Decoding the Current Transparency Toolkit

Introduction

With mounting regulatory demands—from the EU’s Digital Product Passport to forced-labor laws—mid-tier fashion brands face an urgent need to enhance supply chain visibility. But which tools best fit your scale, resources, and objectives?

This post drills into four leading platforms:

• Worldly (formerly Higg Co.) – Sustainability metrics and facility performance

• TrusTrace – End-to-end traceability & compliance

• Retraced – Blockchain-backed due-diligence & consumer-facing transparency

• Peftrust – Product-level environmental footprint (LCA)

You'll learn what each does best, where they fall short.

1. Worldly (ex-Higg Co.) – Sustainability Measurement

Core Approach:
A data & analytics platform centered on the Higg Index suite (Facility Environmental Module, Social & Labor Module, Product/Materials tools) to standardize environmental and social metrics across factories and products.

Strengths:

• Trusted by over 40,000 suppliers and brands, reducing onboarding burden.

• Offers new Facility Data Manager for high-frequency reporting—monthly tracking of energy, water, waste.

• Industry-standard metrics align well with global frameworks (e.g., CSRD, eco-labeling).

Limitations:

• Focuses more on aggregated facility data than on product-level traceability.

• Historically faced scrutiny over transparency and methodology accuracy.

• As a SaaS subscription model, Worldly requires upfront investment before delivering tangible ROI. Data entry burden still falls heavily on suppliers, and it doesn't fully address foundational issues of data quality and operational overhead.

Ideal For:
Brands seeking to benchmark sustainability across a global supplier base and prepare for operational-level reporting.

2. TrusTrace – Traceability & Compliance Backbone

Core Approach:
Provides supply chain mapping, certificate management, AI-driven document ingestion, and regulatory compliance tools (e.g., DPP, forced-labor checks).

Strengths:

• Full “Know → Prove” traceability model across all tiers.

• Integrates PEF scoring via partnership with Peftrust—first end-to-end traceability + LCA solution.

• Strong, AI-powered workflows for high-volume brands.

Limitations:

• Heavy onboarding and supplier engagement required.

• Enterprise-level pricing and technical scope—may overwhelm smaller teams.

• Like most SaaS tools, TrusTrace is subscription-based and creates a cost center until teams are fully trained and data collection is operationalized. It also doesn't solve for upstream data quality or reduce operational strain.

Ideal For:
Brands needing rigorous product-level traceability combined with lifecycle environmental data at scale.

3. Retraced – Blockchain for Due Diligence & Consumer Trust

Core Approach:
A blockchain-backed platform offering supplier mapping, certification logging, risk scoring, digital product passports, and consumer-facing QR integrations.

Strengths:

• Immutable, tamper-evident record of supply chain data.

• Built for compliance with EU CSDDD, LKSG, and other laws.

• Includes embeddable transparency widgets to boost consumer trust.

Limitations:

• Still evolving, with potential gaps in analytics and interoperability.

• Suppliers must trust the platform and overcome reluctance toward a new system.

• As a SaaS model, Retraced requires continuous subscription investment, and much like peers, does not eliminate the burden of data collection or solve for fragmentation in supplier data sources.

Ideal For:
Mid-tier brands prioritizing legal compliance and consumer-facing transparency, with a preference for blockchain credibility.

4. Peftrust – Product Environmental Footprint (LCA)

Core Approach:
EU-verified LCA tool delivering granular Product Environmental Footprint scores covering 16 impact categories.

Strengths:

• Highly detailed, regulation-ready PEF scores.

• Usage of primary data enhances accuracy.

• Built-in integration with traceability platforms like TrusTrace.

Limitations:

• Limited coverage of social factors like labor or ethics.

• Requires specialized interpretation and commitment from teams.

• Peftrust is a SaaS solution with licensing costs and demands strong data inputs to function effectively—an area where many brands still struggle due to upstream data gaps.

Ideal For:
Brands that need robust, data-led eco-scoring for compliance (e.g. Eco-Score, PEFCR) and product differentiation.

❓ FAQs

Q: Do I need multiple platforms?
A: Often, yes. Use one for traceability (e.g. TrusTrace, Retraced) and another for product-level sustainability (e.g. Peftrust, Worldly).

Q: How do I handle supplier resistance?
A: Start small; show business case (e.g. compliance, marketing value); reward early adopters.

Q: What about small teams?
A: Mid-tier brands benefit from modular tools—begin with one module and expand.

Key Takeaways

• Traceability ≠ Sustainability — but it unlocks it. Connecting systems like TrusTrace + Peftrust creates actionable data.

• Choose based on need:

  • For ESG benchmarking and compliance → Worldly

  • For traceability-focused compliance and DPP → TrusTrace or Retraced

  • For product-level eco scores → Peftrust

• Beware of the SaaS trap: Until operationalized, these platforms remain cost centers. Most don’t tackle the root problem—data quality and effort required to collect, verify, and share supplier information.