Could you start by introducing yourself and your role at FibreTrace, and give us a sense of the panel you'll be contributing to at the Textiles Recycling Expo EU? 

I’m Julianne Thibodeaux, Head of Global Commercial at FibreTrace. We build physical verification into textile supply chains by embedding a secure pigment ID into raw fibres at source so brands can prove material identity at any point, from feedstock to finished product. I’m joining the “Securing feedstock: collection, sorting, and supply chains” panel. 

FibreTrace works to bring traceability and transparency to textile supply chains. Why does that capability matter so much when it comes to securing reliable feedstock for recycling and what breaks down when it's absent? 

Recycled content claims are some of the most common in fashion and the hardest to verify — they rely heavily on supplier declarations, despite clear evidence that documentation alone can be inaccurate. When verification is absent, material that enters the chain as “recycled” may bear no relationship to what ends up in the finished product.  

Physical verification closes that gap by providing direct evidence at both ends of the process — confirming the recycled content of incoming materials and validating the composition of the final product without relying solely on self-reported documentation. By grounding claims in physical evidence, brands can confidently stand behind their recycled content declarations. 

The feedstock challenge is often framed as a volume problem, but quality and consistency seem equally critical. From your experience working across supply chains, which of those dimensions is the harder one to crack? 

Quality tends to be harder precisely because it's invisible until it isn't. Even where quality controls exist at sortation, there's no persistent verification that what was confirmed at feedstock intake is what ends up in the finished product; the identity of the material gets lost in transformation. What brands need isn't just better feedstock — they need proof that integrity was maintained through every stage of processing, and that's exactly the gap physical verification closes. 

Collection and sorting infrastructure varies enormously across different markets. Where are you seeing the most encouraging developments, and where are the gaps that concern you most? 

Sorting infrastructure is maturing fast in markets like Western Europe, where mechanised and AI-assisted NIR sortation is moving from pilot to commercial scale — and these facilities are beginning to ask important questions: not just what type of fibre is this, but where did it come from and what has it been through. That's when physical verification becomes essential infrastructure rather than a nice-to-have. The gap I see right now is the disconnect between where collection volumes are growing, particularly across South and Southeast Asia, and where verified sortation capability exists. Volume without verification means brands are building recycled content claims on foundations they can't defend — and physical verification at the point of sortation is what turns that claim into something a brand can stand behind at product level.

FibreTrace has been expanding its reach and application across the industry. What have been the most significant developments for the business recently, and what has that work taught you about where the industry's pain points really lie? 

The consistent theme we hear from brands is that product-level confidence is top priority. Counterfeiting, unintended substitution, and unverifiable claims all create the same problem: Consumer reputation, resulting in consumers losing trust in brands they love. What we’re seeing is brands that are moving toward physical verification is not just to satisfy regulators and compliance risks, but to own the claim — to be able to say with certainty what’s in the product, and prove it. 

There's growing momentum around digital product passports and traceability requirements at the regulatory level. How do you see that shifting the commercial conversation you're having with brands and supply chain partners?

The conversation has shifted from baseline compliance to “how do we get ahead of this?” Brands building physical traceability into their supply chains now are finding it makes every downstream requirement easier to meet — whether that’s substantiating a product claim, satisfying DPP data requirements, or responding to UFLPA due diligence requests. The infrastructure you build now travels with the product; that’s a different kind of readiness than retrofitting documentation after the fact. 

Securing feedstock ultimately requires trust and coordination across a complex web of collectors, sorters, brands, and recyclers. What does good supply chain collaboration actually look like in practice and what tends to get in the way? 

Good collaboration means every actor operating from the same evidence base — not reconciling different versions of what they each believe happened. We’ve seen it in practice: partners making genuine errors on materials, where documentation said one thing but the physical verification inside the fibre said another. When proof travels with the material, it stops being about trust in relationships and starts being something you can build commercial agreements on.

Finally, what draws you to the Textiles Recycling Expo EU, and what are you hoping to take away from the event?

The Textiles Recycling Expo sits at exactly the intersection we care about — where the physical reality of feedstock meets the claims being made at product level. I’m looking forward to conversations with people working on this problem from all angles, and to understanding where the verification gaps are most acute.