Partnership combines garment-to-fibre and fibre-to-nursey traceability solutions to achieve greater supply chain transparency
Vancouver, October 12, 2019 – Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) and technology company TrusTrace have announced plans to collaborate to support the traceability of viscose staple fibre (VSF) from seedling nurseries and plantations where raw materials are sourced, to the high street where garments containing the same fibre are sold to consumers.
Under the terms of the partnership, TrusTrace’s T-Trace module will be integrated with APR’s Follow the Fibre platform to give TrusTrace customers the ability to trace viscose fibre back to the nursery. This integration will also enable APR to provide spinners, fabric production units, brands and consumers supply chain transparency for garments made with its fibre.
APR’s Follow Our Fibre platform provides traceability and transparency across its production value chain from seedling to VSF. The platform uses enterprise blockchain technology to enable customers to trace finished products back to their plantation forest origins on a smartphone app.
APR and TrusTrace will combine data from the Follow Our Fibre platform with the product data from brands using the TrusTrace platform to enhance supply chain traceability overall.
The TrusTrace platform is similarly powered by blockchain and designed specifically for the fashion sector. It maps the garment value chain from the garment to the fibre stage. It also creates supply chain visualizations mapped with verified supplier data. Its data dashboards help brands undertake risk analysis and improve sustainability across their entire supply chain.
Cherie Tan, Vice President, Sustainability and Communications, Asia Pacific Rayon, said: “The fashion industry and its suppliers are under increasing scrutiny from consumers who are demanding more transparency. It is only by connecting the different links in the supply chain and reporting on key sustainability metrics that transformation is can happen.”
“This requires collaboration across the entire supply chain from seed to garment,” she added. “The partnership between APR and TrusTrace will help harness the potential of blockchain to bridge data across multiple platforms so that we can find out where raw materials are sourced, how they are used in manufacturing and the impact across every step of the supply chain.”
Saravanan, Co-Founder and COO of TrusTrace said: “We see tremendous potential in integrating our garment-to-fibre traceability solutions with APR’s fibre-to-nursey traceability, as this provides complete visibility on the value chain for the customers.”
“This integration enables the consumer buying a garment with APR rayon to scan a QR code on the garment and see detailed information about the various production stages, how the fibre is produced, spun, woven and knitted before it finally reaches them,” he added.
APR’s Follow Our Fibre app allows APR customers to scan the barcode on a bale of fibre and see detailed information on where the individual bales were produced and how they were shipped. Data is gathered at each stage of the value chain using integrated software tracking programs. The data is then uploaded to a blockchain ledger making it easy to share and integrate into other systems.
About Asia Pacific Rayon:
APR, the first integrated viscose-rayon manufacturer in Asia, commenced operations earlier this year and has a production capacity of 240,000 tonnes a year. Located in Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau province, APR’s wood fibre comes from sustainably-managed plantations that are traceable along the entire value chain from nursery to viscose-rayon.
About TrusTrace:
TrusTrace is a Stockholm based Blockchain-powered fashion industry-focused solution platform that helps Brands, Retailers & Suppliers with Supply Chain Traceability and Transparency across the globe. TrusTrace has been working in the fashion industry from the last 3 years with one main goal i.e. to create a sustainable impact and assist the fashion ecosystem with solutions that help global brands in reducing the emission and carbon footprint using traceability as a primary tool. TrusTrace is currently working with 20 brands across Europe and 1600+ of its suppliers globally.
Media Contact:
Nenda Pratiwie
Corporate Communications, Asia Pacific Rayon
Ms. Keerthi Abirami
Communication, TrusTrace
