The most common mistake with the QR code for the textile passport is that companies test it only after the label has already been printed and sewn onto the clothing. The code works technically then, but no one has checked whether the page behind it is also correct: whether it loads on a phone in a shop with poor reception, whether it shows the right batch, and whether it is still current after a change in fibre composition. As a result, you only discover a problem when a customer or supervisory authority scans the code, and by that time the label is already in circulation.
The solution is not complicated, but it does require a fixed moment in your process: test the complete chain from scan to page, each time before a new production run and again after every change in the underlying data. This is not a legal obligation that is explained here, but a practical habit that prevents the code from existing but not doing what it should do.
Why this often goes wrong
A QR code itself is simple: it is a link, and that link works as soon as it is created. This makes testing feel unnecessary. The problem is not in the code, but in what lies behind it. The passport is compiled from data that may not yet be definitive at the time of printing, or that is updated later without anyone checking whether the live page has kept pace. With small collections from a single supplier, that is still manageable. As soon as you work with multiple suppliers, batches or seasons, the risk that an old version remains somewhere becomes real.
What goes wrong in practice
It happens that a code is tested in the office, on wifi, on one type of phone, and everything looks good. On the shop floor, with mobile reception and an older device, the same page sometimes loads more slowly or not at all. It also happens that a supplier, after the label has been printed, gives a correction about the percentage of recycled material, and that correction is entered into the system but not linked to the code already on the clothing. And it happens that one code accidentally refers to the data of a different batch, because the link between article number and passport was made manually and there was a typo in it.
None of these situations is intentional. They arise because testing is seen as a one-time step at the start, whereas the passport is actually designed to remain current as long as the product is on sale.
How to prevent it
A fixed test moment works best when it is separate from the print order. So do not test the code at the moment the label is ordered, but afterwards, as part of the release of the collection: scan the code with an ordinary mobile device, outside the office network, and check whether the displayed data matches the article in your hand. Repeat that check when a supplier adjusts data, and with every new batch or reprint of labels. Record that moment somewhere, even if it is just a tick in your own process, so that it does not become dependent on whoever happens to remember it that week.
Those working with multiple suppliers or multiple EU countries would do well to discuss this check with the party hosting the passport and managing the link between article and code. In how data is collected and displayed is how that link is technically set up at texpas.eu, including what happens if a supplier provides a correction after the label has already been printed.
What this has to do with supervision
A supervising authority checking a passport typically scans the code the way a consumer would. A page that fails to load, displays outdated information, or points to the wrong product then presents a different picture than when everything is in order internally. How a supervising authority deals with this and what it means for your situation cannot be answered here; that is a matter for the competent supervising authority or a lawyer, depending on the circumstances.
Check your own position yourself
Whether your current working method already covers this risk varies from company to company: it depends on how many suppliers you have, how often data changes, and who manages the link between product and code. The knowledge base, sorted by topic contains more about how the passport is maintained in practice, and the answers to practical questions on this matter go into, among other things, what happens when a correction is made afterwards.
Would you like to quickly see where your own situation stands, without it becoming a project right away? Do the free quick-scan and see in five questions where you stand.