The partnership will support Indian powerloom producers with blockchain-anchored, fibre-focused traceability tools for emerging EU Digital Product Passport requirements.
The initiative will help producers build verifiable supply-chain data while retaining ownership and control of their production information.
The Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) and AWARE™, an Amsterdam-based neutral, cross-border data infrastructure provider for textile producers, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Bharat Tex 2026 in New Delhi.
The agreement was signed by Mr. K. Sakthivel, Chairman of PDEXCIL, and Mr. Feico van der Veen, Founder and Managing Director of AWARE™.
The collaboration comes as the European Union advances Digital Product Passport requirements under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. Textiles are among the priority product groups, increasing the importance of early traceability preparedness for producers supplying European brands and markets.
India’s powerloom sector operates close to the beginning of the textile value chain. The ability to provide reliable and portable evidence related to material origin, composition and production history is expected to become increasingly important as international sourcing and compliance requirements evolve.
AWARE™ will support this transition through its blockchain-anchored tokenisation technology. The infrastructure creates a Data Token for each production batch, containing authenticated information about the material’s origin, composition and credentials. The token travels with the physical goods through successive production stages and across borders, creating a verifiable chain of custody.
The system enables producers to generate blockchain-issued Crypto TCs® and establish the data foundation required for Digital Product Passports. The data is generated at source and remains under the ownership and control of the producer.
“Everyone else built for the brands. We built for the producers. India’s powerloom sector is where a large part of the world’s textiles begins. The data must start here and travel with the goods, not be reconstructed later. In a world where an unverifiable claim can become a legal liability, verified, producer-owned data is not simply a feature. It is access to the market,” said Mr. Feico van der Veen, Founder and Managing Director, AWARE™.
Under the MoU, PDEXCIL will introduce AWARE™ to its members and support awareness, education and potential adoption across the powerloom sector. The engagement will include workshops, training sessions, webinars and other member communication channels.
AWARE™ will offer preferential terms to verified PDEXCIL members, along with onboarding, training and technical support.
The collaboration is structured around data sovereignty, allowing producers to retain ownership and control of the supply-chain data they generate.
“The EU Digital Product Passport will bring significant changes to the way textile products and production data are presented in international markets. Through this collaboration, we aim to help Indian powerloom producers strengthen their traceability capabilities, prepare for emerging requirements and improve their competitiveness while retaining ownership of their data,” said Mr. K. Sakthivel, Chairman, PDEXCIL.
The two organisations intend to begin initial implementation projects with selected PDEXCIL member units shortly.
