The Professional Clothing Industry Association Worldwide (PCIAW®) is pleased to announce Austin Simms, CEO of Dayrize, as a speaker at the PCIAW® Summit, Exhibition & Awards 2026, taking place at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London on 21–22 October.
Austin will bring his experience in Digital Product Passport (DPP) implementation to the session “From Theory to Pilot: Delivering an End-to-End Digital Product Passport in Airline Uniforms,” taking place from 4:15pm–4:55pm.
Moving beyond high-level strategy and theoretical frameworks, the session will examine the practical delivery of a DPP within global airline uniform programmes, including the deployment of Digital Product Passports across 10 core garments from an active airline uniform wardrobe.
From DPP theory to real-world implementation
As CEO of Dayrize, Austin is responsible for the company’s strategy, planning and delivery, working at the intersection of product data, environmental impact, compliance and digital transparency.
Dayrize is a product impact and risk software platform that has assessed more than 40 million products and 70,000 materials. Its technology supports retailers, brands and consultants with Digital Product Passports alongside requirements including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), packaging regulation, product carbon footprints and Scope 1–3 reporting.
Crucially, Austin’s perspective on DPPs comes from practical implementation. Dayrize already generates and hosts Digital Product Passports for customers, providing first-hand experience of the processes and data required to move from the concept of a DPP to an operational system.
At the PCIAW® Summit, Austin will help bring this experience into the professional clothing industry as businesses prepare for a regulatory landscape in which product-level data and transparency are becoming increasingly important.
What does a Digital Product Passport actually mean?
At its core, a DPP creates a digital record containing information about a product, including what it is made from, where it came from and what happens to it next.
For the professional clothing industry, however, delivering this information requires data to be gathered from across complex, multi-tier and often international supply chains.
The Summit session will explore the practical workflow required to capture environmental product information, aggregate supply-chain data and turn it into a completed Digital Product Passport.
Using an active airline uniform programme as a practical example, the discussion will examine what happens when organisations move beyond discussing DPP readiness and begin implementing the infrastructure required to deliver it.
Overcoming the product data challenge
One of the central challenges surrounding DPP implementation is the collection and management of reliable product and supply-chain data.
The session will examine practical issues including supplier data collection, data governance across overseas manufacturers and the coordination of information from multiple stages of the supply chain.
For organisations preparing for future DPP requirements, this process cannot necessarily begin when regulation takes effect. Austin highlights that collecting the required supply-chain data can typically take 12–24 months, making early preparation increasingly important.
This also creates an opportunity to rethink how product information is managed internally. Rather than collecting separate datasets for individual compliance requirements, businesses can develop a stronger product-data foundation capable of supporting multiple reporting and regulatory needs.
Preparing for the changing regulatory landscape
Austin will also explore the regulatory direction driving increased attention towards Digital Product Passports.
The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) entered into force in 2024, establishing the framework through which Digital Product Passports will be introduced for regulated product groups.
For organisations operating internationally, the implications extend beyond companies headquartered within the EU. Businesses placing relevant products onto the European market will need to understand how emerging requirements affect their products and supply chains.
The discussion will therefore help attendees understand what a DPP is, how it may apply to their organisation and why establishing the necessary supply-chain data infrastructure is becoming a priority.
Turning compliance data into an opportunity
Austin will also challenge the idea that a Digital Product Passport should be viewed purely as a compliance obligation.
The same product information required to support regulatory transparency can create new ways for organisations to communicate with customers and wearers, demonstrate authenticity and support services including repair, reuse and resale.
Within professional clothing, where garments can pass through complex procurement, use and end-of-life processes, accessible product information also has the potential to strengthen traceability across the lifecycle of a garment.
The session will demonstrate how organisations can move towards collecting product information once and using that data across multiple requirements, including DPP, EPR, packaging and carbon reporting.
The Implementation Phase
The session directly reflects the theme of the PCIAW® Summit 2026 – “The Implementation Phase.”
As Digital Product Passports move from policy discussions towards practical deployment, the professional clothing industry must consider how product, material and supply-chain information can be collected, governed and ultimately transformed into usable digital records.
By examining an active airline uniform DPP deployment, Austin will provide attendees with a practical perspective on what implementation looks like beyond the theoretical framework.
Austin Simms will contribute to “From Theory to Pilot: Delivering an End-to-End Digital Product Passport in Airline Uniforms” from 4:15pm–4:55pm at the PCIAW® Summit, Exhibition & Awards 2026.
The event takes place at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London, on 21–22 October 2026.
