TruTag Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of smart medicine and other product identity solutions, today announced that they are extending their award-winning technology to the clothing industry. The Truspect™ technology incorporates “TruTags®,” spectrally-encoded microscopic particles covertly embedded directly onto garments through existing product finishes and sewn-in labels, and authenticated using a common mobile phone.
The counterfeit market is considered one of the most successful criminal enterprises with a global value of over $1.8 Trillion. Its prominence has exploded over a short period of time — the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that seizures of counterfeits have increased ten-fold over the past 20 years. While the fashion industry has aggressively combatted the sale of fraudulent products, it is still one of the most impacted sectors, losing billions of dollars annually due to counterfeit sales. The sharp rise in e-commerce has only exacerbated this issue, as product authenticity becomes even harder to verify when introducing third-party sellers.
Many clothing authentication solutions rely on securing the packaging or removable features, rather than directly securing the product. However, the Truspect solution provides a secure digital identity to garments that can be authenticated by consumers themselves via the Truspect mobile app, providing peace of mind to the consumer and an extra layer of credibility to the seller.
“The prevalence of counterfeits has been costly to brands, but more importantly to consumers,” said Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO of TruTag Technologies. “Many have paid top dollar for products that were in fact fraudulent and lower quality, and feel they can’t trust many marketplaces where this issue has gotten out of control. Securing product packaging only accounts for part of the problem. Buyers need an all-encompassing solution they can truly depend on.”
TruTag’s novel Truspect technology provides clothing manufacturers and distributors with:
Security– A digital platform that protects the clothing items themselves as opposed to securing the packaging and removable features, such as hang tags. The proprietary authentication technology is developed in a tightly controlled manufacturing facility.
Subtlety–The Truspect solution is based on microparticles directly incorporated onto clothing garments and/or sewn-in labels. Smart tags are implemented with minimal impact on the elegance of a garment.
Cost effectiveness–Incorporating TruTags into items of clothing costs a fraction of production value.
Easy adoption–Because the product identity solution utilizes existing finishes and processes, manufacturers can seamlessly integrate the technology into any workflow.
Customization–Customers can choose from a variety of authentication options, including forensic recovery and mobile app verification.
The Truspect solution allows brands to combat common supply-chain challenges including:
Illegitimate production–Incorporating TruTags into the products themselves provides an additional layer of security against fraudulent replicas of popular clothing items.
Unauthorized production–Digitizing the clothing supply chain prevents distribution of genuine but unsanctioned clothing.
Sustainability–Manufacturers can track and trace certain materials to ensure apparel is sustainably sourced.
Fraudulent returns–Authenticating items of clothing prevents counterfeiters from returning fraudulent products for refunds.
TruTag is best known for its smart medicine solution for securing the pharmaceutical supply chain via spectrally-encoded silica particles that serve as covert “edible barcodes” for tablets, capsules, and even biologics. The company recently partnered with one of the most prominent pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world to directly implement its innovative technology into the supply chain of various big pharma companies.
“We saw an opportunity to combat yet another piece of the global counterfeit market,” said Bartholomeusz. “Our customers have always appreciated how easy it is to incorporate our technology into a product’s supply chain, be it drugs, food, beverages, and now clothing.”