Avery Dennison Launches Digital Product Passport as a Service with Burton Snowboards
Avery Dennison on Monday announced the launch of its Digital Product Passport as a Service (DPPaaS), which it says will help brands prepare for forthcoming sustainability legislation in the E.U. and beyond.
Burton Snowboards, the Vermont-based outdoor lifestyle brand selling men’s, women’s and kids’ winter apparel, snowboard boots, accessories and more, is the first to adopt the on-demand, end-to-end service comprised of software, hardware, digital ID technology, physical labels and support services, according to Ohio’s Avery Dennison.
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The platform will integrate with Avery Dennison’s existing solution portfolio, including intelligent labeling and its Adidas-approved Atma.io connected product cloud platform, which will help collect and share product lifecycle data, including recyclability or reuse attributes.
The comprehensive suite of tools will help brands prepare for the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which includes provisions related to Digital Product Passports (DPP), said Avery Dennison. The rules have implications for sectors including apparel and textiles when it takes effect in 2027.
Avery Dennison has taken an advisory role to the Commission as an associate member of the Collaborative Initiative for a Standards-based Digital Product Passport for Stakeholder-Specific Sharing of Product Data for a Circular Economy (CIRPASS) consortium, which includes digital solutions providers and industry groups.
Avery Dennison said serving on the CIRPASS consortium has given it insight into the challenges presented by the legislation and the types of solutions that brands will need to ensure compliance in the years ahead. This summer, Avery Dennison launched a digital care label solution in collaboration with Swiss performance brand Swijin, which will be embedded in the company’s garments. What’s more, Atma.io’s tracking of 30 billion items across global supply chains will feed intel on carbon footprints, material origins, re-use protocol and more into the DPP.
Burton, already familiar with Avery Dennison’s RFID technology, has partnered with the firm for four years. “Piloting DPPaaS will provide us with new ways to showcase our brand values and engage with our customers,” chief product officer Chris Cunningham said. “For instance, we will help customers learn about our product’s verifiable sustainability stories and share transparency data with them.”
Cunningham said Burton’s future product collections would feature interactive QR codes and digital care labels powered by Atma.io. These products will provide consumers with information about product use as well as end-of-life instructions. “Longer term, utilizing a combination of on-product digital identities and the Atma.io connected product cloud will provide us with the insights we need to take pre-emptive action based on supply chain events and real-time data so we can eliminate waste, promote circularity and boost our sustainability credentials further,” he added.
Jake Hanover, director of digital and apparel solutions at Avery Dennison, said that while the introduction of DPPs “may seem like a long way off,” compliance with the E.U. law will require many companies to undergo a digital transformation. “It’s important brands follow Burton’s lead and start planning now,” he said.
“DPPaaS can accelerate this process by providing organizations with the platform, digital identifications solutions, and expertise they need to capture the key metrics required for compliance, including details on how products can be reused so they can be given a second or third life,” Winograd added.
