On 20 July 2026, the European Commission switched on the Digital Product Passport Registry. Enrolment opened the same day, alongside a testing environment where brands can practise before real deadlines hit.

For fashion, this is the moment DPPs stopped being a "next year" conversation. Here's what changed, without the jargon.

There's one Digital Product Passport requirement almost nobody in fashion is talking about. It doesn't sit on the care label, and it doesn't wait for the customer to scan a QR code. It sits on your product page, live before the sale happens.

The European Commission's textile apparel guidance states clearly that the DPP "will be accessible both in online points of sale and through a data carrier on the product itself, such as a QR code." That single line changes how brands need to think about DPP delivery.

The EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT) Directive takes effect on 27 September 2026. From that date, every fashion brand selling to EU consumers must back up its environmental claims with verifiable, documented evidence or remove them entirely.

This is not a future proposal. The EU adopted the ECGT as law in March 2024, and it now applies regardless of whether a brand operates from London, Lagos, or Los Angeles.

Fashion brands today face growing pressure to prove where products come from, who makes them, and how suppliers operate across the entire supply chain. Consumers now expect transparency, regulators demand stronger due diligence, and retailers increasingly want verified supplier data before entering partnerships. However, despite these expectations, many brands still only have visibility into their Tier 1 suppliers.