Fill in SDEX to the best of your ability. It is not unusual that not all data points can be filled in. Please consider the SDEX Tool to be at an aspirational level.
Start with the General, Brand, and Climate tabs. Every brand should be able to fill in this information. Some Product/Material composition data is often not readily available. Brands should fill out these attributes as data is available.
The SDEX tool contains built-in functions to help prevent errors and maintain standard data collection. If an incorrect or unaccepted value is entered, the cell will turn red. Please check formatting and use dropdown lists where applicable.
A color scheme shows which fields to complete:
If you need to copy or cut information from the SDEX Tool, please note that using the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl-x’ (cut) is not possible with sheet protection activated. To copy from the SDEX Tool, please use the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl-c’ (copy).
The data needed for SDEX should already exist within your organization. We recommend coordinating with colleagues to collect it.
General Data – This should be filled in by the person managing/coordinating the completion of the SDEX Tool. Often this person sits within CSR or Sales.
Brand Data – This information usually exists within CSR/ESG teams.
Climate Data – This information usually exists within CSR/ESG teams.
Textile/Footwear/Hard Goods Data – This information usually sits within CSR/ESG teams, or product management.
SMEs are asked to provide less information than larger companies. SME status is determined by turnover and employee number, based on EU legislative thresholds.
For companies that are a subsidiary or part of a larger group, you will need to assess your SME status based on ownership and control relationships, including non-EU parent companies.
Info on SME Classification for Companies Part of a Subsidiary or Group:
If a brand is part of a group or has a parent company, you generally cannot assess SME status on the brand’s own figures alone. There are three distinguished cases:
Autonomous enterprise (<25% ownership): report your own data only
Partner (25–50% ownership): include a proportional share of partner data
Linked (>50% ownership or consolidated accounts): aggregate 100% of group data
Where companies are included in full consolidate accounts of another company, they are automatically treated as linked enterprises, meaning group figures are used.
For Non-EU Parent Companies: The geographical location of the parent is irrelevant. Links and partnerships must be considered “irrespective of whether the other enterprises are located inside or outside the EU”. So, if the parent company is in the US, Japan, or elsewhere, but it owns >50% of the EU entity, you must aggregate the global group’s headcount and financial figures. The logic is to prevent large multinationals from appearing as SMEs through small subsidiaries – so even a small EU-based product/distribution company will lose SME status if its parent group exceeds the thresholds.
Please confirm your classification using the European Commission SME self-assessment tool
The Brand Tab now includes a filter that reduces the number of questions for SMEs. This filter is activated based on the information entered in the General Tab. For SMEs, many rows will appear blue (not to be filled in). In this case, only the yellow cells need to be completed. Occasionally, text may not appear fully in some cells. This is related to the user’s version of Excel, not SDEX 3.0. if this occurs, adjust the zoom (scroll in/out) and text will readjust.
For organizations that are part of a group or have a parent company, questions on total carbon emissions may be answered at either parent company or individual brand level. Brands may choose the approach but should agree on the approach with their retail partners, and this should be indicated in the notes.
The product tabs include Textile, Footwear, and Hard Goods.
Within the three product tabs, there is a Product Master Data section. This data is the non-sustainability, sales/identification data for each product and typically includes items such as article name, GTIN/EAN, creation data, size/size system, color code/name, customs tariff number, FEDAS code, packaging unit, net/gross weight, RRP, purchase price and VAT. This Product Master Data is usually managed by Sales or Operations colleagues.
Textile Products: Apparel, sleeping bags, tents, ropes, gaiters, belts, hammocks, and other textile based products.
Footwear Products: High- and mid-cut boots, approach and running shoes, and sandals
Hard Goods Products: Rucksacks, package/luggage accessories, gloves, helmets, climbing harnesses, climbing devices/equipment and non-textile components on climbing equipment, tent poles and pegs, walking poles, outdoor accessories (lighting, cooking, eating and hydration), skis, snowboards, ski and snowboard boots.
Blended Fabric – In the Textile Tab, a “blended fabric” refers to a textile made from two or more different fiber types that are spun, woven or knitted together (e.g. polyester/cotton). For each component listed in the Textile Tab (e.g. outer, lining, etc) one fabric can be specified, containing up to three fiber/material types.
For example: Cotton (40%) / Polyester (55%) / Elastane (5%)
Textile Products: We recommend using the data as it is listed on the care label. This is compliant with the textile labelling regulation and should be readily available.
Hard Goods: The Hard Goods Tab offers greater flexibility regarding product components and materials. If you are struggling to fit your product into the Textile Tab, try to insert the product and its information into the Hard Goods Tab.
SDEX Component Structure: The SDEX Component Structure may not fit internal component structures. While there is no formally recognized standardized classification system for product components, widely understood industry norms do exist, particularly in footwear and, to a large extent, apparel. Brands should align with these common industry conventions where possible. Where internal structures differ, a clear and consistent mapping to the SDEX component framework should be established and maintained throughout the season and communicated to your retail partners. SDEX may not provide enough space for all the materials in a component or for all the raw materials/fibers in a material blend. The number of fields offered is a compromise. Adding fields for all raw materials a product contains would lead to an overload of information. We are recommending the brands to make an informed decision about what they consider the main material(s) of a fabric blend and fill this information in.
Recycled Content Calculations: All recycled content values in the SDEX Tool must be calculated based on the total product weight, not just individual components.
Chemical Attributes: We are asking brands to use chemical attributes only if they want to make a specific claim about the product. For example: a rain jacket could be indicated as “PFC-free”. Please use the space blank or use the “n/a” option for products where such a claim would be nonsensical. For example: a cotton t-shirt would be left blank or “n/a”, since the chemical attributes do not apply to this product.
Certifications:
If the certification is issued for a material blend, consisting of several raw materials/fibers: Please indicate the certification next to each raw material/fiber it applies to, meaning you must fill in the same certification multiple times.
Adding copies/evidence of certifications to the SDEX Tool: This is not currently possible. We are aware that the exchange of certifications is a huge challenge within the industry but had to exclude this point from the scope of the SDEX project.
If the certification is a certification for the chain of custody, making it difficult to list the correct certification number to each individual product at the point of ordering: Please speak to your retail partner about the timeline for the data exchange.
Scope or Transaction Certificates: This is not predefined in SDEX as it depends on what is needed and available. We recommend speaking to your retail partners or deciding in favor of one or the other and then communicating this to your retail partners.
Facility Sustainability Certification: There are a few nuances depending on the certification; most of these are site level certifications, meaning they are related to products manufactured in those production sites. We do have brand level certifications in the Brand Tab.
