New digital care label offers supply chain traceability

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Materials science and manufacturing company Avery Dennison has partnered with textile waste recycling specialist Ambercycle to launch an intelligent digital care label solution.

digital care label

The care labels, which will be attached to Ambercycle’s garments, feature a QR code that links to an app offering product details such as how the garment was produced, how it should be looked after and its material composition.

Ambercycle converts end-of-life textile waste into new yarns for apparel brands and manufacturers. Its garments are created from polyester textiles destined for landfill, which instead are broken down to a molecular level, turned into pellets and spun into Cycora yarns which can be processed by garment manufacturers in the same way as virgin yarns.

“A key concern in this process is the upfront identification and sorting the different types of fabrics to inform the best end-of-life solutions,” said Shay Sethi, CEO of Ambercycle. “A digital care label is essential to embracing the broader vision for circularity, as it enables a more streamlined and scalable way for us to regenerate material.”

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Powered by Avery Dennison’s data platform, the app works with the label to provide traceability and transparency across the supply chain by providing important information to recyclers and resellers in addition to consumers.

All garments sold must legally have a physical care and content label communicating product information, however this is often removed by consumers which increases the products’ risk of ending up in landfill rather than being resold or recycled. 

The two companies believe that the new label will help to advance the circular economy, as recyclers and resellers can use the digital label to be confident of the item’s composition and authenticity.

Sarah Swenson, global sustainability manager at Avery Dennison RBIS described the labels as an ‘exciting development’, commenting: “Brands can benefit from access to a deeper level of data both in terms of shopper engagement and also understanding just how many items remain in the circular economy.”