From overload to relief: the impact of certificate automation on CSR and quality teams

What are the difficulties of manual management?

Time-consuming and low value-added

Manual management of certificates, involving numerous email exchanges and complex verifications, is inefficient and not scalable to all products. According to a Lectra study (2019), fashion companies could save up to 50% of their administrative time by automating these tasks, including certificate management, which remains a constant challenge and offers little added value to the brand.

CSR manager fatigue

Certificate management, often entrusted to already overloaded CSR managers, increases their workload and complicates their mission to define sustainability. Often isolated and without support from their superiors and colleagues, these managers risk burnout, as highlighted in an Eco-Business report in May 2024.

Risky management and errors

Manual certificate management carries a high risk of errors, which can lead to the use of invalid, expired, or false certificates, undermining the credibility of brands.

No longer possible with increased demand and fraud

The demand for certificates has significantly increased. OEKO-TEX has observed a 21% rise between July 2022 and June 2023, totaling 43,000 certificates and labels. Fraud is also on the rise: in 2020, GOTS detected 20,000 tons of fake organic cotton in India and in 2016, the Cotton Egypt Association revealed that 90% of the world's Egyptian cotton was fake.‍

Why automate its management?

Improve team productivity

According to Andréa Garcia, product manager and project manager for traceability at Mise au Green, "our teams were able to save the equivalent of two months of work with Trace For Good.”

Secure sustainable material supplies

Brands that succeed in significantly changing their supplies can increase their profits by 6%, according to a BCG - Quantis - Textile Exchange report.

Ensure material origin

Automation also helps to ensure material origin through the collection of TC (Transaction Certificate). Once this material origin is verified, products can be labeled among eight possible labels to obtain eco-modulations.

What can be automated?

• Intelligent collection: The automatic sending of certificate requests to suppliers is based on the specific regulations targeted by the brands, with integrated reminders to ensure documents are up-to-date.

• Reading, extraction, and classification of information: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology is used to read, extract, and automatically classify the information contained in the certificates.

• Validity verification: Certificates are automatically verified through interconnections with Open Source databases, ensuring their authenticity and validity.

• Centralization and categorization: All certificates are centralized within the Trace For Good platform and categorized with real-time updates, making it easier to track and manage documents.

Certificates covered by Trace For Good

Trace For Good covers a wide range of certificates to meet the diverse needs of brands in terms of sustainability and transparency in their supply chain.

Audit: BSCI (AMFORI), SMETA, ICS, Higg Index, WRAP, SA 8000, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 9001, SLCP, CTPAT

Scope certificate and transaction certificate: FSC, GOTS, Leather Working Group, Chrome Free Tanned Leather, Recycle content, Oeko-Tex, QIMA, FAIR TRADE PERU GOOD PRACTICES, Textile exchange Scope Certificates (CCS, GRS, OCS, RAS, RCS, RDS, RMS, RWS)

Confirmation letters: EcoVero, Tencel, Viscose Liveaco, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

Signed letters: REACH, Declaration of forced labor ban

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To find out more about the difference between transaction certificates and scope certificates.