TEXtalks: Cotton claims now need lab proof, not logos

With forced-labour enforcement in the US and anti-greenwashing rules in Europe, brands are shifting from “we source responsibly” to “here is the evidence.”

For years, cotton provenance was treated as a paperwork exercise. Regulators are turning it into an evidentiary one—forcing brands to prove where fibre actually comes from, not merely where they intended it to come from.

GenuTrace, a traceability consultancy, has partnered with Kinset, a digital platform that connects supplier, material and transaction data across global supply networks. Together they are offering a “dual-layer” model for cotton: physical fibre-level verification plus Digital Product Passport-ready supply-chain data—a way to move from claimed origin to defensible origin.