DNA traceability test proves 100% accurate
Swiss technology provider Haelixa has completed an initial traceability project with Pakistan-based yarn-to-garment denim producer Diamond Denim.
Haelixa offers a traceability solution based on DNA, in this case the DNA of the cotton Diamond Denim used to make a collection of jeans. It sets up DNA markers and can use them to identify a specific brand, supplier, collection, production lot or material type.
This identifaction of material type includes distinguishing between recycled and non-recycled fibre, something Haelixa believes will become crucial as “more and more false claims relating to recycling” emerge.
Unlike in paper-based or blockchain systems, Haelixa’s system means “the product information is never separated from the product itself”, the Swiss company has said. Because it’s based on DNA, the “chain of custody” is embedded in the product and cannot be tampered with.
This addresses three key challenges facing the garment industry at the moment, according to Haelixa: the need for transparency in global supply chains, the ability to prove product origin and the ability to back up sustainability claims.
In its first project with Diamond Denim, it marked cotton after bale opening in the Diamond factory in Lahore. The read-out, conducted in the Haelixa labs in Switzerland, was carried out on garments after several washings in domestic washing machines.
Co-founder of Diamond Denim, Ali Abdullah, explained that, to test the technology, the company sent marked and unmarked samples to Switzerland to see if Haelixa would be able to identify them blind. “Its analysis proved to be 100% accurate,” he said, “providing irrefutable proof that our product contains what we declare.”
