The European Union’s Digital Product Passport: What Suppliers, Brands, and Retailers Need to Know

Article key points: 

• The European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) is part of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and aims to enhance transparency and sustainability in product lifecycles.
• By 2027, many product categories, including textiles, will be required to have a “basic” DPP, which must include product information, lifecycle details, repairability options, and environmental metrics.
• The DPP applies to products sold in the EU, regardless of where they are manufactured, with initial focus on batteries, textiles, and consumer electronics.
• Companies face challenges in DPP compliance, including collecting comprehensive and accurate supply chain data, protecting proprietary information, and making significant technological investments.
• Brands shouldn’t wait to prepare; instead standardize product records and improve workflows now to get ready
• Despite challenges, the DPP can enhance sustainability, build consumer trust, and foster collaboration among supply chain partners, offering long-term competitive advantages.

Introduction to the Digital Product Passport

The EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) is part of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and is intended to increase transparency and circularity across product lifecycles. For textiles and apparel specifically, the most important thing to know today is that the ESPR delegated act that will define the DPP requirements for this category has not yet been drafted—meaning many of the most consequential details (data fields, technical standards, system interoperability requirements, and verification expectations) are still being developed.

That uncertainty doesn’t mean companies should wait to prepare. It means the best step to take right now is to build strong data foundations—structured product, material, and supplier data—so your organization can adapt quickly once the EU publishes category-specific requirements.

Unlike the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), which is a standardized method for measuring and verifying the environmental impact of products across their entire lifecycle, the DPP is a way to communicate each physical product’s impact data in a way that’s transparent and accessible to brands, suppliers, consumers, regulators, recyclers, and any other stakeholders. 

Read on to learn the basics of the DPP and what brands, retailers, suppliers, and consumers need to know about it. 

Key components of the EU’s Digital Product Passport

In practice, organizations use “DPP” to mean different things—everything from a digital product record or QR-code experience to a full regulatory compliance system. ESPR-compliant DPP requirements will be defined through delegated acts, so it’s important to separate:

• Regulatory DPP readiness: building the data systems and governance needed to meet future ESPR requirements; and
• Digital transparency experiences: consumer- or partner-facing ways of sharing product information that may or may not align with future regulation.

This article focuses on the first: what brands, retailers, and suppliers can do today to prepare for the regulatory direction of travel.

What DPPs are expected to include (at a high level)

While the exact DPP content for textiles will be defined in a future ESPR delegated act, DPPs are broadly intended to provide a digital record that supports transparency, circularity, and market surveillance across a product’s lifecycle. At a high level, future DPP requirements are expected to draw from:

• Product identity and basic attributes (e.g., name/model and identifiers)
• Material composition and origin
• Supply chain and facility-related information (as required and permitted under the final rules)
• Circularity information such as repair, care, and end-of-life guidance
• Environmental indicators, which may be informed by recognized product impact methodologies as requirements mature

The format and access mechanism (e.g., a digital link/identifier that can be retrieved via a tag or code) will be specified in category rules and technical requirements as they are finalized.

What DPP applies to (what’s stable vs. what’s still evolving)

The DPP is an EU market requirement: It will apply to products placed on the EU market, regardless of where they are manufactured. For textiles and apparel, the practical details—scope, phased timing, and specific reporting requirements—will be set through the category delegated act under ESPR.

Because the delegated act for textiles has not yet been drafted, companies should treat any highly specific timeline or “required fields list” as provisional. The safest path is to prepare the underlying data systems so your organization can align quickly once final requirements are published.

DPP compliance challenges: data collection, technology, and implementation barriers

The hardest part of DPP readiness is not the “passport interface”—it’s the underlying data infrastructure. Most organizations are not currently set up to consistently capture, validate, and maintain product-level information across multi-tier supply chains. Common readiness challenges include:

• Data completeness: product records and BOMs that are not consistently structured across categories, seasons, or suppliers
  
• Verification: difficulty linking product data to verified supplier and facility information
  
• Data governance: unclear ownership across functions (sustainability, sourcing, product, compliance, IT)
• Sensitivity and access control: balancing transparency with protection of proprietary business information
• Scalability: moving from one-off reporting to systematized processes that can support thousands of SKUs and frequent updates

Despite these challenges, many businesses are finding that DPP implementation offers an opportunity to improve their overall sustainability profile and supply chain management practices, potentially creating long-term competitive advantages like greater supply chain resilience and the ability to do business in more markets around the world by proactively complying with regulations. 

Organizations that treat DPP readiness as a data program—rather than a one-time compliance project—will be best positioned as requirements mature.

What brands, retailers, and suppliers should do now

Even without finalized category rules, companies can take meaningful steps today to prepare for DPP by strengthening the data foundation that any future DPP will rely on:

1. Standardize product identity and records — ensure consistent identifiers and structured product attributes across systems
2. Strengthen BOM quality and material composition data — accurate composition, origin, and recycled content information at the product level
3. Link products to suppliers and facilities — build the ability to connect product records to supplier and facility information, including verified primary data where available
4. Improve traceability workflows — create repeatable processes for collecting and refreshing supplier-provided data across tiers
5. Establish governance — define who owns data quality, review processes, and change management as requirements evolve

These steps reduce future rework and enable faster alignment once the textiles delegated act clarifies DPP requirements.

DPP benefits: sustainability advantages and business opportunities for brands, retailers, and suppliers

Beyond compliance, DPP-aligned data programs can improve supply chain resilience, reduce operational friction across reporting initiatives, and strengthen internal decision-making on materials and sourcing.

The DPP represents a significant opportunity for brands, retailers, and suppliers to advance their sustainability efforts in meaningful ways. It also advances other business-critical priorities like increasing supply chain resilience and regulatory compliance. 

The level of visibility into supply chain data that the DPP requires can also foster collaboration among supply chain partners. When everyone from raw material suppliers to manufacturers to retailers can access the same environmental impact data, they can work together more effectively to reduce the overall footprint of their products and make more informed decisions to improve their business. This collaborative approach is essential for meeting the EU’s broader sustainability objectives.

The DPP also serves as a powerful tool for building consumer trust. By providing clear, accessible information about the environmental impact of their products, companies demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices. This transparency can strengthen brand reputation and create stronger connections with environmentally conscious consumers, who increasingly base their purchasing decisions on sustainability factors.

Get ahead of DPP data collection with Worldly

Worldly is the exclusive technology platform of the Higg Index suite of social and environmental assessment tools. Our customers span from global brands and retailers to Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers, and beyond. With Worldly, brands, retailers, and suppliers can calculate product environmental impacts at scale, track and analyze their supply chain data for business resilience intelligence, regulatory compliance, environmental footprint, human and labor conditions, and more. Learn how you can tap into your supply chain data to prepare for oncoming regulations like the EU Digital Product Passport with Worldly. 

Prepare your data foundation for DPP with Worldly

As DPP requirements for textiles take shape under ESPR, the organizations that will move fastest are those that already have structured, connected product and supply chain data. Worldly helps brands and retailers build that foundation by connecting product, material, and supplier information—including verified primary data from tools like Higg FEM—so teams can identify impact hotspots, scale reporting, and strengthen their primary data systems as regulations evolve.

If you’re evaluating what DPP readiness could look like for your organization, the Product Impact Calculator is worth exploring as a way to consolidate and operationalize the product data that future requirements will depend on.