What the EU Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR) means for textile and apparel suppliers in India and other countries, and how to prepare before your buyers ask.
Most material on the Digital Product Passport is written for European brands. This guide looks at the same regulation from the other end of the supply chain: the factory that must provide the facts behind the passport. It explains what the DPP is, why it reaches suppliers and when it is expected to apply, covers the data buyers will ask for, and ends with a readiness self-check, a 90-day starter plan and the mistakes to avoid.
Legally, the obligation to make a passport available sits with the business that places the product on the EU market, usually the EU importer or brand. But the passport is written in your supply chain: fibre composition, processing locations, chemical treatments and recycled content all come from the mills and factories that made the product. Expect EU buyers to pass the requirement down through supplier codes of conduct, onboarding questionnaires and purchase order terms.
ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, entered into force on 18 July 2024, and textiles and apparel are a priority product group. The textile delegated act that sets the exact data, format and scope is expected in 2027, and delegated acts usually allow around 18 months between adoption and application. For most exporters, the practical deadline is when their largest EU buyer starts asking.
Expect questions on product identity, materials and fibre composition, recycled and certified content, origin and processing, substances and chemicals, durability and care, repair and end of life, environmental performance, and compliance documents. Passport-ready data is linked to a specific product or batch, backed by evidence, structured, traceable upstream and kept current.
No. Passport data has access levels: consumers see public information, while authorities and certain businesses, such as recyclers, can access more detailed information. Commercially sensitive data can be restricted, so agree with your buyers what is shared publicly and what stays restricted.
No. ESPR requires passports to be interoperable and requires passport data to be accurate, reliable and protected against unauthorised change, but it does not require any particular technology. Blockchain-based systems are one practical way to meet these requirements because they create a tamper-evident record of who added what data and when. That is the approach StableDPP takes.
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