Secured traceability implies not only the ability to identify, capture, and share required information on product transformation throughout the supply chain (SC), but also the ability to ensure the security of the traceability data. Due to information asymmetry and lack of transparency, textile and clothing (T&C) industries often face challenges in implementing and maintaining sufficient traceability. The SC actors find it difficult to identify and track the suppliers and sub-suppliers involved. Additionally, the opaque and largely untraceable structure of the SC has enabled the easy intrusion of counterfeits. Hence, a secured traceability system is imperative to ensure that the required traceability data are captured and shared among SC actors, thereby allowing the tracking and tracing of the products in the SC. Further, a secured traceability system helps organizations in various decision-making processes and protects customers from counterfeits. This thesis contributes to the development of a secured traceability system for the T&C sector. It examines traceability at product and information levels, based on the system-of systems approach. At the product level, the thesis introduces a secured traceability tag that can be printed on the textile surface. The secured tag is hard to copy and is durable enough to withstand normal textile use, thus providing sufficient security besides product tagging for traceability implementation. At the information level, the thesis explores and classifies traceability data that can be shared at business-to-business and business-to customer levels for the implementation of secured traceability. Subsequently, a block chain-based traceability framework is proposed for the T&C supply chain to systematically capture and share data in the supply chain network. The proposed framework demonstrates the applicability of shared data infrastructure to traceability without a central authority and develops technology-based trust among the supply chain actors. It relies on no central authority, and has customized data privacy and accessibility rules, thus providing a unique opportunity, flexibility, and authority to all supply chain actors to trace their supply chains and create transparent and sustainable supply chain networks.
Product security is one of the major concerns in the textile industry. Every year, fashion brands suffer significant loss due to counterfeit products. Addressing this, the paper introduces a secured tag for traceability and security of textile products. The proposed tag is unclonable, which can be manufactured using conventional screen-printing process. Further, it can be read using a smartphone camera to authenticate the product and trace its history. Consequently, imparting additional functionality to the textile through surface modification. To validate its applicability, the study experimentally investigates the durability and readability of the developed secured tag using three different binders on polyester and cotton textiles substrates. A comparison is presented with an in-depth analysis of surfaces and binders interaction at different stages of the secured tag lifecycle, i.e. before print, after print, after wash and after abrasion cycles. The methodology and findings of the study can also be useful for other manufacturing domains dealing with the printing process.
Textile and clothing industry is one of the oldest manufacturing industries and is a major contributor in the economic growth of developing countries. However, from past few decades, it has been criticised for its opaque, unsecured and untraceable nature of supply chain. Addressing these challenges, the paper proposes a system approach to introduce an item-centric secured traceability concept to monitor and control manufacturing processes and supply chain activities. In order to implement such secured traceability system, the paper describes the process for manufacturing, encoding and validating an innovative two-factor secured tag based on particle randomness that is printed on the surface of textile. Being micro-sized, the particles are easy to read and validate with pattern recognition. Further, as achieved through an uncontrolled manufacturing process, the randomness is unclonable to produce counterfeit tags. Furthermore, a sequence of experimental analyses has been conducted using various simulated scenarios to verify its applicability. A secured tag can be a low-cost and durable substitute for detachable, unsecured identifiers commercially available in the market.
Cryptographic tags are an important entity for tracking and authentication of a product in the today's global supply chain. They act as carriers which map the information with physical product. Further, their importance in Textile and Clothing industry has significantly enhanced due to increased counterfeit activities and complex supply-chain networks. In this context, this paper describes various existing cryptography methods and tags, scope for improvement and possible solutions for their use in Textile and Clothing supply-chain traceability.
This article introduces a random particle-based traceability tag for textiles. The proposed tag not only act as a unique signature for the corresponding textile product but also possess the features such as easy to manufacture and hard to copy. It seeks applications in brand authentication and traceability in textile and clothing (T&C) supply chain. A prototype has been developed by screen printing process, in which micron-scale particles were mixed with the printing paste and printed on cotton fabrics to attain required randomness. To encode the randomness, the image of the developed tag was taken and analyzed using image processing. The randomness of the particles acts as a product key or unique signature which is required to decode the tag. Finally, washing and abrasion resistance tests were conducted to check the durability of the printed tag.
Supply chain traceability has emerged as a prime requirement for multi-tier supply chains. It not only enables the supply chain visibility but also caters to the consumer requirements related to transparency, quality assurance, and production tracking. Nonwoven supply chain is one such example that particularly requires traceability implementation due to prevailing problems related to information asymmetry and complex supply chain networks. Conversely, it is challenging for supply chain partners to share all the competitive information in the unsecure environment. In this context, in line with Industry 4.0, this study investigates blockchain technology, which uses a shared and secured data infrastructure to keep track of information about assets and requires no central authority to function. It further proposes a blockchain-based traceability framework that explains supply chain partner interaction and network architecture at organizational level and smart contract and transaction validation rules at the operational level. In order to illustrate the application of the framework, the study presents an example of a nonwoven supply chain to track the nonwoven manufacturing and distribution processes. The proposed system can build a technology-based trust among the supply chain actors, where the distributed ledger would be used to store and authenticate of supply chain transactions.
Traceability has emerged as a prime requirement for a multi-tier and multi-site production. It enables visibility and caters to the consumer requirements of transparency and quality assurance. Textile and clothing industry is one such example that requires traceability implementation to address prevailing problems of information asymmetry and low visibility. Customers find it difficult to access product data that can facilitate ethical buying practices or assure product authenticity. Besides, it is challenging for stakeholders to share crucial information in an insecure environment with risk of data manipulations and fear of losing information advantage. In this context, this study investigates and proposes a blockchain-based traceability framework for traceability in multi-tier textile and clothing supply chain. It conceptualizes the interaction of supply chain partners, and related network architecture at the organizational level and smart contract and transaction validation rules at the operational level. To illustrate the application of the proposed framework, the study presents an example of organic cotton supply chain using blockchain with customized smart contract and transaction rules. It finally demonstrates the applicability of the developed blockchain by testing it under two parameters. The proposed system can build a technology-based trust among the supply chain partners, where the distributed ledger can be used to store and authenticate supply chain transactions. Further, the blockchain-based traceability system would provide a unique opportunity, flexibility, and authority to all partners to trace-back their supply network and create transparent and sustainable supply chain.
The study explores empirically the need and requirement of traceability system in Textile and Clothing (T&C) supply chain. A Delphi based survey was conducted with 28 supply chain experts (industry professionals and academicians) to collect qualitative and quantitative data in order to identify and prioritize various factors that influence traceability adoption in T&C supply chains. Based on these factors the study further explores, classifies and suggests information that can be recorded and shared for a complete traceability among T&C supply chain actors, both business-to-business and business-to-customers.
Information asymmetry and security are major challenges in multi-tier supply chains. Textile and clothing (T&C) supply chain is one such example significantly affected by these problems. Due to its complex and diverse nature, involved actors find it difficult to connect and secure each supply chain links. Exploiting this situation, a parallel counterfeit market is flourishing and gaining serious momentum. Due to this, T&C industries are suffering huge economic losses and job cuts. Additionally, owing to its opaque and untraceable supply chain, T&C industries have become a world of unethical practices. Secured traceability is an effective tool that has potentials to address these issues and make the T&C supply chain transparent and secured. It is a useful mechanism to track and trace products’ history, know about the manufacturing conditions and at the same time secure it from counterfeits and attacks targeting intellectual properties. In this context, the study conduct survey of supply chain experts to explore and rank the key technological requirements (based on the specific nature of the textile product) and traceability information that can be recorded and secured by a secured traceability system. Further, based on the findings of the survey a review of the literature was conducted to explore state of the art technologies to propose a primary secured traceability structure for the T&C supply chain.
Textile and clothing (T&C) industry is characterised by complex and extensive supply chain involving various stakeholders dealing with diverse raw materials. Owing to these complexities, the textile supply chain is facing numerous challenges like, counterfeit products, limited information sharing, ineffective recycling/reuse of textile products, unethical practices and interrupted information flow. As a result, a secured traceability system that can integrate the whole value chain, record, store, and track / trace all supply chain activities, make it more transparent and at the same time safeguard it from unauthorized access, has become a prime requirement for the T&C industry. In this context, the current study conducts a literature review to identify the generic requirements of traceability and in context of T&C closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). It further evaluates the role and key requisites of a cryptographic tag for textiles product, as an additional measures/parameter to secure the traceability system and prevent unauthorised access. Finally, the paper draws on key characteristics of such cryptographic tag for textile CLSC and lay down the tentative methodology that would be followed in the future research for development of a complete secure traceability system. It is anticipated that such secured traceability system can prevent counterfeits, data leakage, bring transparency and automate the reverse logistic process.
Blockchain has emerged as a prominent and reliable solution that can enable and ensure secure information sharing over wide area networks. In an era of digitalisation, blockchain technology is finding wide applications in multiple fields including implementing traceability in the supply chain. In this direction, this chapter explores its potential application in implementing a blockchain-based traceability system for textile and clothing (T&C) supply chain. It examines the necessity and concept of a traceability system, followed by enlisting advantages of blockchain technology for implementing traceability. Further, a case-based example has been used to explain blockchain application in implementing traceability in T&C supply chain. Finally, it mentions the challenges and limitations of such blockchain-based traceability system that can be addressed through further research.
Sustainability is a widely recognized concern and priority for healthy growth of the society and for preservation of the planet. Concerning this, textile sector has seen an unprecedented demand for sustainable products from the consumers, responding to which organizations have undertaken different initiatives. One of the major concerns in the textile sector is its complex supply chain networks and the involvement of numerous actors dealing with diverse raw materials and operations. The effective implementation of sustainability at the industrial scale would require the participation of all supply chain actors, along with an efficient traceability system to monitor and analyze different sustainability aspects. Furthermore, traceability is an integral part of the recycling process which contributes towards the sustainability. Therefore, the present article focuses on the contribution of traceable information towards attaining the sustainability in the textile sector. The three pillars of sustainability, namely, ecological, societal, and economic, are discussed for their relation and dependency on the traceability followed by an overview of the challenges in successful implementation of the traceability system, which is anticipated to shape the future research questions.
The fashion industry is often criticised for lack of traceability. This paper explores the implementation of traceability in the fashion supply chain using blockchain technology (BT). Using a demonstrative simulation we identify what are the sector-specific requirements, main procedures (i.e. smart-contract rules), and how to use them for BT-based traceability.