Filippa K, Axfoundation and GS1 took part in the Nordic Circular Accelerator program - a program led by Accenture and supported by Nordic Innovation with the aim to help Nordic companies and their partners build capacity and knowledge on how to use data sharing as a tool in their circular transition.
For fashion company Filippa K, the opportunity to collaborate with their partners around data sharing and learn from others was the main reason for applying for the program. Olivia Sjöberg, Senior Sustainability Controller at Filippa K explains:
“One of the most important aspects for us was the chance to explore data sharing together with different partners since data sharing is a cornerstone in enabling circular business models. We also wanted to see how others are working to reduce reliance on increased production as the main driver of growth.”
Data sharing to enable longer lifespans of fashion items
Before joining the program, the partners had, in collaboration with the company Virtual Routez, worked on the ‘Fiber Traceability Initiative’, through which they developed a beta version of the Digital Product Passport. They saw the Nordic Circular Accelerator program as an opportunity to further develop and scale the value of Digital Product Passports:
“By participating in the program, we wanted to explore how we could unlock greater value from the existing digital product passport and identify ways to create value for other stakeholders across the value chain,” Sjöberg explains.
The overarching goal was to use data to make circular services more effective and make the experience of resale and re-purchase more attractive to enable a longer lifespan of an item. To achieve this, the partners focused on making the resale process more efficient through data sharing and collaboration:
“We looked at the resale players in the value chain. We wanted to understand how we can design a digital passport that creates value, makes a more efficient resale process and enables a better costumer experience. Focus was on collaboration to create efficient information flows between brands and resale players to improve the customer experience and share benefits with all involved players,” Sjöberg explains.
An incubator for circular solutions
The Nordic Circular Accelerator program has played an important role in facilitating valuable discussions and moving the development of the Digital Product Passport forward, Sjöberg explains:
“The program helped us facilitate important discussions. For instance, one thing that became clearer to us was the importance of involving all relevant stakeholders from the very beginning, and that this is essential for identifying the core data needed to create value for everyone. The program helped us to get to those discussions very quickly.”
Sjöberg describes the program as more of an incubator than an accelerator:
“We were continuously supported by the frameworks provided to help us evaluate our ideas. We were really encouraged to push forward to find good solutions, test them quickly, and see how we could build on them. The program was practical, collaborative and inspiring.”
While the partners are still exploring the full potential of creating business value and profitability through data sharing, they have already developed a strong value case around resale, Sjöberg explains:
“By using product data to support smoother resale flows we can improve both the listing process, the customer experience and potentially open new revenue channels. As we scale Digital Product Passports, we expect these efficiencies and services to contribute positively to profitability.”
Pilot testing with new Nordic partners
In spring 2025, Nordic Innovation announced a call for project outlines. Building on their participation in the Nordic Circular Accelerator program, the partners saw this as an opportunity to bring the value case into real-life testing and decided to apply for funding.
“The next step for us is to test our findings from the Nordic Circular Accelerator program in practice through live pilots. We now have everything we need to do the live testing, and this is what we are going to do this autumn with support from Nordic Innovation, Sjöberg explains and continues:
“The new project is called Revalue – Clothing Resale through Digital Product Passport, and it is in many ways a 2.0 of what we developed in the Nordic Circular Accelerator program.”
The project aims to explore how Digital Product Passports can streamline resale of clothes and how extended product lifespan can become profitable for clothing brands and resale actors. As a part of the new project, the collaboration has expanded to include more partners across the value chain and across the Nordics, including resale actors, AI partners, brands and policy groups:
Read more about the new project
“Our participation in the Nordic Circular Accelerator program was in many ways a pre-study where we didn’t have all the players set up from the beginning. We were just Filippa K, Axfoundation and GS1. We didn’t have any resale players officially involved in the project. We have now gathered those players, also at a Nordic level,” Sjöberg says and concludes:
“So, this is truly the next step. We bring the learnings with us from the Nordic Circular Accelerator program into a physical test.”
Background
The Nordic Circular Accelerator program is supported under the Circular Business Models program, 2021-2024. The learnings from the program has been gathered in a 'data sharing playbook' with tips, tools and good ideas on how to share data between partners.
Go to the Nordic Data Sharing Playbook
