BGMEA vice president Vidiya Amrit Khan and AWARE founder and managing director Feico van der Veen signed the agreement in Dhaka on 10 May 2026.
This initiative comes as the EU, Bangladesh’s largest export destination for ready-made garments, moves towards the mandatory DPP regulation from 2027.
The new law will require all textile and garment products entering the European market to have verified product documentation detailing material origins, production information, and environmental impact.
The challenge lies in the dependence of Bangladesh’s garment industry on imported fibres and yarns, primarily sourced from countries such as China and India.
Ensuring traceability across borders has historically posed difficulties as brands need to demonstrate documented proof of origin for these materials under the new DPP rules.
AWARE’s blockchain technology aims to resolve this issue by generating verifiable data tokens for production batches at the source of raw materials.
These tokens contain data regarding material origins, composition, and sustainability credentials and accompany physical shipments into Bangladesh.
Each BGMEA member factory updates the Data Token with production details, creating an uninterrupted digital record from raw material to finished garment.
Feico van der Veen said: “I built AWARE on 30+ years of living and working across Asian textile supply chains and global brands. Everyone built for brands. We built for producers. We keep Asian producers export-eligible. In a world where unverifiable claims are now a legal liability, that's not a feature. That's the market.”
The collaboration will enable factories to generate EU-compliant DPPs for garments automatically.
Each product can be linked via QR code to documentation accessible by brands and consumers globally.
Under the MoU, BGMEA member factories retain full ownership and control of their data, including the authority to determine who can access and use it.
Vidiya Amrit Khan added: “BGMEA has always stood for protecting the interests of Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers and ensuring their access to global markets. This partnership with AWARE is a direct expression of that mission. The EU Digital Product Passport is coming, and our members must be ready. We believe AWARE’s technology gives Bangladesh’s factories the tools to not just comply, but to lead.”
The BGMEA–AWARE collaboration seeks to address potential compliance issues for both garment exporters and their international clients.
In addition to compliance, the system will offer factories ongoing data ownership and a capability to monitor how their products are used downstream.
The Token Tracker function enables garment makers to track which brands and end products incorporate their materials, giving insights not currently available via certification systems.
The partners plan to launch pilot projects with select spinning and garment manufacturing companies immediately to implement the first cross-border fibre-to-garment DPP supply chains from Bangladesh to Europe.
