I sell clothing and textiles under my own brand — what obligations do I get?
Your own brand makes you a manufacturer under the ESPR
Anyone placing clothing or textiles on the market under their own brand name is treated as a manufacturer for the digital product passport — even if production is outsourced to another company. This is the starting point of Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781): it is not those who weave the fabric or sew the clothing who bear the obligations, but those who sell the product under their own name or brand. For private label and own-brand collections, this means that the obligations normally placed on a manufacturer shift to the company that owns the brand. Actual manufacturing can therefore take place anywhere; responsibility for the passport lies with the brand owner.
For own-brand sales, not for reselling another's brand
This rule applies to companies that sell clothing or textiles under their own brand name, even when production is outsourced to a factory at home or abroad. This concerns the situation where the label in the garment bears the name of the seller, not that of the manufacturer. For those who simply resell existing branded clothing without placing their own brand on it — a wholesaler or retailer that keeps the manufacturer's brand intact — other roles apply within the ESPR, with obligations different from those of Article 27. Also important: these obligations only apply to product categories for which a delegated act has been adopted. As long as one does not exist for clothing and textiles, there is no passport requirement, regardless of which brand the product is sold under.
The date is not yet fixed; 2027 is the expectation for the regulations, not for the obligation
There is no fixed date yet for when the manufacturer obligations of Article 27 for clothing and textiles will take effect. What is certain: the European Commission has indicated in its ESPR work programme for 2025-2030 that it expects a delegated act for textiles in 2027, with clothing that contains eighty percent or more textile fibres as the first category. That delegated act still needs to be drawn up, commented on and adopted before a concrete effective date is attached to it. Until then, no passport obligations apply to clothing and textiles under the ESPR. Once the act is published, that date will be mentioned here.
What to do: first clarify where brand responsibility lies
For those already selling under their own brand and wishing to prepare for this, the first step is to clearly establish which part of the collection will be sold under the own brand, and which part may remain under the brand of a third party — because only the first falls under the manufacturer role in Article 27. The second step is to check what information a producer or factory can already provide about materials, origin and composition, as these data will form the basis of the passport, regardless of who ultimately compiles and hosts the passport. The third step is to monitor whether the collection falls within the category that is first in line: clothing containing eighty percent or more textile fibres. For collections outside this scope, there is more time before concrete obligations follow, though no date has been set for these either. Those who already set up this process now — recording which supplier provides which information, and in what format — will not have to start from scratch when the delegated act is published.
Where this comes from: Article 27 of the ESPR
This explanation is based on Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), which governs the obligations of manufacturers and stipulates that an undertaking which places a product on the market under its own name or trademark is regarded as a manufacturer for the purposes of the regulation. The anticipated timeline for textiles and clothing, including the year 2027 and the eighty-per-cent threshold for textile fibres, comes from the ESPR work plan of the European Commission for the period 2025-2030. For the precise scope and exact timing of when these obligations apply to clothing and textiles, the delegated act that is still to follow is the definitive source.
If you are already selling under your own brand, it is best to start by drawing up an overview of your own collection and the information that suppliers can provide about it — so that, once the delegated act for textiles has been published, it is quickly clear which part of the assortment falls under it and what data are already available.
What this is based on
The regulation itself is available on EUR-Lex. We provide references for each statement; you do not need to take our word for it.
What you must do concretely
Selling clothing under your own brand can be organized in different ways: a collection that is entirely produced by an external factory and only bears your own label, or a production process where the company is closely involved in design and material selection. For the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), this distinction does matter, because the regulation looks at who places the product "under his name or brand" on the market. Anyone who sells clothing under their own brand therefore generally falls under the definition of manufacturer, even if actual production is completely outsourced. On Am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR? it is set out how this classification works exactly.
What is expected of you
Ensuring the product passport is in place
Article 27 of the ESPR places an obligation on the manufacturer to ensure that a product is accompanied by the required product passport. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this practically means that someone within the organization is designated to oversee this process: collecting data from the factory, checking that everything is correct, and ensuring that the passport is attached to the product before it reaches the market. This can be handled internally, or outsourced to a party that handles this for the brand.
Keeping technical documentation in order
The manufacturer keeps the technical documentation that demonstrates that the product meets the requirements. For a brand that has products made through multiple factories, this means that there must be a file per collection or product line, not one general document for the entire brand. For an assortment that changes regularly — new seasons, new suppliers — this requires an established internal process, otherwise the documentation quickly becomes scattered across different folders and contact persons.
Name and contact details on the product or packaging
Article 27 also requires that the name, registered trademark and contact address of the manufacturer are available on the product, packaging, or in accompanying documentation. For an own brand, this is usually already standard practice via the clothing label, but it is good to check whether the information currently on it (for example only a webshop URL) is sufficient to qualify as a contact address.
Taking corrective measures in case of deviations
When a manufacturer has reason to believe that a product does not meet the requirements, he is expected to correct this or withdraw the product if necessary. For a brand that has production outsourced on a large scale to an external party, this means there must be a line back to the factory: if something goes wrong with material data or composition, it must reach the brand quickly and not only after a sample check or complaint.
Cooperate with supervisory authorities
Manufacturers cooperate when an authority requests information or measures. For a mid-sized company, this mainly comes down to being able to produce the right documents within a reasonable timeframe — which again depends on how well that documentation is organized in the first place.
Where things go wrong in practice
A first situation that often comes up: a brand thinks that the factory is responsible for the passport, because the factory "knows everything anyway" about materials and composition. The factory supplies the data, but the obligation under Article 27 rests with the person who places the product under his brand on the market — so with the brand itself, not the factory.
A second situation: with private label, the factory changes regularly, for example because the purchasing department is always looking for the best price. Each change means new data, new documentation, and the risk that the passport from the previous season is "copied" without checking whether the new factory uses the same materials and composition. More on this arrangement can be found on I have clothing made under my own label — who creates the passport?
A third situation: a brand sells both through its own webshop and through an external marketplace, and assumes that the marketplace will handle the obligations. That is not the case — the obligations of Article 27 lie with the manufacturer, regardless of the sales channel. What a marketplace does and does not handle is explained at What does the product passport mean if I sell clothing and textiles through an online marketplace?
A fourth situation: the factory is outside the EU and the brand assumes that the importer handling the transport will also handle the digital product passport. This too is an assumption that does not automatically hold true; who has which role when production takes place outside the EU is set out at My manufacturer is outside the EU — who arranges the product passport then?
A fifth situation: the brand does have documentation, but scattered across emails, WhatsApp messages with the factory and loose Excel files. As soon as there is a query from a supervisory authority or a trading partner, it takes weeks to gather everything together — and in the meantime it cannot be demonstrated that the information is correct.
What you can record
- An overview per collection or product line of which factory has produced which article, including material data.
- A fixed procedure for requesting data from a new factory, so that this is not improvised ad hoc per season.
- Contact details and responsible person within the company who serves as the point of contact for the digital product passport.
- A file with technical documentation per product line, demonstrably linked to the correct version of the product.
- Agreements with the factory about what happens if material data change later or prove to be incorrect.
- An overview of the sales channels through which the brand is offered, so that it is clear where the digital product passport must be included in all instances.
Anyone who, besides their own brand, also fulfils other roles — for example also acting as a wholesaler towards other shops — does well to review the associated obligations separately at I am a clothing wholesaler, what are my obligations regarding the product passport, because that role places different emphases than that of manufacturer under own brand.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform covers. We are not familiar with your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something wrong? Let us know — corrections are given priority.