enables informed decision-making across all life stages of materials and products for regulatory agencies, companies, and consumers - a fundamental requirement for achieving a circular economy free from harmful chemicals (HEJSupport, n.d.)