CETI, Security Matters launch traceability tool for fashion materials

Fashion’s next sustainability claim may need to be provable in the cloth itself. Security Matters and CETI have introduced a traceability tool for nonwoven and fiber materials that embeds audit-proof tracking directly into the material, giving brands a way to verify origin, recycled content and sourcing without relying only on paper records.

The pitch is simple and sharp: a permanent chemical marker is built into the fiber, then read by detector devices and connected to a secure, blockchain-enabled digital platform for real-time authentication at each stage of production. That means a garment or textile can be traced from raw input to end-of-life with data that travels with the material, not just the invoice. CETI independently validates the data and adds post-processing detection, a crucial step when fabrics move through industrial processes that can blur the trail.

For a market under heavier scrutiny, the timing matters. The European Union’s Digital Product Passport framework is expected to become mandatory in 2027 for certain products, and the scannable code tied to that passport is meant to spell out sustainability, material makeup and repair information. In plain terms, brands will have to do more than say a jacket contains recycled content or that a lining was sourced responsibly. They will need to show it. SMX and CETI say their system is built to help companies meet those obligations without disrupting existing production lines.

That is where the technology feels most fashion-relevant, not abstract. WWD reported that SMX has already deployed its tracing system across fashion and textile supply chains, including lambskin, where it has been used to verify ethical sourcing from ESG-certified farms. Zeren Browne, SMX’s chief strategic officer and board member, described the embedded "memory" in the skin itself in 2024, a phrase that captures the appeal neatly: the proof lives in the material, not in a marketing deck.

The collaboration did not begin here. In September 2025, SMX and CETI launched an industrial validation program to bring molecular traceability to fashion, apparel and technical textiles across Europe by integrating SMX’s blockchain-based tracing into CETI’s pilot lines and industrial demonstrators. CETI, based in Lille, opened in October 2012 and has built its reputation as a textile R&D center focused on innovation, recycling, testing, prototyping and industrial transfer.

For brands, the value is bigger than compliance theater. A system that can verify recycled content, reduce fraud risk, improve sorting for higher-value recycling outcomes and speed up audits offers something the industry has been missing: a cleaner way to prove what a fabric really is, long after the hangtag is gone.