Reliable Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions for the Textile & Apparel Manufacturing Industry
Fashion is a highly competitive industry that is estimated at $3 trillion and makes up 2 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. This is why this industry is so attractive to criminal organizations.In a highly competitive market, apparel brands and textile manufacturers not only compete with other brands but also with their fake counterparts.
Movement into growing emerging markets represents a great opportunity for fashion or luxury brands, but that opportunity comes with risks. Apparel brands can protect their brands through product authentication techniques and anti-counterfeiting features added onto their products or product packaging.
Key Problems Facing the Textile and Apparel Supply Chain
The textile industry is beset with a number of problems that make businesses and brands extremely vulnerable. These include production overruns, parallel trading, return fraud, and counterfeit products.
These threats not only could damage a brand’s reputation and bottom line, but could also be harmful to the consumer. The use of harmful substances in counterfeit clothing is now well-known and the risks are extremely high. Over time, the harmful chemicals in fake clothing are gradually absorbed by the skin.
400,000 job losses
Cost of counterfeit goods in the fashion industry (World Customs Organization)
$27.7 billion / year
Revenue loss of the clothing, footwear and accessories industry in the European Union due to counterfeit goods
16%
Of the $509 billion international trade of counterfeit goods is in the clothing industry
15%
Percentage of seized goods belong to apparel & accessories category (US Customs & Border Protection)
Comprehensive Solutions for the Textile Industry
Anti-Counterfeiting | Serialization | Tracking and Tracing | Product Authentication
High-Security Labels
NanoMatriX’s multi-level anti-counterfeit labels with embedded, overt, covert, and forensic features helps textile manufacturers fight counterfeits.
Our security labels have graphic features that are custom-designed through special anti-counterfeiting software to create a non-duplicable image through mathematical algorithms:
- Guilloche
- Relief
- Anti-copy
- Latent image
- Microtext
The security labels can be added with QR codes or NFC tags to transform them into smart “connected” labels – which enables product authentication as well as brand protection.
Security Inks
Security inks are versatile since they can be used with different printing methods and come in a vast array of colors and properties. These inks also create added interest in clothing design, or create an interactive experience with consumers like revealing information/additional designs to consumers when they grab your product.
Thermochromic Inks
Thermochromic inks change color in response to temperature fluctuations. It can be used to authenticate the genuine goods when the color appears correctly.
Photochromic Inks
Photochromic inks are invisible under artificial light and will appear visible once exposed to outdoor sunlight or UV / black light.
Color Changing Inks
Color changing inks and coatings change color when viewed at a different angle. The change of color is created by specialty pigments, which reflect light differently when viewed at a different angle.
MatriX-Mark™ Solutions
MatriX-Mark™ Solutions comprise security taggants that provide the maximum protection against counterfeits.
These taggants can be applied in all ink or coating colors, suitable for all printing technologies and can be applied onto textile.
These taggants or chemical tracers are super-invisible particles (cannot be detected by IR / UV) and can only be detected using dedicated scanners. These inorganic markers also withstand high physical and chemical resistance tests which helps in long-term authentication.
Taggants prevent parallel trading and fraud by providing a distinct identifier on every clothing/apparel. The absence of a taggant can help identify fakes. Being invisible also makes these taggants copy-proof as it is impossible for counterfeiters to detect its presence.
TrackMatriX® SaaS Solutions
The system allows brands to generate unique IDs or serialized codes which can then be applied to the manufactured product or packaging in the form of data carriers like QR codes or NFC tags. Consumers will then be able to scan or tap to authenticate the product using their smartphone.
This technology also allows for textile manufacturers to track their products from the factory to the retail store and up to the consumer.