Top Down vs Bottom Up Traceability:
How do you trace your supply chains?

As the fashion industry becomes increasingly focused on sustainability, many brands are starting to face the immense challenge of tracing their supply chains.

To achieve this it is essential to map, control and analyze all supply chains.

It is necessary to identify who are the key players within the supply chain and where and how their products move from the raw material to the final consumer.

Only in this way will companies have visibility of all this information.

Today fashion companies can have hundreds or thousands of products, which pass through an intricate global network of suppliers, factories, and farms.

So how can we trace their complex supply chains reliably and efficiently?

Two possible strategies are Top Down and Bottom Up’s traceability.

Top Down vs Bottom Up Traceability:
Top down traceability strategy

Top Down traceability starts at the product level and works backward to trace a product’s origins.

In this way, the brand requests documents and certifications of the material, physical-chemical tests, and the manufacturing process from its supplier.

In this mode, the problems concern the authenticity of the data since most still rely on paper documentation and calculations that can be easily tampered with.

Furthermore, sending endless documents and managing them becomes increasingly onerous and complicated.

This mentality is clear: the brand is asking its suppliers for the necessary information to prove to its customers.

What is missing is a collaboration with suppliers, who become mere executors.

Let’s see how the next model differs.

Top Down vs Bottom Up Traceability:
Bottom up traceability strategy

In this model, data traceability becomes integrated into the process itself.

Applying a QR code to materials and products, suppliers can provide the data in real-time.

Verified, fast, and guaranteed!

This way data cannot be tampered with, and each product is treated as a separate entity with unique data factors.

Top Down vs Bottom Up Traceability:
What can you do with this data?

Here you can find an article on the six most important KPIs to better manage your supply chain.

Traceability is essential for understanding accountability in your supply chains, getting the transparent data necessary for the provenance of products and materials, and sharing it with your customers.

Discovere here the difference beetween Tracking and Tracing in Fashion Supply Chain Management, CLICK HERE.

Do you want to know which is the best traceability scenario for your fashion company?

Book a free demo call with us. We’ll provide you with info about The ID Factory’ technological solutions.