Digital Product Passport
Digital Product Passport (DPP): what it is and what EU businesses need to know
What a Digital Product Passport is, how DPP works in the EU, and what fashion businesses can prepare now for future product requirements.
Digital Product Passport (DPP): what it is and what EU businesses need to know
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is digital information linked to a physical product through a unique identifier and a data carrier. The QR code, NFC tag or other compatible carrier is not the passport itself: it is the key that opens access to the data connected to that specific product. For fashion businesses, the useful step today is not to buy “DPP QR codes”, but to understand where product, material, supplier and manufacturing data is stored and how easily it can be collected.
How a Digital Product Passport works
Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, or ESPR, the physical means used to access the passport is called a data carrier. It connects the product to a persistent unique product identifier. The applicable delegated act for a product group is expected to specify the carrier, its placement and whether the passport is created at model, batch or item level.
In simple terms:
Product → unique identifier and data carrier → scan or read → Digital Product Passport → access to permitted product information
The carrier does not need to contain the full passport. It can resolve to a digital system where the relevant data is linked to the product and made available according to access rights.
Where product data comes from
Information about one product is usually distributed across several actors. A fabric or leather supplier may hold material composition and characteristics, a component supplier may hold data about zips, buttons or hardware, a factory may hold production information, while the brand manages the model, SKU, images, care instructions and commercial data.
For footwear, bags and accessories, the structure can be even more complex because one product may combine multiple materials, linings, soles, adhesives, metal components and replaceable parts.
More information may appear later in the product lifecycle: professional care, repair, resale, alterations, sorting or recycling. That does not mean every lifecycle event automatically becomes part of the regulated DPP or must be visible to everyone.
Fiorgo is therefore being designed as a data system rather than a page behind a QR code: the regulated DPP layer is kept separate from additional lifecycle capabilities for care, repair, resale and other use cases.
Who creates the DPP and how to choose a service
The EU sets the common Digital Product Passport framework, but a DPP is not one central European database containing all information about every product. The European Commission describes the DPP ecosystem as decentralised, with product data made accessible to relevant actors according to their rights.
The responsible economic operator can organise the technical implementation or work with a DPP service provider. When comparing services, the useful questions are therefore not only who can generate a QR code, but how the system handles identifiers, data portability, access rights, updates and interoperability.
What the EU framework already requires
Under Articles 9–11 of the ESPR, the DPP architecture must, among other things:
- connect the passport to a persistent unique product identifier through a data carrier;
- support interoperability and data transfer;
- provide access to different actors according to their access rights;
- ensure data authentication, reliability, integrity, security and privacy;
- apply the requirements defined for the relevant product group once the applicable EU act is adopted.
What Fiorgo adds on top
Beyond the regulated layer, Fiorgo is being designed to support optional lifecycle use cases where they are useful and permitted:
- professional care and cleaning;
- repair and records of replaced components;
- resale and transfer scenarios without unnecessary disclosure of personal data;
- alterations and product transformation;
- data that may support sorting, circular lifecycle processes and recycling;
- reuse of data that has already been collected and verified.
These capabilities do not replace the mandatory DPP and do not mean that every lifecycle data point is automatically a regulatory requirement.
What about certification of DPP service providers?
As of 15 September 2026, it would be inaccurate to say that every DPP provider must already hold one universal “EU certificate”. Article 11 of the ESPR empowers the European Commission to set requirements for DPP service providers and, where appropriate, introduce a certification scheme. Provider requirements therefore need to be checked against the acts that are actually in force at the time.
What is already in force and what is still pending for textiles
The basic legal framework for Digital Product Passports is already established by the ESPR. The European Commission launched the DPP Registry on 20 July 2026. The Commission also makes clear that product data remains decentralised, while the Registry is used for unique product identifiers and associated metadata.
For apparel and textiles, the final mandatory DPP dataset is not yet one universal list of fields that applies automatically to every fashion category. Specific requirements must come from the applicable acts for each product group. Businesses should therefore be cautious about claims that a fashion DPP is already “final” as if all future mandatory fields were known.
What fashion brands can do now
The most useful preparation is to understand where your product data lives and how easily it can be collected. It may be spread across supplier emails, factory PDFs, certificates, shared drives, PIM, PLM, ERP systems and product pages.
Start with one real product and review:
- model and SKU data;
- materials and composition;
- components and hardware;
- manufacturer and production information;
- care instructions;
- documents and sources that support the data;
- missing information that still needs to be requested from a supplier or factory.
If you already use a PIM, PLM or ERP, there is no need to start again. The task is to reuse existing information, identify gaps and understand which data must come from other actors in the supply chain.
Fiorgo free DPP pilot for fashion businesses
We are inviting a limited number of fashion brands and manufacturers of apparel, textiles, footwear, bags and accessories to join Fiorgo’s early pilot.
To participate, choose one real product and provide the information and documents your company already has. You do not need to prepare a special dataset for Fiorgo.
What you receive
- A one-product data review. We assess what data exists, where it is stored and where it comes from.
- A DPP Data Gap Map. We identify missing information, data that needs verification and the supply-chain actor most likely to hold it.
- A Digital Product Passport data structure. We organise the data currently available into a structured working view.
- A scaling-risk map. We highlight processes that may become difficult when moving from one product to a collection or catalogue.
- Priority access to Fiorgo Early Access. Pilot participants can test future working versions earlier and help shape product priorities.
Pilot conditions
The pilot is free for selected participants and does not create an obligation to purchase Fiorgo later. Company source data remains the company’s data.
The pilot is not a formal DPP-ready certification and does not guarantee compliance with future EU requirements that have not yet been adopted for a specific product category. We distinguish between rules that are already in force and requirements that will be defined by future acts.
Start with one product
If you want to understand how ready your real product data is for DPP and where scaling problems may appear, apply for Fiorgo’s free early DPP pilot.