European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP’s) DigitX Innovation Hub has created a comprehensive plan for the digital transformation of the European textile and apparel industry and help European textile businesses become fit for the digital future, or risk losing them altogether.
The strategy identifies three converging pressures making digital transformation an existential necessity: the need for competitive agility in the face of ultra-fast global rivals; a wave of EU regulatory requirements including the Digital Product Passport and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive; and the structural data demands of circular and service-driven business models.
“Combining the physical world of fibres and textile machines with the digital world of bits and bytes and soft factors like creativity, hands-on expertise or consumer psychology with rational and precise data-driven decision making in complex fast-paced supply chains are not easy tasks,” Marina Crnoja-Cosic, President, Textile ETP said.
“But they must be undertaken, not only in the interest of greater competitiveness of the EU industry, but also to fully comply with a diverse set of upcoming EU regulations including the Digital Product Passport and to operate at a much higher level of sustainability and circularity in line with the vision of the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles,” she added.
The strategy charts a path toward a digitally integrated, transparent, and responsive European textile value network by 2035, built on four technology layers like data infrastructure, digitised hardware, interoperable software, and human-AI collaboration and four concrete innovation building blocks like Data Infrastructure, Digital Product Creation, Digital Production, and Digital Supply Chain.
The roadmap also presents ten recommendations to EU policy makers, with four identified as highest priority: explicitly linking sustainability regulation to digitalisation and competitiveness; mandating interoperability and open standards for publicly funded digital innovations; establishing and funding a European Textile Data Space with 500+ active participants by 2030; and funding the collaborative development of a harmonised Textile Data Ontology.
“The priority now should be implementation: making sure that digital solutions are accessible, affordable and relevant for companies on the ground. If Europe wants a competitive, circular and resilient textile and apparel ecosystem, digitalisation must become a practical enabler for industry, not an additional layer of complexity,” Mario Jorge Machado, President, EURATEX also said.
Finally, the strategy identifies five cross-cutting actions that no single stakeholder can accomplish alone: co-developing a European Textile Data Ontology; building shared digital fabric libraries; establishing end-to-end Digital Product Passport data flows; creating feedback loops between recyclers and designers; and developing a cross-border digital skills and talent pipeline.
Image courtesy: Brosan Textile
