The author has shared a YouTube video.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.
OXFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom — At BoF VOICES 2025, the tenth anniversary edition of the fashion industry’s annual gathering, Certilogo founder and general manager Michele Casucci and fashion designer Patrick McDowell joined BoF’s director of content strategy Alice Gividen for a conversation exploring how product transparency can transform design storytelling, enhance consumer relationships and help accelerate a circular economy.
Consumer trust in fashion has been severely eroded by supply chain scandals linking luxury labels like Loro Piana to labour exploitation and widespread greenwashing claims. Now, regulation is catching up. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation will make destroying unsold products illegal in 2026, while Digital Product Passports (DPPs) — digital records documenting a product’s materials, manufacturing and lifecycle, accessible via QR codes — will become mandatory beginning in 2027.
However, treating a DPP as just a compliance checkbox misses the bigger opportunity — the potential to reimagine how brands connect with consumers. For Casucci, whose company Certilogo has pioneered connected product technologies for luxury brands, the potential lies in turning product information into relationship infrastructure.
“With a connected product, every scan comes with an invitation to be part of the brand’s community, and that’s a touchpoint that stays over time,” Casucci explained, highlighting how the opportunities associated with digital identity solutions extend far beyond transparency requirements.
McDowell, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, demonstrated this vision with The Lancashire Rose, his debut ready-to-wear collection shown at London Fashion Week in September. In collaboration with Certilogo, each piece carried a DPP serving as an ongoing touchpoint throughout its lifecycle, inviting customers into a deeper relationship with McDowell’s provenance, craftsmanship and creative world.
Below, BoF shares key insights from the conversation on building trust through transparency, recognising DPPs as foundations for community connection and ultimately empowering customers to participate in fashion’s sustainable future.
Transform Compliance Requirements Into Relationship Infrastructure
Patrick McDowell: [As a designer], you want to be part of the client’s wardrobe. You want them to have a connected product that gives them a small window into those amazing feelings they would experience in the studio with us, in person. Through the connected product, it’s an incredible way to share videos, behind-the-scenes images, resale opportunities and traceability. With the DPP, you can discover how the piece was made, where it was made and why it’s worth buying. It’s an incredibly exciting way to approach compliance while making it engaging.
Michele Casucci: The most important thing to understand about the DPP from a strategic perspective is that it sits on top of a product — essentially a digital layer built on top of the physical product. If you view it this way, the DPP is not just a compliance topic, which of course is necessary and important for incentivising more responsible purchasing decisions, but it’s also an opportunity to build a relationship with the customer.
Embed Emotional Storytelling Into Product Identity
MC: When talking about emotions and feelings, [that is] essentially storytelling. The connected product, among other things, is a device for storytelling and something that has to do with the relationship between the brand — Patrick McDowell — and the customer.
PM: Everything we do is about being emotional, small and special. [For example, a dress we] made from four vintage wedding dresses and re-crafted with 200 handmade organza flowers is a very special piece. So having something inside that dress that can tell that story to the client, to their friends when they get dressed for their wedding, or to their daughter in 20 years — that’s really important.
MC: It’s a permanent touchpoint to the consumer, so the garment doesn’t just sit in the wardrobe — it becomes an opportunity for an ongoing dialogue. You can add value-added services, content and storytelling after the initial purchase. If a brand is lucky, you normally get to know your customer when they buy at your own store and sign up for marketing. With a connected product, every scan comes with an invitation to be part of the brand’s community, and that’s a touchpoint that stays over time.
Embrace Circularity as a Business Opportunity
PM: For me, it’s all about circularity. Circularity is a way of doing business, and it’s also a way to stay engaged and interactive with your clients. I think the more we see it as a business opportunity, the more exciting it can be and the more incredible these experiences can feel for all of us. Instead of something we have to do, it becomes an actual opportunity to re-engage and move toward a circular economy — which is what we know we all need.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Certilogo as part of a BoF partnership.
