Digital Tagging in Fashion: A path to Sustainability?

Digital tagging in fashion can help garments remain traceable throughout their lifecycle, supporting repair, resale, rental and recycling. Each product can be connected to information about its materials, production, care instructions, authenticity and end-of-life options through a digital identifier.

Since this article was first written, digital tagging has moved from an emerging innovation towards formal regulation. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation has established the framework for Digital Product Passports, while textiles and apparel have been identified as a priority product group. Detailed requirements are still being developed, but fashion businesses selling within the EU should begin preparing reliable product, material and supply-chain data.

The Fashion industry is responsible for one-tenth of global carbon emissions and its business model usually relies on us discarding old clothes and buying new ones. In order to create a more circular fashion economy and implement resale and rental business models, each garment would benefit from an unique identification code and a way to track the item along its journey from the customer to repair or cleaning, back into the rentable inventory, and back out to the next customer. In order to facilitate this circular fashion model, each garment needs a digital trigger.

A digital trigger gives the customers access to some data about the garment such as its care instructions and fibre content and allows them to engage with the brand regarding their purchase and the production process behind that specific item.

QR codes

One option for digital tagging in fashion is a scannable QR code placed on a garment label. It can direct customers, repairers, resellers and recyclers to information about the product. However, the identifier must remain attached and readable throughout the garment’s useful life.

NFC

A second option is an NFC, or Near Field Communication, tag embedded within a label or product. Most modern smartphones can read compatible NFC tags without a separate device, although brands must clearly explain where the tag is located and how customers should use it.

RFID

RFID, or radio-frequency identification, can also support digital tagging in fashion. RFID tags are widely used to manage inventory and trace products through supply chains, although the appropriate tag must be selected according to washing, durability and product-lifecycle requirements.

Some brands such as Adidas, Scotch and Soda, Vince, and LOFT are already trying and testing QR codes and resale programs to promote a circular economy within their consumers.

New York start-up Eon has been recognised as a leading platform with the potential to speed up the move to a more circular economy in fashion. The company is giving each new fashion item a digital birth certificate with a physical tag and a QR code or a RFID chip, which includes information about where and when it was made and what it’s made from. This is also linked to a ‘digital twin’, a virtual replica of the real product, and a digital passport that tracks the product through its life. Being the first digitization platform to connect products across their whole lifecycle, Eon has partnered with fashion brands and retailers like Net-a-Porter and H&M, textile makers and resellers like Reflaunt, Save Your Wardrobe and Salvation Army Trading Company. With the process facilitating the resell and repair of each item, the result should be less landfill waste. 

Platforms such as Eon helped demonstrate how digital tagging in fashion could connect physical products with digital identities. Today, the wider Digital Product Passport framework is moving this concept towards standardised product information that can support compliance, traceability and circular business models.

Digital tagging in fashion can improve transparency, help verify authenticity and make it easier to repair, resell or recycle products. However, a digital tag alone does not make a garment sustainable. The information must be accurate, accessible and supported by better design, responsible production and functioning circular systems.

Would access to a garment’s materials, origin and repair information influence what you buy? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Last updated: 15 July 2026, to reflect current developments in Digital Product Passports and EU circular-fashion regulation.

The article needs updating because Digital Product Passports are no longer merely an experimental idea. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation entered into force in July 2024, and the Commission’s 2025–2030 working plan lists textiles and apparel as a priority product group. The detailed textile rules are still being developed, with the relevant delegated act currently planned for 2027.

Information sourced on fashionunited.uk and weforum.org

Featured image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash