TrusTrace and Impetus Group: Uncovering Hidden Environmental Impacts Across Fashion Supply Chains

We speak with TrusTrace and Impetus Group about the importance of primary, process-level data in fashion supply chains, how greater transparency is revealing previously overlooked environmental hotspots, and why standardised data sharing is becoming essential for sustainability, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance.

As sustainability expectations continue to rise across the fashion industry, brands are under increasing pressure to understand and reduce the environmental impact of their products.

Whilst much of the focus has traditionally been placed on raw material sourcing, growing evidence suggests that some of the most significant environmental impacts occur deeper within manufacturing processes, where limited visibility and reliance on industry averages can obscure critical opportunities for improvement.

At the same time, evolving regulations, including Digital Product Passports and corporate sustainability reporting requirements, are driving demand for more accurate, traceable, and product-specific environmental data.

For many organisations, this has exposed the limitations of traditional measurement frameworks, which often rely on fragmented information and generalised datasets that fail to capture the realities of production at a process level.

By combining detailed manufacturing insights with scalable supply chain transparency, Impetus Group and TrusTrace are helping organisations move beyond estimates and assumptions toward a more comprehensive understanding of environmental impact.

Through the collection, verification, and standardisation of primary data, brands can identify hidden inefficiencies, improve resource utilisation, strengthen supplier collaboration, and make more informed sustainability decisions.

We speak with Tércio Pinto, Board Member, Impetus Group, and Shameek Ghosh, Co-Founder and CEO, TrusTrace, who discuss how greater visibility into manufacturing operations is reshaping environmental measurement and enabling a more data-driven approach to sustainable supply chain management.

• New data from Impetus Group highlights a blind spot in how environmental impact is measured across fashion supply chains. Why do you think manufacturing-stage impacts, particularly in processes like finishing, are so often underrepresented in reporting?

Sustainability reporting has historically relied on industry averages and modeled datasets, which tend to emphasize upstream raw material impacts while providing less visibility into what is actually happening during manufacturing.

Finishing is a good example. It is one of the most resource-intensive stages in textile production, often involving significant energy, water, heat, and chemical use, yet many companies lack the process-level data needed to accurately measure it. As a result, those impacts are frequently generalised or underestimated.

What Impetus’s work demonstrates is that once you begin collecting primary data directly from production facilities, a very different picture can emerge. In this case, finishing represented the largest share of climate impact within Impetus-controlled manufacturing stages and accounted for roughly 75 percent of water consumption within those operations.

It reinforces the idea that environmental hotspots depend heavily on system boundaries and data quality. The more granular and process-specific the data becomes, the clearer it is that some of the biggest opportunities for improvement sit inside manufacturing itself, not just at the raw material level.

• The data shows that finishing accounts for the largest share of climate impact within Impetus-controlled stages, as well as 75 percent of water consumption. What does this reveal about where brands and manufacturers should be focusing their sustainability and efficiency efforts?

The findings suggest that many of the most meaningful and actionable sustainability gains are likely sitting inside manufacturing operations that companies can directly influence.

Raw material sourcing remains critically important, but manufacturing stages like finishing represent an area where operational changes can drive immediate reductions in energy use, water consumption, and chemical intensity. That includes everything from process optimisation and heat recovery to chemistry selection, renewable energy integration, and reducing unnecessary washing or dyeing steps.

What’s especially important is that these opportunities often remain invisible when companies rely solely on secondary datasets or generalised industry benchmarks. Primary production data makes it possible to identify which specific processes are driving impact and prioritise interventions accordingly.

The Impetus study also highlights how product and process design decisions can materially change outcomes. For example, the Revive product avoided conventional dyeing processes altogether by using pre-colored recycled fibres, significantly reducing additional water, chemical, and energy demand associated with achieving a comparable appearance.

Brands that are working toward connecting this kind of primary manufacturing data to their broader supply chain programmes will be far better positioned to act on these insights,  and to demonstrate credible progress to regulators and customers alike.

• Many of the most actionable opportunities to reduce waste and improve resource utilisation sit within less visible production stages. How can companies begin to uncover and address these hidden inefficiencies more effectively?

Companies need to move from assumptions and averages to primary data gathered at the process level. In fashion, many sustainability decisions are still based on broad material-level estimates, but the Impetus data shows that important opportunities can sit deeper in the production process, especially in stages like finishing, where water, energy, and chemicals are used heavily.

For Impetus, the first step has been measuring actual inputs and outputs across the production process, including energy use, water consumption, chemical inputs, waste flows, and process losses. That level of visibility makes it possible to identify where resources are being overused, where waste can be reintegrated, and where changes to materials or processes can deliver measurable impact.

The key is not only collecting the data, but making it usable. When suppliers can capture accurate production data, and brands can connect that data to specific products, companies can move from generic sustainability targets to targeted interventions. That is where the biggest efficiency gains often become visible. It also means that suppliers only need to submit information once and update it only if there are material changes to the impact –  that data can then flow across programs and regulations without duplicating the burden on production teams.

• TrusTrace works closely with brands to improve supply chain transparency. How is greater access to primary, process-level data changing the way organisations measure environmental impact and make operational decisions?

Greater access to primary, process-level data is changing impact measurement from a reporting exercise into an operational tool. Instead of relying solely on supplier declarations, certifications, or industry averages, brands can begin to understand the actual environmental impact of a product based on how it was made, where it was made, and which processes it moved through.

That matters because environmental hotspots can shift depending on the system boundary. In the Impetus LCA, primary data covered approximately 90% of the product system, which made it possible to identify specific contributors such as cotton cultivation, knit finishing, and spinning rather than treating the product as a single average footprint. The study found that cotton cultivation remained the largest overall contributor, while knit finishing and spinning were also significant contributors to climate impact.

For TrusTrace, the value lies in turning fragmented supplier and manufacturing data into an operational foundation brands can actually use. Once primary data is verified and mapped to product and supplier records, brands can apply that data directly to compliance, sourcing, supplier engagement, design, and risk decisions.

With over 112,000 suppliers active across more than 80 countries on the platform, the ability to structure and standardise data at scale is what makes these operational insights actionable rather than theoretical.

• As system boundaries shift, so too do perceptions of where the biggest environmental hotspots lie. How important is it for companies to rethink traditional measurement frameworks to gain a more accurate, end-to-end view of impact?

It is critical. Traditional measurement frameworks often give companies a partial view of impact, especially if they focus too narrowly on raw materials or rely too heavily on generic datasets. Materials matter, but they are only one part of the picture. The way a product is spun, finished, dyed, transported, cut, sewn, and packaged can significantly change its overall footprint.

The Impetus study shows why system boundaries matter. Across the full cradle-to-gate assessment, cotton cultivation was the largest contributor to water consumption and land use. Within manufacturing, stages such as knit finishing and spinning emerged as major climate-impact contributors. Knit finishing alone accounted for 24.1% of climate change impact in the study.

For companies, the implication is that sustainability strategies cannot stop at fiber choice. A more accurate view requires connecting material data with process-level manufacturing data, logistics data, and, eventually, use and end-of-life data. Without that broader view, brands risk missing the areas where they have the greatest ability to act.

• Both Impetus Group and TrusTrace emphasise the role of standardised data sharing across supply chain tiers. How is this improving coordination between brands and suppliers, and what are the implications for compliance with regulations such as Digital Product Passports and CSRD?

For suppliers like Impetus, primary data helps show what is actually happening in production, from water and energy use to waste recovery and finishing impacts. For brands, platforms like TrusTrace connect verified data across programmes, products, and supplier networks so it can power compliance, product claims, sourcing decisions, supplier engagement, and regulatory reporting simultaneously.

When verified primary data is standardised across programmes, brands can reuse the same supplier information across compliance, reporting, and sourcing workflows instead of repeatedly collecting it for separate requirements. This helps transform fragmented data collection into a single operational backbone that supports every programme they run.

Regulatory expectations are also evolving quickly toward more traceable, product-specific, and defensible data. Standardised data sharing helps close the gap between what suppliers know, what brands need to disclose, and what regulators increasingly expect across modern supply chains.