Ep. 141: DNA-based traceability

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Ep. 141: DNA-based traceability

WTiN Textile Innovation Podcast speaks to Dr. Gediminas Mikutis, co-founder & chief technology officer at Haelixa.

WTiN: Hello and welcome to Textile Innovation, hosted by WTiN. My name is Abi and I'm the Features Editor and your podcast host. Every two weeks we will be joined by a special guest, so join me and my colleagues as we deep dive into what's new, what's interesting, and what unmissable innovations have hit the market recently. We cover everything on the podcast, from sustainability to startups and the latest research and development. Plus, we quiz the experts in the field about their products' ideas across the huge spectrum that is the textile industry. So no matter what your interest is, WTiN have you covered and we can connect you to everything you need to know right here from our central hub in the UK.

Traceability is in high demand across industries as regulatory pressures increase. This is the opinion and message of Haelxia, a global company based in Switzerland with a team of international experts who are advancing traceable systems with DNA marketing technology. In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Gediminas Mikutis, co -founder and chief technology officer at Haelxia. In this episode, Gediminas tells us how Haelxia works and illustrates this in real life situations. We touch upon regulations and how data will help brands and retailers implement effective digital product passports, for example, moving forward. We discuss a whole range of topics about how traceable supply chains is becoming ever more essential in the textile industry.

Hi Gediminas, please can you tell us a bit about Haelxia and the specific gap in the market you are addressing?

Mikutis: Hi, thanks for having me. So roughly every second time you buy a cashmere sweater, you actually don't get what you pay for. And this is not only the case for the cashmere sweaters, but it's also the case for organic cotton and pretty much any other premium or sustainable fibres. So even if you buy from high end brands, you don't have to go to a market in Turkey. If you buy from a nice brand in London, you might still end up roughly every second time not getting what you pay for. The reason for that is that the supply chains are quite complex, they are quite opaque, and materials get blended or exchanged very often in the very beginning of the supply chain. And this actually results in the fact that we have roughly two times more cashmere sold than the number of goats available globally. And it's the same for materials like organic cotton, regenerative cotton, recycled fibres, and so on. And if you think from the end consumer perspective, that's not cool. You think, ah, OK, so probably half of the sweaters I have are not cashmere. But from a brand perspective, it's a reputational and a financial risk.

So a single scandal can easily cost the brand something in the range of $50 million, and that consists of legal costs, recalls, reputational damages, and so on. And then to minimize the risk of such scandals related to the supply chain, you need to have data verifying where the products come from. And for that, you need traceability. So this is where we come in. And Helixa is a Swiss company. It's a company that has developed a solution to enable forensic traceability for fashion brands. And like this, we enable brands to prove material origin and authenticity. How it works, very briefly, is that we embed non -toxic DNA markers directly into fibres, so proof actually travels with the material itself from fibre production up to delivery in the stores and even beyond. And this enables credible communication, it enables the brands to provide clarity and assurance across supply chains and it also responds to the shift that we have seen in sustainability from just claiming that the stuff is sustainable to evidence -backed confidence.

WTiN: That's really fascinating. Thank you so much. And just like delving a little bit further into Haelxia's. So I know that you use what you call a DNA based traceability. I think I'm right saying that. How does that provide everything that you've just said, such as like hard proof of origin, authenticity, recycled content? And why is what you have created? Why is this DNA based traceability more authentic and reliable than say other methods that are on the market?

Mikutis: Right, so now I will get a little bit more technical to explain how it all actually works. So at Helix, we apply a unique DNA sequence to a defined batch of fibre at the earliest viable point. So let's say in the case of cotton, we start at a cotton gin. In the case of verifying circularity claims, we even start with a textile waste. In the case of cashmere, we start with the buying stations. So we deliver. a unique DNA code, which is a liquid formulation that is then sprayed on the raw material as a liquid. Once it's sprayed, the water evaporates, so it's a water -based formulation, the water evaporates, and then the DNA sticks to the fibres. And then this DNA marker remains present throughout the processing, and then we can do at any point, so on the fiber, yarn, the finished product, we can do a PCR test to verify the specific DNA code that has been applied in the very beginning of the supply chain. So what this means is that the product information is embedded into the product itself, creating scientific certainty rather than just relying on the paperwork alone or on some digital tool alone. And I can give you an example of how we actually implement it in the real supply chains. So we have worked with brands like Hugo Boss, with whom we created a unique DNA marker that we applied on the Giza cotton in Egypt. to add a specific chin in Egypt and this allowed us to verify throughout all the production up to the finished high -end shirts that the material has not been exchanged and the material has not been blended and this way this enables us to verify the origin of the material. You could go beyond origin.

Let's say if you want to verify sustainability claims, we could mark, as I mentioned before, the textile waste to verify the recycling claims. So, for example, in our collaboration with SORTI, a Pakistani manufacturer, we mark post -consumer waste, post -consumer cotton waste still before shredding with a unique DNA code and this enables us to verify the identity of that waste. post -consumer waste that all this steps downstream. This way, we strengthen the traditional chain of custody systems. We are not competing with certifications, we are not competing with digital traceability tools like Textile Genesis or Trust Trace, but we rather integrate our data into them. This way, delivering not only the digital records, but also a forensic verification that the product that you have in front of you is indeed corresponding to this digital data.

WTiN: That is absolutely fascinating. Can I just confirm that when you use liquid, when you market with the DNA, so it's from that point onwards that it's traceable, is that correct?

Mikutis: That's correct. So we typically start traceability as early as possible in the supply chain. So essentially, it's always traceable from the first stage, but very often we would not start headaches of physical traceability from the farm. We would start it from the gin or from the first automated processing step.

WTiN: Amazing. And just kind of thinking about that, obviously, right at the start, you mentioned premium fibres such as cashmere and organic cotton. What challenges did them in particular face when verifying authenticity? And how does Haelixa help them confidently protect the integrity of their sourcing?

Mikutis: So Haelixa helps brands to protect premium value by making substitutions or dilution of the fibre detectable. And this mitigates supply chain risks and supports long term supplier trust. So if you mark, let's say, organic cotton. We can test the finished product that arrives at a retail shop, and if the DNA is not there, then we know this material is not organic cotton that the brand was expecting. On the other hand, what often happens is that we do test the product and we do find the DNA, only a lower concentration of that. And what that indicates then is that the organic cotton has been blended with some conventional fibres. So again, in some cases that blending is allowed and required by a brand, but very often it is actually blended with cheaper, non -certified materials to save costs across supply chain, but affecting the end goal of the brand and not delivering the product that the brand has expected. And What we see quite often is that brands very often invest quite a bit into fibre programs and standards that ensure social environmental practices at the farm level. So let's say if you're a brand, you want to make sure that you are getting organic cotton. So you set up a collaboration with an organisation that trains farmers across certain regions to implement organic practices. But then what we have seen is that brands very often would forget to make sure that this fibre does end up in the finished product. And for that, a solution like Haelixa is a very attractive tool because we enable this traceability from the farm to the finished product. And how we do that is we often partner with these farm programs. So one such partner is Cotton Connect, with whom we provide a fully traceable a solution to the brand such as CNA. Cotton Connect works with individual farm groups. They train the farm groups, they collect the primary data, and they ensure that the cotton from those farmers are delivered to the gin. Then from the ginning stage, we mark the cotton, and from that point, we can trace it across all the supply chain steps up to a brand so that the brand gets physical proof that the products that they are buying are indeed coming from those farm programs. This way, ensuring that If you are buying premium materials, you are getting those in your supply chain.

WTiN: Amazing. Thank you so much for explaining that. And I'm guessing this goes some way to avoiding greenwashing. If brands don't adopt Haelxia's DNA -based traceability or similar data tools for their supply chains, could they knowingly or unknowingly still be liable to greenwashing?

Mikutis: Absolutely. So when supply chain verification is missing, even well -intentioned brands can end up communicating claims they can't substantiate with confidence, especially in categories where there are known vulnerabilities, such as organic cotton that had a lot of issues with transaction certificate systems, with certification bodies being recalled and so on. In these cases, even if you don't intend to greenwash, you might end up greenwashing because you don't have ways to substitute that. And what this could lead is to the bare minimum regulatory penalties related to greenwashing. But what we see actually more often is that products made with cotton associated with a certain risk region, so let's say forest labour, deforestation and so on end up in your supply chains. And this, on one hand again, could lead to regulatory penalties, but more often this would lead to a scandal, and scandals have a cost going beyond the regulatory fine. So again, you could have recalls, you could have legal costs, reputational losses, and on top of that, then again, you have to rearrange your supply chain and still implement safety measures to verify that what you are sourcing is not coming from these risk regions. And to add to that, in some geographies, such as in France, there is even a personal liability. So what I heard multiple times is supply chain teams or sustainability teams very often would say, look, I'm trying my best, and I still might have personal liability if I don't ensure that I'm delivering sufficient proof of what I'm sourcing.

WTiN: I love that you just touched upon regulations because obviously regulations are growing. We have brands needing to meet EU digital product passports, for example, and the CSDDD and obviously green claims requirements. What key considerations would you advise brands and retailers to be aware of and how would you advise them to go around meeting these?

Mikutis: All right so the regulation in Europe is evolving really quickly and actually over the past year there have been quite a few delays and there have been a few rollbacks of the supply chain regulations but the overall trend is still very clear. Within a few years from now, only companies with credible and independently verifiable supply chain data will be able to do business in Europe. That is non -negotiable. And when it comes to the specific supply chain regulations, we often like to segment those into two main areas. So the first area are the regulations related to the supply chain risk management. So that's CSDDD, the deforestation regulation, as well as forced labour directives. And these regulations typically require brands to ensure that their products are not coming from specific risk origins, such as cotton produced using forced labour or viscose made from wood from the endangered forest. And in this case, we usually sit together with a brand customers and then we map their supply chains very high level and identify where the highest risks are. And then where they see their potential risk of substitution or potential risk of non -compliance, we implement Helix selectively on those supply chains to eliminate this risk. Because you don't need to be perfect, you don't need to have traceability on every single product, but you need to manage the risk in a responsible way. So first you start with the highest risk products and then you go for the less risky supply chains. And then the second type of regulations that we see coming require brands and retailers to communicate to consumers and label products according to defined rules. So that relates to the Green Claims Directive and directives such as digital product password regulation. And these regulations define what data has to be available on the product and how that data has to be communicated. And by default, these regulations in Europe require you to be scientifically sound and third -party verified. So everything that you claim has to be verifiable and scientific. And this is exactly where Haelixa is, because we provide verifiable supply chain data. And if you take, let's say, digital product passport as an example, DPP style disclosure is only as strong as the underlying data. So very often you would think of DPP as a QR code on the product that you scan and you have all the supply chain data. But the most critical point is actually to have this credible supply chain data. And that's, again, where physical proof helps to ensure the data about the origin, the composition, the quality of the product, that this whole data is defensible and consistent.

WTiN: I love the fact you touched upon consumers as well. Would you say that there is a growing consumer and industry expectation around transparency and sustainable supply chains?

Mikutis: So I think that the consumer awareness is definitely growing, but we also have to be honest and say that consumers don't buy a fashion product purely because it is traceable or it's sustainable. What I believe consumers buy is the brand promise and the story behind that. And that's, again, very important. brands have to make sure that they are credible in what they are communicating and they can defend the claims. So for example when we mark and trace Egyptian cotton for premium shirts it is not to claim yes it's traceable but we enable brands to tell a compelling product quality and origin story. So a consumer probably would be more willing to buy and to pay a premium for a shirt that's made with some of the world's most premium fibers produced by hand in Egypt and crafted into final shirt in Italy compared to some generic claim saying sustainable or environmentally safe environment. responsible cotton. So that's where we see this credibility and communication being critical and you don't always need to tell these long stories of where the cotton is coming from but you need to make sure that if you are making a claim you can defend that and that's where traceability in textile supply chains is again becoming critical because the biggest impact of your supply chains happens very much upstream. And you need to have that under control. You need to have data to verify that.

WTiN: Obviously, like compliance in this area can feel like so overwhelming. I mean, we've touched upon regulations, consumer expectations. There's so much that happens, obviously, because you've got so many different sources of materials. So it can feel quite overwhelming for a lot of companies, especially if they've not even started on this journey. What advice would you give companies thinking about looking into forensic traceability and this data and data driven solutions like Haelxia offers?

Mikutis: Absolutely. I feel the same way myself, actually. So I work in this field, and I very often feel that this is so overwhelming, because the regulations are changing all the time. And I think sustainability teams and compliance teams very often feel like, on one hand, you are trying to catch up with the regulation. On the other hand, you are just filling out one questionnaire after another just to comply with all the different laws that are also not always synchronized between different geographies. And I think there, what I would advise is that verification creates value because it enables brands to move from promises to proof, which then strengthens confidence across procurement, sustainability, and leadership teams. So I like to compare it often to personal relationships, whether you are talking about personal relationships business transactions between you and your suppliers, trust is the fuel for long -term partnership and it's a fuel for growth together. And then to have the trust, you need to have transparency. So suppliers that deliver verifiable proof of origin or the quality of the production, achieve longer term contracts with the brands and then on the other hand, brands that have transparent supply chains can benefit from communicating with the clarity and confidence because the underlying evidence is stronger.

WTiN: Thank you so much. I just want to ask you, my final question is, as we look ahead in 2026 and obviously We want to increase and strengthen confidence in consumer trust and brand trust. How is Haelxia getting its voice out there to the industry and what are you looking forward to as you move into the new year?

Mikutis: Right, so as a company we very much focus on delivering confidence and delivering evidence for whatever the brand is claiming and that also resonates to how we communicate ourselves. We communicate quite a bit through customer success stories where we deliver proof, where we deliver confidence and very often we see that we shouldn't aim for perfection, we should accept living with some uncertainty otherwise we don't move forward. So with the many customers we start working and we figure out okay but we didn't map the supply chain or we don't have digital tools fully integrated. And that's okay. We have to accept that uncertainty will be there and we have to move forward. And what we also focus quite a bit is building from value and not from fear. So I was talking quite a bit today about the risk management, but it's also important to focus purely on where we add the risk and where the customer adds the risk, sees that risk. So we very much focus on what traceability enables, whether it is stronger sourcing decisions, whether it's credible storytelling, premium protection, or trusted circularity. And I think these are the areas that allow us to show that there is more value than sustainability as a concept or then just compliance with the law. Traceability in the end is, as we believe, is a strategic infrastructure that strengthens the brand confidence rather than just having an exercise to be compliant with the regulation or to say we have done something in sustainability.

WTiN: Amazing. Thank you so much. And thank you for joining me today on WTiN's Textile Innovation Podcast.

Mikutis: Thanks for inviting me.

WTiN: Thank you so much for listening. If you have any questions or want to learn more, you can follow us on LinkedIn at World Textile Information Network, or you can contact me directly at content at WTiN .com. If you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the podcast, please email sales at WTiN .com. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.