When companies have a digital product passport created for multiple articles at the same time, they quickly see that the price is not the same for each article. This is because the cost per article is determined by a combination of factors: the number of variants within one article, the condition in which the source data already exists, the length and complexity of the supply chain, and the extent to which data has already been provided in structured form by the manufacturer or importer.
There is therefore no fixed amount per unit that applies to every garment or textile product. A basic T-shirt in one composition and one country of origin requires less work than a jacket with multiple fabric types, mixed origin and different sizes, each of which is managed as a separate article number. For a concrete picture of what this means for your own assortment, you can get a first indication in a few questions.
What an article number means in this context
Within a product passport, there is often talk of an article or SKU: a unique combination of model, colour and sometimes size. One design sold in five colours and three sizes can administratively consist of fifteen SKUs. Whether all fifteen need their own passport, or whether they can share data because the fibre composition and origin are identical, is precisely the kind of question that affects the final price per article. How that distinction is made in the regulation itself is described in the knowledge base by subject.
Where the amount comes from
The price that a provider like texpas.eu charges for compiling and hosting a passport for ten years is made up of a number of components: collecting and checking the data, converting it to the correct format, generating and delivering the QR data carrier, and hosting during the retention period. Each of these components takes more time as the source data is messier or spread across more links in the supply chain. A manufacturer that has already clearly documented its compositions, origin data and certificates per article, saves in practice on the most expensive part: the preliminary investigation.
What affects the cost per article
The number of articles itself is an obvious factor: with larger volumes, the price per unit usually falls because setup and processing costs are spread over more articles. The complexity per article is at least as decisive. Products with one fibre type and one production country are simpler to document than mixed products with multiple suppliers. The number of languages in which the passport must be available, and whether existing certificates and test reports already exist, also play a role. Companies that operate through private label and are therefore dependent on data from an external manufacturer, often find that precisely the collection of that data is decisive, not the technical part of the passport.
One-time costs versus ongoing costs
In the price per article, the distinction between one-time and ongoing costs is important. Compiling the passport and generating the QR code are usually one-time activities per article. Hosting over the ten-year retention period is an ongoing cost item that continues as long as the passport must remain active. If the composition of an article changes, or if a new supplier comes on board, an update may be necessary; that too weighs into what an article costs over its entire lifetime. A complete overview of how these components are built up is on the page with price breakdown.
Keeping costs under your own control
The most important way to keep the cost per item manageable is to put your source data in order before requesting a passport: unambiguous item numbers, current compositions and country of origin data per supplier. This does not change what the regulation requires, but it does reduce the research work that partly determines the price. What the regulation itself precisely requires and from whom is described in the knowledge base; for the substantiation of figures and explanations on this site, you can see where that information comes from.
Would you like to know how this applies to your own assortment? The free quick-scan gives a first indication in a few questions, and the knowledge base covers the topics that often come up in this context.