[A summary of a webinar hosted by Centric Software and moderated by Green Retail World]
Not only is the battle for share of consumer spend as fierce as it has been for some time for retailers, and heightening global tensions are causing trading and supply chain challenges, but sustainability pressures have ramped up too.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive arrived in 2023 reshaping how companies must disclose ESG information. And the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) came into force last year aiming to significantly improve the sustainability of items produced and placed on the European Union (EU) market.
Digital Product Passport (DPP) – a digital record detailing the environmental impact of a product throughout its lifecycle – is a cornerstone of ESPR. And when it becomes mandatory to include DPPs on individual garments sold into the EU in 2027-28, retailers and brands will need to comply to ensure they can still operate in one of the largest trade blocs in the world.
This sense of time running out to prepare for a generational change in how the fashion supply chain operates was a key theme behind tech company Centric Software’s July webinar, The DPP Wake-Up Call: costs, timelines and strategic moves, hosted by Green Retail World editor Ben Sillitoe. In the webinar, Centric Software’s director of sustainability, Hrishi Mohan, was joined by Nobody’s Child founder, Andrew Xeni, and Carolynn Bernier, senior research engineer at CEA and CIRPASS-2 consortium coordinator.
We’ve picked out the key messages from the webinar, below – readers can download the full webinar by following this link.
Time to act now
With the deadline looming, the key webinar message for any retailers and brands not yet on the DPP journey is to start now. Although the full requirements of DPP compliance are still to be finalised – a draft delegated act for textiles is expected at the beginning of 2026 – action is required to at least set the wheels in motion.
Mohan said: “Most of our customer base are aware of what’s required – they are reaching out to us to see if there’s anything that can help in terms of data aggregation and streamlining the whole process and seeing if there are upgrades available.
“If you haven’t started you need to be looking into this right now. At the minimum you need to do an exercise to see what data points can be supported by your ecosystem. Reach out to suppliers to see what kind of data they can supply, and for those who don’t have a system, it’s good to invest or look into the upgrades to support the multiple functionalities you might need in the future.”
Mohan argued that strong and clear supplier relationships are essential to good DPP practice and there’s “heavy dependency” on the information from suppliers.
“Surprising a supplier in two years’ time and saying ‘I need all this data’ is not good practice – you definitely need to have early communication,” he urged.
This is where Centric Software’s PLM solutions come into play. With its digital tools, brands can gain visibility into their supply chain data and take proactive steps towards meeting DPP requirements, setting them up for success long before the compliance deadline.
Centric Software provides solutions that help brands streamline their data management. Its platforms enable brands to centralise, standardise, and aggregate data from suppliers, making it easier to meet DPP compliance and provide accurate, reliable product data.
Centric Software’s digital end-to-end solutions empower brands to utilise DPPs not only as a compliance mechanism but as a way to enhance sustainability messaging, connect with consumers, and build stronger, more transparent relationships with suppliers.
First steps
Xeni, who has already overseen widescale deployment of a version of a DPP on Nobody’s Child’s ranges, offered some pertinent advice to others looking to follow suit.
“If you’re developing products today that aren’t going to make it into market until fall 2026, which is common for brands, then you need to start thinking about this relatively quickly,” he explained.
He urged retailers and brands to create visibility of the current state of affairs, to understand the delta of where they are today and where they need to be, and to develop a timeline that will help them to move in the right direction.
“We went early and it’s been incredible for us in terms of the halo effect, but I appreciate that’s not necessarily straightforward for very large retailers and brands operating across multiple categories and regions with large supplier bases,” he commented.
“But it doesn’t mean you can’t start to ascertain what’s going on today to achieve that current state and readiness.”
Data foundations
Bernier said she understands Europe’s textiles supply chain comprises mainly small and medium companies. She said the industry needs to adopt data standardisation to ensure these companies, with limited resources, are not being asked to provide data in “100 different ways for 100 clients”.
“This is what I hear as the pain point from the textiles supply chain over and over again,” she noted.
“Brands can easily say you must deliver this data but very small companies don’t have the human resources to deliver this data over and over again in all these different formats. This has not been solved and needs to be solved, and I think this is where investment needs to be right now.”
Xeni argued there is a “misconception” that DPP is “just a load of data that can be published” when the truth is much more complex.
“The data sits in various parts of your organisation from spreadsheets to systems to suppliers and third parties,” he noted, adding it will also reside with traceability and impact calculation partners.
“All of this is currently siloed and needs to be brought in in a structured and trusted way to achieve the objectives of what DPP is shaping up to be.”
He added: “You’ll find as a byproduct of doing this properly you’re educating the internal stakeholders you’ll inevitably need on this journey – supply chain, compliance, quality, sourcing and buying teams.”
As well as overseeing the Nobody’s Child business, Xeni is chairman and founder of Fabacus, a data company already helping organisations such as Tesco F&F get DPP ready. It is also the engine behind Nobody’s Child’s pioneering DPP work to date.
“We conduct a gap analysis to achieve a current state, help businesses understand the delta and create a plan that works. In order to get [DPP] to where it needs to be, you have to just start.”
DPP and wider sustainability
With some large organisations reining in sustainability goals and bombshells such as the US starting the process, in January, to withdraw from the Paris Agreement global treaty on climate change, the narrative on ESG has evolved in 2025.
Although acknowledging the European Commission could retract previous intentions to push through a green claims directive, Bernier said it’s “full steam ahead” on so much environmental legislation. “DPP will not be abandoned”, she added, because it is part of the simplification package of the EU.
“The new commission elected in spring 2025 made a promise to digitalise and cut red tape using new technologies,” she said, adding: “There will not be less DPP, probably more.”
And for retailers considering dampening down environmental commitments, Nobody’s Child can serve as an example of a business growing by putting conscious decision-making front and centre of its proposition.
“The infrastructure we have put in place by having IDs on products allows us to create a portal to customers about all our circularity initiatives,” Xeni remarked.
“The commercial benefits associated with DPP outweigh significantly the perceived pain of implementation when looking at it in the silo of a compliance requirement. If you bring the right stakeholders in – marketing, commercial, digital acquisition – it brings commercial opportunity also while driving all the other good things.”
Multiple benefits of DPP
Bernier said she supports a “dual DPP vision”, making sure it’s not just a tool for regulators but one that can be used by industry “to promote sustainability, circularity, and digital business practices”.
Mohan agreed, suggesting DPP “is not just about meeting compliance”; it provides an opportunity for retailers and brands to “tell a good story” and develop better supplier relationships.
Xeni said looking at DPP through a commercial lens is “an incredibly powerful tool for business”.
“I’d argue the commercial benefits associated with conforming are arguably more powerful than compliance benefits or derisking any potential exposure to meet the compliance,” he noted.
Nobody’s Child’s DPPs have encouraged consumer interaction they would not otherwise have had, and they allow the retailer to showcase its entire circularity proposition. Xeni also said 30% of the products Nobody Child sells are via partners and not via its own website.
“I don’t know 30% of our customers, yet now I can speak to them at product level when they have one of my products in their possession,” he commented.
“If I engage them in that product – and we’re quite proud of our engagement to drive loyalty – then all of a sudden I can capture first-party data on customers not known to me before.”
Other retailers need to understand the wider opportunity of DPPs, he said – it’s not just compliance, it represents a new route to customers, and a different way to present a brand in all of its glory.
[image credit: Reconomy/Fabacus]
