EU digital product passport for textiles and apparel (ESPR)

The passport rule most likely to push item-level carriers in clothing, where RAIN RFID is already on many labels. The carrier will be set in the act itself, so QR, NFC and RAIN are all still in play.

For apparel the question is which data carrier the textiles delegated act will name. The act is expected in 2027, and until it is adopted QR codes, NFC and RAIN RFID all remain possible carriers for the passport identifier.

Many clothing labels already carry RAIN RFID, and RFID News noted in April 2026 that many RAIN deployments already support GS1 EPC encoding, such as SGTIN, which gives each item the unique identifier a passport needs. The same article set out the split: RAIN RFID (ISO 18000-63) reads items in bulk without line of sight, NFC at 13.56 MHz lets a shopper tap a garment with a smartphone, and dual-frequency UHF and NFC inlays combine both on one tag.

The obligation will fall on clothing brands, retailers and importers selling in the EU. Inlay makers and tagging suppliers should watch for the act in 2027 and the carrier rules it sets.