Danish fashion retailer, Bestseller, is extending its collaboration with blockchain platform TextileGenesis to track man-made cellulosic fibers and direct-to-farm cotton across its supply chain.

Bestseller claims that by implementing blockchain technology, it would be able to track 25 million garments from raw material to finished product this year. This amounts to about 7% of the company's overall volume, which the company expects to grow rapidly in the following years if the project accomplishes its goals.

Bestseller is now embarking on the first phase of the platform's deployment phase with a group of important suppliers, following numerous successful trial projects. According to Bestseller, the project will necessitate significant participation from the suppliers, who will now be required to adopt TextileGenesis' new platform.

The goal is for this to become an industry-wide solution that will enable suppliers to give product-level transparency in line with expected EU legislation.

Danique Lodewijks, senior project specialist at Bestseller Sustainability, said that they can provide transparency and validation for a substantial portion of their fibers and products thanks to their relationship with TextileGenesis. It feeds directly into their Fashion FWD vision, and it can push the entire fashion sector on a more transparent and sustainable path,.

The EU plans to require each product to have a digital passport by 2024, which will include information about the product's environmental sustainability. Bestseller claims that TextileGenesis' solution will assist them in meeting such requirements.

Lodewijks adds that they haven't advanced far enough in the fashion sector on several dimensions, such as the capacity to trace all of their items, which will be a future requirement. On the other side, with this collaboration, we are leapfrogging many others, as we have been able to track several million products from start to finish since this year.

Hundreds of suppliers from more than 10 countries have been onboarded and trained as a result of TextileGenesis' technology. TextileGenesis plans to roll out its solution to 400-500 providers at various tier levels in total.

Pernille Bruun, materials manager in Bestseller’s global supply chain, said that they'll collect feedback from suppliers, and with their help, they'll design a system that's both practical and scalable for the entire supply chain. If this solution works as intended, it will be a significant step forward in supply chain transparency. Through this platform, they can track every stage of the manufacturing process, providing them with data they didn't have before and allowing them to provide greater transparency to their organization and customers.

Amit Gautam, TextileGenesis’ founder and CEO, said that Bestseller has a really open, pragmatic, yet audacious approach to achieving end-to-end supply chain traceability. This relationship has pushed them to keep innovating and produce one of the industry's most innovative traceability systems. Bestseller is at the forefront of the industry, focusing on total fiber-to-retail traceability at scale. It's a big step forward for the fashion business, and collaborations like this one help the entire sector think and act aggressively on supply chain traceability and transparency.