Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.(APDN) provides botanical-DNA based anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions technology that can be utilized in variety of industries including textile/fashion for supply chain security and brand protection, has entered into a commercial agreement with a textile manufacturer to purchase a SigNature T(R) DNA mark, in order to protect and authenticate extra long staple (ELS) Pima cotton.

As Pima or Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton is a highly valued, luxuriously long fiber. It represents about 5% of the overall U.S. cotton output, the equivalent of an estimated $1.25 billion-per-year industry in the United States.

This agreement will enable the textile manufacturer and its large retail partners to assure quality and preserve the integrity of the textile supply chain, starting from the grower to the consumer.

The SigNature T commercial program involves the creation of a unique, SigNature T DNA marker that will be used to mark the customer’s annual demand of Pima cotton at the ginning stage. Once marked, the cotton fiber may be authenticated for textile identity along any node in the supply chain, from grower to ginner to spinner to manufacturer to distributor to retailer. The company calls this approach to managing textile identity in the supply chain “Fiber Forward.”

Once the cotton is marked following each step of the process, its textile identity will be tested, accumulating “provenance data” linking the original cotton fiber to finished product, preserving the authenticity of the product and the integrity of the supply chain.

The SigNature T DNA marker, an advanced technology based on botanical DNA, is robust, long-lasting, and uncopyable. APDN’s platform also includes a unique test for Pima cotton identity called fiberTyping, and can also include a cloud-based track and trace system called digitalDNA.

Applied DNA Sciences is a security provider in the form of a biotechnology platform. Many of its customers are protected under confidentiality.

According to MeiLin Wan, Executive Director for Apparel and Textiles, Applied DNA Sciences, the kind of value that comes from a trusted, traceable and transparent supply chain is immeasurable, and consumers respond well to brands they trust, and even more to products they know will wear and launder well. Every moment of one’s daily lives involves a textile – from the bed sheets you woke up in, to the wrinkle free cotton oxford shirt you wear with that wool suit, to the upholstered fabric in the car you drove to work in, to the carpet in your office.

The company was formerly known as Datalink Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. in 2002. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stony Brook, New York.