Glossary

Our glossary is to help you understand the terms and jargon that you may encounter. On this page, you will find a comprehensive list of definitions and explanations of the key terms and concepts used within our platform and industry. Our goal is to provide clarity and ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the language and concepts that surround our platform. We hope this glossary will be a useful resource for you!

Transparency:
Transparency in the fashion industry refers to the disclosure of information about the production processes, social and environmental impact, and overall business practices of fashion companies. It involves providing consumers and other stakeholders with information about the supply chain, including where materials are sourced, how garments are made, who is involved in the production process, and the working conditions of factory workers. Transparency is important in the fashion industry because it enables consumers to make informed purchasing decisions and hold companies accountable for their actions. It also allows for greater visibility into the social and environmental impact of the fashion industry and helps to identify areas where improvements can be made.

Levels of transparency:
At tex.tracer, we work with three levels of transparency.
​The 1st level of transparency is achieved when the value chain of a product/orderline has been created and the concerned supplier chain partners have been added (T1-4).
​The 2nd level of transparency is reached when the invited supply chain partners 1) create their account, 2) upload company pictures and 3) upload social and sustainable certificates. By creating an account they accept the terms and conditions of tex.tracer sharing their company information and location.
​The 3rd level of transparency is achieved when the supply chain partners share orderline data by 1) uploading a picture of a packing list/delivery note and 2) accepting or rejecting the uploaded data of the previous step. This digital handshake verifies the steps in the supply chain.

Footprint:

You can collect your Scope 3 emissions with tex.tracer, it encompasses the product's production carbon emissions, resource consumption, waste generation, and more. You are able to request data directly from your suppliers at each step in the supply chain. The collected environmental data is then analysed by performing a Life Cycle Assessment, also known as an LCA.

Client account: A client account is for brands and retailers.

Supplier account: A supplier account is for all suppliers. The use of tex.tracer is free for suppliers.

Company registration number: In tex.tracer, we use the company registration number of a company as the key identifier. We need the company registration number to create an account in tex.tracer. In each country, the company registration number may be different. We have listed the most common countries and their company registration numbers. You can download the list at the bottom of this article.

User role: In tex.tracer, we have three types of user roles: 1) Admin, 2) Editor and 3) Reader. The first user of the account is automatically the admin. The admin can invite, edit and block extra users, add brands, and make changes to the company information. Both the admin and editor can upload orderlines, invite supply chain partners, send compliance documents and perform other actions. Readers can only read the information on tex.tracer, they cannot perform any actions.

Category: These are the product categories your company produces. The categories available in tex.tracer are: Men, Women, Kids, Trims and/or accessories, Workwear, Upholstery/furniture, Yarn and/or Fabric, Raw material, and Other.

Product group: In tex.tracer, we create templates of supply chains based on Product groups. This makes it easier for you to create supply chains. The product groups in tex.tracer are: Flat knit, Circle knit, Woven, Denim, Outerwear, Lingerie, Bags, Shoes, Socks, Accessories, Leather, Swimwear, Upholstery and Trims.

Yearly turnover: The yearly turnover refers to the total income made by a business over a year (gross revenue or total sales).

Brand name: As a client, you can add multiple brands to your account. You can add multiple brands to your account.

Brand URL: As a client, you can add the URL of your website/webshop.

Footprint details: Was the footprint of your products calculated? Then you can add an introductory text to the footprint results.

Next step details: Let your consumer know what they can do with their product at the end of its life. You can add options such as Repair, Resell, Recycle and so on. In this way, you can let your consumers know in what way they can extend the product's lifecycle.

Office address: Office/factory name: you can give your office or factory a name. It can also be the company name.

Address line 1/2: Here you need to fill in the address information (street and number).

Postal code: The set of numbers and sometimes letters, that help postal services deliver mail. Also known as a Zip Code.

Country, State and City: The location of your company.

Admin settings: An extra tab for admins, where the admin can invite new users, edit the existing users or block users that are no longer needed.

Status of a user: There are three statuses a user can have, 1) Inactive, 2) Active and 3) Blocked. After a user is invited, the status is Inactive. When the user has activated their account, the status changes to Active. When the user no longer has access to its account, the status of the user is Blocked.

Languages: You can set your tex.tracer account in one of our 5 languages: English, German, Spanish, Turkish and Mandarin (Chinese). To do this, click on the profile icon on the top right of your screen, and click on Languages. You can also let your browser translate the platform automatically, but this can sometimes lead to incorrect translations.

​Total styles in platform: the total number of orderlines uploaded on tex.tracer.
​Total QR codes live: the total number of orderlines that have a published DPP. These orderlines (articles) can be scanned by your consumer (if using QR codes) or will be available on your website (if using the plug-in),

Actions for today:
​Pending orderlines: After you upload orderlines, these orderlines are ready to be customised or confirmed directly to your contractual partners. Click on Manage your orderlines to do so.

Waiting for contractual partners: send your contractual partner a reminder to complete the supply chain.
​Pending contractual partner invites: remind your contractual partner to create their account.
​Certificates expiring within 7 days: remind your partners to upload a new, valid certificate.

Transparency efforts: this graph shows you the total amount of pieces uploaded in tex.tracer to create transparent supply chains. It shows you when the orderlines are uploaded over time.
​Sustainability efforts: this pie chart shows the percentage of your contractual partners with a sustainable certificate.
​Social efforts: this pie chart shows the percentage of your confectioning partners with a social audit report.

Expiring certifications: all certificates that expire within a month will be listed here, with the name of the supplier and the days until expiration.

Top 10 supply chain partners: This gives you an overview of your top 10 contractual partners, ranked by how many orderlines they have processed for you in tex.tracer.

An orderline is a unique combination of an order number and style number. Orderlines are uploaded to tex.tracer by the Brand, and for each orderline, the supply chain is made transparent. The orderline has order-specific information including product details, quantities, delivery dates, and associated partners.

Pending orderlines: After you upload orderlines, these orderlines are ready to be customised or confirmed directly to your contractual partners. Click on Manage your orderlines to do so.

Orderline(s) to assign to contractual partner: Orderlines that have been just uploaded and the contractual partner is not recognised by the tex.tracer platform. Click on Select contractual partner to select one from your partner list or invite a new partner.

Orderline(s) need review: These orderlines can be customised or confirmed directly to your contractual partners. When Customising orders, you can add your Agent in bulk.

Orderline(s) waiting for agent to confirm: These orderlines have been sent to your agent. Your agent can now work on the orderlines. Is it taking too long? You can click on Forward to send the orderline(s) to your Contractual partner. The Agent is still attached to the orderline(s), but cannot edit the orderline(s) in bulk.

Waiting for contractual partner: The orderlines are sent to your contractual partners to create the supply chains. The contractual partner has not yet created the supply chains.

Verification in progress: After the contractual partner has created the supply chain for the orderlines, the orderlines move to the verification in progress tab. You can track the progress or the orderline in this tab.

Completed: All orderlines for which order evidence is uploaded (for each step) or orderlines that are published (DPP), are listed here.

Filters on the Orderlines page:
​ETD from and ETD to: The estimated time of departure/shipping date when the products leave the country of origin. You can filter orderlines on the shipping date.

All brands: This filter allows you to filter the orderlines on the brand name.

All product groups: This filter allows you to filter the orderlines on the product group.

All partners: This filter allows you to filter the orderlines on the contractual partner.

All users: This filter allows you to filter the orderlines

To publish: These are the orderlines that have not yet been made available for the consumer to follow the product journey. You can preview the DPP by clicking the eye icon.

Published: On this tab, you will see all the orderlines that have been published.
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Contractual partners: Partners to whom the orders are sent (with whom you have a contract). They are often your Tier 1 suppliers, production location, manufacturer, or confectioner.

Agents: An external party who works on behalf of your brand/company with the supply chain partners.

Nominated partners: Do you have a nominated fabric or trims supplier? Or a logistic partner? You can invite these nominated partners, and assign them to certain steps in the supply chain before sending the orderlines to your contractual partner or agent. Your contractual partner or agent cannot make alterations to these assigned partners.

Invite new: Invite new supply chain partners using this button.

Contact person: A person responsible for your orders on behalf of the invited supply chain partner.

Cooperation with: Other manufacturing partners of your supply chain partner.

Documents uploaded: Compliance documents (Code of Conduct, delivery manual, etc) uploaded by you.

Sent: Documents uploaded and sent to the selected supply chain partners to read and/or digitally sign.

Documents archived: you can archive a document when it is no longer valid or necessary. For example, when the Code of Conduct is updated, you can archive the old version, and send out the newest version.

Certificates: An official document stating your supply chain partners fulfil the requirements of a certain certification.

In tex.tracer, we have divided the certifications into sustainable and social certificates. Uploaded certifications will be visible immediately to you.

Issuing company: The organization responsible for issuing certificates, audit results, and other official documentation related to compliance with various standards and practices.

Reference of issuer: The registered number of a company issuing the certificate.

Transaction Certificates: A transaction certificate (TC) is a document issued by the certification body that verifies the goods being shipped (or delivered) from one organisation to the next conform to a given standard. Obtaining a TC for all the Textile Exchange standards and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for the input materials to be used in the output products with the claim of the respective standard(s).

Master report supply chain partners: A complete overview of your contractual and nominated partners with their company and address details as well as compliance details.

Master report dependencies: A complete overview of the number of orderlines and their status in the platform.

Footprint: product’s production emissions and resource consumption together with waste generation, packaging, and transporting to the warehouse.

Provide data: Fill in required data for the supply chain step(s) you are responsible for.

Data completed: view data filled in for the product’s footprint.

Yarn: a strand of natural or synthetic fibers and filaments created by spinning and used for fabric production.

Yarn count: the thickness of a yarn determined by its mass per unit length.

Fiber: a natural or synthetic filament used for spinning into a yarn.

Fabric: a cloth that has been woven, knitted, or non-woven from yarns or fibers and is used for garment production.

Wet process: a process in textile production that involves treatments or processes where water is a primary component or medium, such as dyeing, printing, washing, or finishing fabrics or garments.

Yarn treatment: a process applied to yarn before or after spinning to modify its properties, enhance its performance, or achieve specific characteristics desired for the intended use, such as dyeing, coating, twisting, or sizing.

Fabric treatment: a process applied to fabric to modify its properties, enhance its performance, or achieve specific characteristics desired for the intended use, such as dyeing, pre-treatment, printing, coating/finishing.

Dyeing treatment: a process in which colorants are added to fiber, yarns, or fabric to achieve desired colour.

Pre-treatment: preparatory processes applied to textiles, fabrics, or yarns before subsequent treatments or finishing, such as desizing, scouring, bleaching, drying, or mercerising to remove impurities, enhance dye absorption, or improve the material's receptiveness to subsequent treatments.

Coating/finishing: a process of applying a layer for specific purposes to alter appearance or functionality of the fabric. For example, waterproofing.

Product: a final product manufactured ready for sale.

Cutting waste: the leftovers or unused textile generated during the process of manufacturing of the product.

Packaging: materials used to protect, ship, and storage the products.

Accessories: additional components including buttons, zippers, trims, labels.

Reference: additional information or identifier referring to the process, helping supply chain partners understand the specific order or product associated with that step.

Energy use: the amount of energy used for the specific step processing in the supply chain.

Footprint data: information about the environmental impact of a process or product, including carbon emissions, water usage, and energy consumption.

Transport data: the data of the type of transport use and transporting distance.

Mode of transport: the type of transport used for transporting.

Need more help? You can get in touch with us via chat or contact us via email at [email protected].