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2 days ago
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What's the Status on Digital Product Passport Implementation?
The European Union's approach toward Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) may be helping to keep the adoption of digital product passports (DPPs), once a widely hyped technology for supply chain transparency, afloat. Several years ago, DPPs—which help brands share information about a product's material makeup, origin, carbon footprint and instructions for end of life—consistently surfaced as a point of discussion. Companies considered their value, conducted pilots and began consolidating data to be used for the consumer-facing portion of the technology. As cost pressures amassed and priorities shifted, some companies halted their adoption or exploration of DPPs—but new movement on the ESPR could be ushering in a resurgence for the traceability tech. More from Sourcing Journal Trump Touts Trade Truce With Indonesia, Indicates India Might Not Be Far Behind Chain Reaction: Asendia's Hendrick Kummeling on Why Strategic Flexibility is the Best Defense Against the Uncontrollable Acne Studios Teams With Temera On Traceability Solution Despite the bloc's watering down of other sustainability-related regulations—take the reduced scope of the EU's Omnibus package designed for streamlining corporate due diligence, as an example—ESPR has already been adopted. Regulators have commenced a process that will soon set forth sector-specific expectations they will enforce under the law. In April, EU regulators approved the Ecodesign and Energy Labeling Working Plan 2025-2030, which indicated how they view industry prioritization and laid the groundwork for future expectations under the ESPR, including those for textiles and apparel. According to the plan, EU regulators believe implementing DPPs into the textiles and apparel sectors has 'high potential to improve product lifetime extension, material efficiency and to reduce impacts on water, waste generation, climate change and energy consumption.' Moving forward, EU regulators will propose a delegated act—which helps those impacted by the incoming regulations to better understand the exact requirements they must meet—to be adopted by 2027. The idea, then, is that companies will be in compliance with the requirements in 2027, and the mandates will be enforced in 2028. The act that will clarify the industry's requirements is likely to be proposed by the end of the year or early 2026. Megan Brewster, vice president of advanced technology at Impinj, said those acts will dictate the continued movement of DPP integration inside companies—both technology providers and those required to adopt the systems they build. 'DPP is still definitely moving forward. There's a lot of work going on in the standardization of, 'What are these digital product passports, and how are they implemented?'' Brewster said. 'We are still looking forward to those delegated acts, where we'll get a better understanding of what the implementation will really look like for these different product categories.' For all the bureaucracy that remains to be worked out, that the ESPR pervades at all is a win for transparency technology providers. The EU's legislation looms large and in charge over the heads of some fashion and apparel brands. Interview-based data from consulting firm Bain & Company and secondhand marketplace eBay research shows that roughly nine in 10 companies deem DPP integration a 'regulatory burden;' in other words, a checkbox they must tick off to keep their business compliant in a key market. Patrick Willemsen, director technical community EMEA at product lifecycle management (PLM) company Aras, said regulation and material provenance are the key reasons companies have started investing resources into DPP integration—but not all companies have started the journey of working toward DPPs. 'We do see some reluctance [toward] spending money on the DPP, especially because the collection of that data takes a lot of time and a lot of effort,' he said. 'I think the bigger [companies], they see that they have to be proactive. The smaller ones are reluctant, because it's not clear to them what is actually needed for the DPP, so they are more in the waiting position.' Data continues to be a problem for many brands working to integrate technology—mandatory or voluntary—particularly in the fashion industry. That's because fashion and apparel brands often have siloed data spread across their organizations, which can make consolidating even simple factors for a DPP on a clothing tag a daunting task without the right governance systems and supplier relationships in place. That's especially true as companies seem to face stronger-than-ever mandates from the C-suite related to creating value and churning profits. Matteo Capellini, partner at Bain & Company, said that though both EU and the U.S. regulators have backed down from respective legislation in their nations related to sustainability, companies continue to quietly advance their efforts, even if the goalposts have shifted. 'What we're seeing with this watering down of regulation in Europe is actually a change of paradigm. We summarize this change…with the expression, 'from morality to materiality.' Basically, companies are focusing much more on value creation in sustainability, but they're not slowing the effort,' he said. 'Companies, [because of] the politicization of certain issues are speaking less, but they're not slowing the efforts. This is what we're seeing with our clients on a daily basis now, and it's across geographies.' Each of the three experts noted that, while regulation might be a primary driver for implementing DPPs, brands and retailers are likely to find other value in the technology along the way. Authentication to reduce the spread of counterfeit items is but one benefit experts said DPPs could have; they could also help companies model the environmental impact their products could have before production ever begins. Part of the allure for companies could be delighting and connecting with the consumer. Bain and eBay's data shows that, at present, consumers actually reap about two-thirds of the value DPPs offer today. That's, in large part, because it helps them resell the product with greater ease—and to prove it's authentic during the process of selling the item. Capellini said brands and retailers have the opportunity to grab a greater share of that profit back if they enable branded resale programs at scale, rather than forcing consumers to rely primarily on peer-to-peer resale players like eBay, Poshmark, Depop and others. 'Today, secondhand is not a top priority for brands, although everyone, in one way or another, is looking into it or working on it,' he said. 'In the next three to five years, we [expect] to start seeing brands seeing the potential increasing year after year of secondhand, coming from this enabler of DPP, and investing in owning the [resale] channel, rather than relying on peer-to-peer platforms like it's happening today.' Brewster said sustainability, despite today's regulatory environment, remains top of mind for consumers and brands alike. She expects to see the secondhand market and other consumer-led sustainability plays continue to expand the market for DPPs. She further noted that other priorities, like traceability and product fidelity, will influence companies' prioritization of DPPs and other digital identifier technologies, like RFID. 'What we're seeing from companies is that sustainability remains a priority. It may be in a different place on that list of priorities, but it remains a priority. Other priorities that may be coming further up the list still point them toward the use of digital identifiers,' Brewster said. ''Sustainability' may not be the word for today, this year, next year, but it's for sure coming back.' Experts said they believe consumers' interest in sustainability remains. But despite that, consumers' interest in the digital fingerprints on the day to day is a little more difficult to quantify. Whether or not EU consumers are on board, DPPs on fashion and apparel items are headed their way within a few short years. But Willemsen said U.S. consumers may not see such stronghanded adoption from their favorite fashion brands—mostly because it's not fully required. Instead, he posited, companies will likely begin by implementing DPPs on their EU-based products, both to save money and to make the processes behind integration more streamlined before scaling DPPs into all their markets simultaneously. 'I have the impression that the American companies are waiting a little bit [to see] what the European companies are doing. That makes sense—the Europeans are closer to the fire,' he said. 'Global companies will have an advantage of being able to trial and error in Europe and see if [their approach] works.'
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2 days ago
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OpenAI Reportedly Works to Monetize ChatGPT's Shopping Function By Taking Commission
OpenAI announced in late April that it had launched a shopping feature inside ChatGPT. Now, it's working to monetize that function, according to a report from the Financial Times. The AI giant is reportedly planning to take commission from sales that occur on ChatGPT; in order to accomplish that, per the FT, it is working to integrate checkout into the large language model's (LLM) interface, rather than directing users to a brand or retailer's site to complete the purchase. More from Sourcing Journal Vonage's AWS Partnership Aims to Amp AI-Based Voice Communications Byte-Sized AI: Intel Spinout Creates Components for Physical AI; Bonx Grabs $8M for Manufacturing ERPs Chain Reaction: Asendia's Hendrick Kummeling on Why Strategic Flexibility is the Best Defense Against the Uncontrollable The technology company announced earlier this year it had inked a partnership with Shopify, which the FT reported could influence the company's ability to add the checkout feature. In April, OpenAI told Sourcing Journal it had no plans to allow brands and retailers to purchase paid placements or advertisements for their products on ChatGPT. That still seems to be the case, according to company's website, which states that third-party providers it contracts with help determine how products are displayed to a ChatGPT user. 'When a user clicks on a product, we may show a list of merchants offering it. This list is generated based on merchant and product metadata we receive from third-party providers,' the company's site notes. 'Currently, the order in which we display merchants is predominantly determined by these providers. We do not re-rank merchants based on factors such as price, shipping, or return policies. We expect this to evolve as we continue to improve the shopping experience.' Still, brands and retailers may soon owe OpenAI a fraction of the price of the sale its technology helps facilitate. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, hinted that the move toward monetizing might be coming in a comment made in the Straterchy newsletter. 'We're never going to take money to change placement or whatever, but if you buy something through [ChatGPT] that you found, we're going to charge like a 2 percent affiliate fee or something,' Altman reportedly said. The Financial Times' report did not indicate how much commission OpenAI might look to grab. To date, OpenAI's revenue has come primarily from subscriptions—both individual and enterprise—to its technology systems. AJ Ghergich, global vice president at search optimization platform Botify, said the shift in business model makes sense, particularly as the company works to restructure as a for-profit entity. 'ChatGPT is guiding shoppers from 'What should I buy?' to 'I just bought it' in a single conversation. Capturing a small commission aligns OpenAI's revenue with the real commercial value its recommendations already create,' Ghergich told Sourcing Journal. Shoppers are increasingly turning to LLMs, including ChatGPT, during their shopping journeys. According to Adobe, just under half of U.S. consumers use generative AI for product recommendations, while 43 percent use it for gifting inspiration. But those numbers are likely to grow; the firm's data also showed that 53 percent of consumers plan to use AI to shop in 2025. Starting with AI, or including AI in a shopping journey, has started to change the way consumers buy—and could see a hit to some brands and retailers' site traffic, since LLMs' crawlers are ingesting and aggregating product information on consumers' behalfs, sometimes without the consumer ever visiting the product page. Ghergich said if companies choose not to play ball with eventual fees handed down from OpenAI, they could stymie their growth or dent customer affinity. 'The bigger risk isn't the commission fee; it's being absent when 53 percent of consumers plan to use AI for shopping this year,' he said. 'You can't sell to customers you can't reach.' OpenAI did not immediately return Sourcing Journal's request for comment on the monetization of ChatGPT shopping. Ghergich said the report about ChatGPT's plans to charge commission isn't surprising, particularly when contextualized with moves from other technology providers. For instance, security company Cloudflare announced at the outset of the month that it would begin allowing website publishers to block AI-based crawlers from entering their site if they don't want their content ingested by certain AI systems. What's more, the company said, some clients would be eligible to beta test a program it calls 'pay per crawl,' which would require crawlers' owners to pay fees—akin to a paywall in media—to access and ingest content. Ghergich predicts these companies' moves are only the genesis of the future of AI-based commerce. 'We are watching the birth of conversational commerce,' Ghergich said. 'Cloudflare is asking AI crawlers to pay for data; OpenAI is charging for the sale. The common theme is value alignment: platforms are planting toll booths wherever AI meets commerce or content.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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2 days ago
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Up Close: In Conversation with Cleo's Jacob Olson
Up Close is Sourcing Journal's regular check-in with industry executives to get their take on topics ranging from their company's latest moves to personal style. In this Q&A, Jacob Olson, senior director, solutions at supply chain and data integration software company Cleo, discusses why fashion should focus on agility and how technology can support better supply chain relationships. Name: Jacob OlsonTitle: Senior director, solutionsCompany: Cleo More from Sourcing Journal OpenAI Reportedly Works to Monetize ChatGPT's Shopping Function By Taking Commission Vonage's AWS Partnership Aims to Amp AI-Based Voice Communications Byte-Sized AI: Intel Spinout Creates Components for Physical AI; Bonx Grabs $8M for Manufacturing ERPs Which other industry has the best handle on the supply chain? What can apparel learn? Other industries have modernized their supply chain practices and B2B integration strategies in the last few years, especially in the manufacturing, logistics, transportation and retail spaces. Much of this modernization is in response to massive supply chain interruptions, especially due to effects of Covid, recent tariff changes and ongoing trade uncertainty. Most organizations have chosen to invest in technologies that enable them to be more agile as global supply chains continually shift. This includes modernizing their back-office systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and warehouse management systems (WMS), adopting and expanding electronic data interchange (EDI) and application programming interfaces (API) technologies to digitize their business processes and leveraging managed services from external vendors to complement—not replace—their people and processes. What should be the apparel industry's top priority right now? The apparel industry's top focus should be on supply chain agility. We have all experienced the impact of supply chain interruptions, and we can expect more disruptive events to occur in the coming years. The key to minimizing these impacts is to ensure an agile supply chain, especially the ability to quickly onboard suppliers and other trading partners. Companies who diversify their supply chains, digitize and automate core business processes and modernize both back-office and B2B integration technologies can turn volatility into opportunity. Cleo's recent Supply Chain Earnings Impact report included a few key takeaways. Companies that prioritized agile supply chains and expanded their networks saw growth, with 51 percent of companies that experienced stock price increases specifically noting that having greater control over supplier onboarding was a critical success factor. Forty-six percent of supply chain laggards cited supply chain disruptions on their earnings calls, while 37 percent reported delays as major contributors to underperformance. Order backlogs were a defining factor between winners and losers. While 42 percent of companies with stock price declines cited backlogs as a challenge impacting earnings, 50 percent of supply chain winners leveraged backlogs as a strategic growth engine. What innovation or development holds the greatest potential to improve operations in the apparel and textile industries? Proactive, artificial intelligence-powered relationship management. Companies in the apparel and textile spaces are often required to implement and follow tight service level agreements (SLAs), especially related to response times, fulfillment performance and data accuracy requirements. Management of customer, supplier and 3PL or carrier commitments is critical to avoiding chargebacks and fines and is key to ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. A modern integration platform like Cleo's includes tools to monitor and alert potential issues before they become problems. AI is rapidly enhancing these tools, allowing customers to identify trends, deviations and provide early warning signals to be truly proactive. Tell us about your company's latest product introduction: Cleo is constantly adding new capabilities to help our customers get more value out of the platform. In the B2B integration space that's rare, and we're proud of our continued innovation! Aside from many smaller features, two recent major additions are No-Code Onboarding to set up partner profiles in a matter of minutes and Ecosystem Relationship Manager, which provides real-time visibility and alerting of critical business processes along with scorecards to track historical performance. We also introduced our Concierge-level Managed Service offering for exacting customers who need 24/7 proactive coverage regardless of the issue or request, industry-leading response times and dedicated contacts for any requests or inquiries. How would you describe your corporate culture? Cleo's culture is incredible and built on behaviors that reward and foster customer appreciation. In fact, we call it 'The Art of Appreciation.' For Cleo, our customers come first, and everyone is always willing to help with any request, regardless of role or title. We've assembled some of the most experienced, brightest people in the supply chain orchestration space. That expertise, professionalism and hard-working attitude helps us truly partner with customers. Our platform powers our customers' core business processes, and across the board our people are focused on keeping that promise. Where do you look for personal style inspiration? Everywhere! Most often though online communities, in-person (both personal and professional) and from my favorite stores and brands. What are the top three product attributes that you factor into your purchasing decisions? Quality, style and comfort. With a small closet, I have to prioritize new purchases. Finding new products that will last, won't be quickly outdated and that I love to wear is critical. What keeps you up at night? Global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainty. Regardless of preparedness, we can't accurately predict the future. Unexpected events will occur, and they will cause heartburn and work for our customers. Thankfully, those customers have the right platform to handle these surprises to turn these disruptions into opportunity. What makes you most optimistic? I'm most optimistic about the interest and eagerness we're seeing from customers. Organizations that have tackled modernization projects in earnest have seen massive success. However, companies need to be prepared and willing to invest the time and effort to enact change. More companies are completing the necessary strategy, planning and hiring and have put themselves in a position to accomplish real change. It's incredibly exciting to see more companies ready to partner and looking to transform themselves! Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-07-2025
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Adobe Projects 3,200% Increase in Gen AI Traffic During Amazon Prime Day Event
Amazon's Prime Day event kicked off Tuesday, and analytics firm Adobe expects the e-commerce giant's influence will trigger nearly $24 billion in spending at U.S. retailers this week. While that marks growth from last year's Prime Day week, use of shopping tools built with artificial intelligence are also on the up and up. Adobe's data shows that it expects to see a 3,200 percent increase in generative AI-based traffic year on year during Amazon's summer Prime Day event, which will run until Friday. More from Sourcing Journal TuffAir Claims Amazon Launched a 'Copycat Operation' Based on Its Trade Secrets Up Close: In Conversation with Autone Co-founder and CEO Adil Bouhdadi H&M Uses Digital Twins of Professional Models to Showcase Denim Designs The company's prediction follows increased use of generative AI for the 2024 holiday season; last year, during the season, traffic brought about by generative AI increased by 1,300 percent compared with holiday 2023. Adobe noted that while generative AI is rapidly gaining market share, the traffic it creates is still well behind tried-and-true sources like paid search and email. According to the data, more than half of Americans said they use generative AI to research products, while 47 percent of consumers in the U.S. use the technology for product recommendations. Other key functions included finding deals (43 percent), gifting inspiration (35 percent) and writing shopping lists (33 percent). A slew of companies, including Amazon itself, have invested in generative AI shopping assistant features on their own sites. The e-tail behemoth's prominently displayed chatbot, Rufus, helps Amazon customers with product-specific questions, searches based on characteristics of a product and information distilled from reviews and product descriptions. But retailers are far from the only way—and likely not the primary way—that shoppers are getting their generative AI fix. Earlier this year, OpenAI announced it had created a ChatGPT feature specifically for shopping inquiries. It allows consumers to set specific parameters for products they're interested in—price, occasion, size, color and more—then helps them hunt down goods that match that criteria. Other technology companies, like Google, have also upgraded their AI-based features to include shopping tools. That kind of movement is creating an influx of traffic that can be difficult for brands and retailers to trace, because the generative AI tools are querying the site on the consumer's behalf. So, while a consumer may see a specific product come up in their ChatGPT shopping inquiry, if they choose not to purchase it, they may never click into a brand or retailer's site, which marks somewhat of a departure from traditional search and e-commerce. The trend of AI-assisted shopping is likely to continue through the end of the year; Salesforce projects that AI will influence $260 billion worth of online sales and $1.6 trillion in in-store sales for this year's holiday season. Already, four in 10 U.S. shoppers use a large language model (LLM) during the course of their shopping journey, with 5 percent of U.S. adults starting their product discovery with such a tool. Adobe expects that during Prime Day, U.S. retailers will offer the greatest discount on apparel items, at 24 percent; data from market research company Numerator shows that one-third of Tuesday Prime Day shoppers said they purchased an apparel item, making it the top category for the day, as of 4 p.m. Per Numerator, despite 95 percent of Prime Day shoppers saying they felt satisfied with the deals Amazon offered, half of all consumers indicated they compared prices at other retailers, a task which AI is adept at helping with. About four in 10 shoppers also plan to shop at Target Circle Week, running simultaneously, and 44 percent of shoppers plan to shop Walmart Deals this week. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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11-07-2025
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Material World: Sparxell Spills Ink, Modern Meadow Moves Mercedes
Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas within the materials sector, covering news from emerging biomaterials and alternative leathers to sustainable substitutes and future-proof fibers. Sparxell and Positive Materials have joined forces. More from Sourcing Journal H&M's & Other Stories' Ocean-Inspired Drop Features Keel Labs' Seaweed-Based Fibers Three Material Innovators Unite on Biobased Mash Up Concept Shoe Turning Farm Leftovers into Fashion's Future The Cambridge-based color platform technology company announced the launch of its first textile ink (derived from its dye-free pigments) in partnership with the PDS Group's textile company. 'This textile ink launch transforms how brands can access our breakthrough technology. For too long, the textile industry had no choice other than to accept that vibrant colors meant environmental damage. Sparxell's bio-inspired technology shatters that assumption, delivering exceptional results from plant-based cellulose,' Benjamin Droguet, founder and CEO of Sparxell, said. 'This is just the beginning—our vision is to make bio-inspired color technology the new standard across fashion, proving that high performance and working in harmony with nature are perfectly aligned.' Sparxell's textile ink is 'available from the end of June,' with printing orders processed through Positive Materials. Partnership rollout includes an all-over printed cotton jersey featuring Sparxell's technology, available starting in September in European markets. The spin-out startup's textile ink yokes the same structural color principles found in Morpho butterfly wings, 'engineering plant-based cellulose at the microscale to create vibrant colors through light manipulation rather than chemical formulas.' Positive Materials supports the validation and scale-up of Sparxell's breakthrough, the partners said, by integrating it into its existing production infrastructure—delivering the manufacturing expertise and operational capacity needed to take the technology from prototype to production-ready. On Sparxell's side, the team can then scale production alongside maintaining sustainability standards during the manufacturing process. 'Rather than requiring custom development projects, fashion designers and procurement teams can now order the most sustainable colorant options out there as easily as conventional alternatives, but with the added benefit of containing 100 percent biodegradable pigments that are free from toxic chemicals,' Elsa Parente, co-CEO and CTO of Positive Materials, said. 'Our collaboration with Sparxell represents exactly the kind of innovation the textile industry needs, aligning perfectly with our mission to create low-impact textiles that don't compromise on performance.' The launch builds on Sparxell's recent commercial momentum, including a nearly $2 million grant from the European Innovation Council and participation in LVMH's La Maison des Startups accelerator program. Spiber has landed a few new partners ahead of the trade show summer season, as Japanese biotech venture company announced its partnerships with Manifattura Sesia and Achille Pinto. Known for adopting responsible materials and providing refined quality, the Manifattura Sesia partnership yielded yarn blends containing 30 percent Brewed Protein fiber combined with wool. The Italian knitwear producer developed three variations of its T-Gen yarn—short for 'technological generation yarns.' The resulting material is soft to the touch and weighs less than pure wool. 'The combination of Spiber's Brewed Protein fiber with a selection of Superfine Merino Wool certified RWS and Nativa makes these yarns a cutting-edge example in our search for sustainable textile solutions,' said Chiara Serra, creative director of Manifattura Sesia. 'T-Gen represents another milestone in the path that Manifattura Sesia started years ago: creating ever more responsible yarns, with a quality designed to stand the test of time.' Spiber's partnership with Achille Pinto—an Italian premium mill known for its high-detail jacquards and printed textiles—has resulted in new collections containing 15–30 percent Brewed Protein fiber blended with silk and wool. 'These are the first and only textiles in Europe to combine Brewed Protein fiber with silk,' Spiber said. 'Moreover, Achille Pinto is the first European manufacturer to demonstrate printing capabilities on Brewed Protein fabrics.' Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia (ZBLB) developed two brewed yarns, combining the properties of Brewed Protein fiber with ZBLB's expertise in spinning and finishing merino wool. The company offers a variety of colors with 30 percent Brewed Protein fiber and 70 percent RWS wool as well. In addition, Botto Giuseppe renewed its 100 percent Brewed Protein yarn from the previous season and remains the only mill in Europe currently offering the entirely worsted yarn. Marzotto Group has renewed its textile collection 'FiberPro' from the previous season with 30 percent Brewed Protein blend fabrics and will present five new tailoring qualities. Japanese fiber distributor Takisada-Nagoya, meanwhile, will unveil over 20 new fabric collections. All new developments and samples will be on display at Spiber's booths at Pitti Filati and Milano Unica. Modern Meadow has entered a development partnership with Mercedes-Benz. The German luxury automotive brand leveraged the New Jersey-based biofabrication company's Innovera to develop a bio-design leather alternative for Mercedes' technology program, Concept AMG GT XX. Ideally, the partnership will further develop Modern Meadow's Innovera for series production and, ultimately, set a new standard in vehicle interiors. 'In our development partnership with Mercedes-Benz, we have used Innovera to create a new luxury leather alternative without sacrificing aesthetics, versatility and texture,' said CEO David Williamson. 'It looks and feels as good as it performs.' Innovera achieves more than 80 percent renewable carbon content and is completely animal-free. It requires no 'special preservation' or storage conditions—reducing complexity and costs—and is adaptable to any standard manufacturing process. The leather alternative consists of a combination of chemically recycled AMG GT3 racing car tires, plant-based proteins and biopolymers. In the Concept AMG GT XX, one scrap tire provides the basis for about four square meters of Innovera. The black seat pads of the bucket seats are covered with the Nappa-look variant. The bio-design means the leather alternative is breathable, waterproof and lighter than traditional materials, of which its maximum tensile strength is twice as high. With these properties, Modern Meadow said the material represents the 'new dimension of performance,' which the technology program stands for in the vehicle's interior. Modern Meadow's bio-design technology used to create this leather alternative included recycled racing tires that were used in 'tough competition' on AMG GT3 customer racing cars as well. Balena and Stella McCartney's partnership has hit the market. 'I mean this is insane. My shoe designer came up to me and said, 'smell the sole.' It's made of cinnamon waste. It smells of cinnamon,' Stella McCartney said in a statement. 'And it's basically 100 percent plant based, recyclable and biodegradable textile. It's a closed-loop production, so it ensures completely zero waste. It is mind-blowing.' The next-gen material science company's innovative material, BioCir Flex, is featured in the sustainable designer's 'highly anticipated' S-Wave Sport trainers for McCartney's autumn 2025 collection. Balena's BioCir Flex is a non-toxic, compostable, recyclable and biobased alternative to traditional plastics. BioCir Flex absorbs impact, responds to motion, is as durable as TPU and as flexible as rubber. It's dyed with natural cinnamon, too. 'This collaboration represents more than just a partnership, it's a shared commitment to shaping a future where materials are truly circular, sustainable, and high-performance,' said David Roubach, founder and CEO of Balena Science. 'Seeing BioCir Flex brought to life in a Stella McCartney design, and now available for consumers worldwide, is a milestone I could only dream of when we began this journey. Stella has long been a beacon of responsibility and innovation in fashion, and we're proud to help push the industry forward together.'
