#Industry 4.0 / Digitalization

2021-10-28

Textile Exchange and TextileGenesisTM announce the pilot release of Textile Exchange’s Electronic Trackit “eTrackit” program

After a year of collaborative development, Textile Exchange and TextileGenesisTM are pleased to announce the pilot release of Textile Exchange’s Electronic Trackit “eTrackit” program – a digital system for granular traceability using innovative technologies applied to Textile Exchange Standards. The pioneering system creates detailed material accounting of certified materials at article level across the supply chain enabling peer-to-peer validation and leveraging third-party Certification Bodies in the transaction verification process.

The pilot program will be released in November at Textile Exchange’s annual global conference in Dublin, and the first phase will focus on the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and the Recycled Claim Standard(RCS).

“In an industry’s first, supply chain transactions along with a product level chain of custody will be verified digitally on the platform. eTrackit provides an alternative to the PDF-based transaction certificates, tracking each product’s volume of certified material entirely online via e-tokens. Our aim is that this technology accelerates positive impacts throughout the supply chain while also providing brands with the verified data they need to confidently make product claims.” says Claire Bergkamp, COO of Textile Exchange.

Seven global brands, including Bestseller, H&M Group, Inditex, tentree and VF Corporation, will pilot this innovative traceability system for GRS and RCS certified materials across their supply chains. Participating certification bodies include Control Union, USB Certification, IDFL, Intertek and Bureau Veritas. After these pilots, scaling programs will be designed to facilitate a rollout on a commercial level. The traceability system will be further expanded to cover the animal fiber standards, followed by the Organic Cotton Standard (OCS) in 2022.

“H&M Group believe that supply chain traceability and transparency should go hand-in-hand to create greater accountability for where materials and product come from, and to drive positive change in the fashion industry.

Moreover, we believe that we can have greater impact by working together within and across industries to come up with shared solutions; combining technologies and shared-industry databases can help increase supply chain traceability. We are excited to be part of this great collaboration, as it is an important innovation towards digitizing chain of custody and traceability, making the tracing of certified materials easier for all supply chain actors alike and furthering transparency.” Notes Merel Krebbers, Product Owner at H&M Group Business Tech.

Amit Gautam, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of TextileGenesis™ says “With increasing consumer demand and compliance risks, CEOs and Boards of the majority of top 100 fashion brands have committed to using sustainable fibers over the next five years, with transparency and traceability being a core part of business priorities. Sustainability and traceability have become deeply interconnected, and it’s great to see Textile Exchange paving the way for the entire fashion industry to follow. Our supply chain traceability platform creates robust and scalable material accounting at the product-article and lot-level for Textile Exchange’s fiber standards using our Fibercoins™ traceability technology”.

Textile Exchange Conference 2025: Setting the course for systemic change

The 2025 Textile Exchange Conference brought together more than 1,600 participants on site in Lisbon and online, marking two days of intense dialogue on the future of sustainable and regenerative material systems. With a focus on collaboration, data-driven progress, and systemic transformation, the sessions highlighted both the challenges and the opportunities in building a truly resilient textile industry.

Textile Exchange Conference 2025 kicks off next week in Lisbon

From October 13 to 17, 2025, the Textile Exchange Conference will take place at the Lisbon Congress Centre, bringing together brands, supply-chain partners, innovators, farmers, NGOs, academics, and more for a week of collaborative learning and exchange. Under the theme “Shifting Landscapes”, this year’s agenda highlights the urgent need for the textile industry to adapt rapidly to changing environmental, political, and economic conditions, while linking adaptation to broader systems transformation.

Reifenhäuser wins German Design Award for new user interface

At K 2025 in Düsseldorf, the Reifenhäuser Group unveiled its new company-wide machine user interface, which offers a uniform design language for blown film, flat film, and nonwoven lines – and stands out for its particularly simple operation. The overall concept impressed not only customers, but also the jury of the German Design Awards, who honored the system with the prestigious design prize during the trade fair.

Lenze at ITMA Asia 2025: Smart, Robust and Cost-Efficient Motor Drive System IE5/IE6 for the Textile Future

At the world's largest trade fair for textile and apparel technology, ITMA Asia (October 28-31, 2025 in Singapore), Lenze will be presenting innovative automation solutions for the textile value chain in Hall 7, Stand B201. The focus will be on energy-efficient drive packages, modular machine concepts and scalable software solutions - developed for mechanical engineers and end users who rely on sustainable technologies. Lenze has been a reliable partner to the textile industry for over 77 years.

Reifenhäuser NEXT: Tackling the skills shortage and achieving operational excellence with industrial AI

At K 2025, the Reifenhäuser Group will demonstrate Industrial AI's full potential for productivity in plastics processing. At the heart of the dedicated “Reifenhäuser NEXT” brand is a powerful AI chatbot that enables even inexperienced line operators to quickly solve complex tasks in their daily work, thereby maximizing availability, productivity, and quality.

T-CAN – Revolutionizing can transport

In virtually all spinning mills, transporting sliver cans is still done manually. Rising labor costs, lack of operators and increasing quality requirements make this a growing challenge. With T-CAN, Trützschler introduces a practical solution: a fully automated can transport system that will be presented live at ITMA ASIA 2025 in Singapore.

Francois Guetat joins Suominen as COO

Francois Guetat brings over two decades of global experience in operations, supply chain, and manufacturing excellence. Most recently, he served as SVP of Integrated Supply Chain at Kalmar, where he led business across sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and strategy. His leadership has been shaped by 22 years at Volvo, where he held key roles in Sweden, USA, and Poland.

DuPont™ Nomex® plant in Asturias receives ISCC PLUS certification

DuPont announced today that its Nomex® production facility in Tamón, Asturias, has received International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) certification. This achievement underscores DuPont's commitment to advancing its sustainability goals and building capabilities to provide reliable Nomex® solutions from sustainable raw materials worldwide.

From concept to stage: Submit presentations for the Techtextil Forum and Texprocess Forum 2026 now

Anyone who wants to contribute to shaping the future of the textile industry can submit a presentation for the Techtextil and Texprocess Forum by 15 December 2025. Both stages represent innovation and practical solutions and promote exchange between research and industry. An international Programme Committee selects the contributions and curates a programme on key future topics in the textile sector. From 21 to 24 April 2026, the two leading trade fairs will once again be the centre of global business dialogue in Frankfurt.