Haelixa, a DNA traceability solution, has announced a collaboration with UPW, the design led luxury and sustainable yarn manufacturer based in Hong Kong. Starting with the Fall-Winter 2022 collection, the entire stock service UPW yarn collection will be marked and traced by Haelixa.
Traceability to create supply chain transparency, to prove product origin and to support sustainability claims is not a topic that is relevant only for brands and retailers, Haelixa says. Manufacturers like UPW also see a clear competitive advantage in making their products traceable to prove product authenticity and integrity to their customers. The clear benefit of physical traceability is that the information about the product origin, the different suppliers involved, and related standards applied, is safely embedded into the product itself during its entire journey along the value chain.
Haelixa marks the fibres at the dyeing and spinning facilities of UPW in Dongguan with a unique marker that is specifically developed for UPW. The marker is invisible to the naked eye and does not affect product properties such as quality in any way. It is also harmless for humans and the environment, GMO-free, vegan, GOTS and Oekotex Standard 100 compliant. This is an important factor to UPW to ensure highest social and environmental standards for their products.
To verify and authenticate UPW products Haelixa takes control samples from the finished product and a simple DNA test provides forensic proof that the product is what it is claimed to be – a high quality UPW yarn dyed and spun in Dongguan.
The principle of the verification test is a ‘key-lock system’, meaning that the DNA sequence needs to be known to be read out, which makes it impossible to replicate and to be used in an unauthorised way.
Kwan Lieu, Marketing and Sustainability Manager at UPW, comments: “It’s important for brands to have visibility into their supply chain and our aim is to provide confidence and reassurance that the production of their knitwear, aligns with their brand values – which is why we have partnered with Haelixa. UPW’s entire Fall Winter 2022 collection is coated with Haelixa’s DNA marker. This physical tracer makes it possible for retailers and brands at any point along the supply chain to verify if the yarns came from UPW’s certified mills. This is key to mitigating risk in the supply chain. UPW’s on- demand traceable knitwear yarns are also carried in stock for fast sampling with no MOQs, bringing accessibility to retailers, brands, and independent designers alike – because a sustainable future, is transparent and inclusive.”
Gediminas Mikutis, Co-Founder and CTO of Haelixa comments on the cooperation: “Transparency and traceability are the necessary basis for ensuring sustainability claims across the textile value chain. We at Haelixa are very proud of the partnership with UPW because of the efforts they put into sourcing sustainable materials to produce yarns with both the exceptional quality and true commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. The Haelixa traceability solution implemented across the complete ECO PLUS collection (75 different blends) will enable UPW’s customers to verify the material origin and integrity at any point of the value chain. This is a large step towards scaling traceability to every sustainable fibre.”
Haelixa Ltd. pioneers the development and commercialisation of disruptive product traceability solutions to ensure full end-to-end supply-chain consumer good traceability, with special focus on sustainable and ethically manufactured products, such as organic textiles and conflict-free minerals. Haelixa marking technology is based on DNA markers, which are physically applied to the material and stay linked to it, providing a traceable physical fingerprint from producer to retail.
UPW is amongst the largest woollen spinners in the world, specializing in design-led, sustainable yarns. The collection comprises of woollen-spun, semi-worsted and fancy twisted yarns offered in 3000+ colours, all held in stock and available on-demand for fast sampling. UPW ECO PLUS+ scales the adoption of premium certified raw materials, with this collection using 100% sustainable cotton, 100% responsible wool, and the collection is 100% traceable back to the country of origin and is 100% traceable back to UPW’s certified mills.
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