Innovation

Founded six years ago, bAwear Score emerged from a request by the Dutch and Belgian textile associations Modint and Creamoda to find a faster and more efficient way to measure sustainability performance. Traditional life-cycle assessments (LCAs) were too time- and cost-intensive, often costing thousands of euros and taking months per product, making them unrealistic for most small- to medium-sized businesses.

In collaboration with Pré Sustainability, a global leader in LCA software, bAwear Score developed a textile-specific platform designed to simplify and accelerate sustainability assessments. The company’s QuickScore tool allows users to calculate a footprint in about one minute using basic information such as material composition, production country and product type. The method enables companies to avoid exaggerated claims and motivates companies to improve data collection and accuracy over time.

This approach aligns with the broader digital transformation happening in the textile sector, where companies face increasing pressure from upcoming EU regulations like the Digital Product Passport and mandatory footprint reporting. bAwear Score offers an accessible, future-ready solution that enables businesses to adapt quickly and confidently.

Co-founder Jesse Dolstra said,“We start from the worst-case scenario to enable a starting point and stay transparent, while at the same time we help companies learn what data they’re missing and how to collect it.” 

By starting with the highest possible impact score, the tool avoids overly optimistic assumptions and ensures companies can only improve their score by providing verified, more accurate data.

This transparent and educational approach helps organizations understand their environmental impact and shows them how they can achieve measurable improvement.

Inspiration

The idea behind bAwear Score was born out of frustration with widespread greenwashing: vague or misleading sustainability claims without evidence behind them. Dolstra and his team wanted to change that by giving companies an accessible and credible way to measure their impact.

“There was a lot of nonsense in the market," Dolstra said. "Many claims weren’t backed by numbers or a deep understanding of the supply chain. We wanted to change that by giving companies the tools and knowledge to make better choices.”

His motivation was not only professional but also personal. Dolstra wanted to make sustainability measurable, achievable, and rooted in real data rather than marketing language. He aimed to empower companies, especially smaller ones, to take genuine responsibility for their environmental footprint.

By combining transparency, education, and digitalization, bAwear Score was designed to help the industry shift away from assumptions and toward evidence-based sustainability. This belief in measurable, practical impact became the driving force behind the company’s mission.

Overall impact

Today, bAwear Score supports roughly 60 to 70 companies across Europe, including well-known organisations such as Zeeman, Schijvens and HAVEP. The tool enables users to identify opportunities for efficiency and sustainability improvements across their entire product portfolios.

A notable example is Zeeman’s circular sweater, made from 70 per cent recycled fibres. The redesigned sweater achieved 73 per cent lower CO₂ emissions, 95 per cent less energy consumption, and 92 per cent less water use compared with a standard sweater. Even small changes, such as reducing a T-shirt’s weight by five percent, can lead to significant environmental benefits when scaled across large production volumes.

Beyond measurable reductions, bAwear Score contributes to a broader cultural shift within the industry. Many clients begin their sustainability journey with limited knowledge of environmental data. Through the platform, they gain a clearer understanding of how design, materials, sourcing, and logistics influence environmental outcomes. The innovation helps these businesses transform ambition into action, making sustainability both practical and profitable.

Business benefit

bAwear Score’s accessible model has enabled it to build a strong client base among both manufacturers and major retailers. By making complex sustainability data easy to understand and use, the company has positioned itself as a trusted partner in a sector facing increasing regulatory pressure.

Partnerships with industry service providers, associations, and leading brands have strengthened its visibility and credibility. As Dolstra said,“Names like Zeeman help, but also the associations and partners such as Eurofins. This builds trust and shows that what we do resonates.”

For clients, the QuickScore tool has become a strategic decision-making instrument. It guides product design, sourcing, material choice, and compliance with upcoming regulations such as the Digital Product Passport. This reduces risk, supports regulatory readiness, and creates competitive advantage.

For bAwear Score itself, the innovation has opened new markets (such as workwear and retail) and created opportunities for investment and platform expansion. Its future-oriented digital model strengthens its long-term business growth in a rapidly evolving industry.

Watch video on YouTube

Social and environmental benefit

bAwear Score contributes directly to several UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  by integrating digital tools that modernise sustainability data management.
• SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
  by enabling companies to quantify and reduce their environmental footprint.
• SDG 13 – Climate Action
  by supporting measurable reductions in CO₂, water, and energy use.
• SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals
  by creating collaborations with industry associations, software partners, and clients

Environmental benefits include more responsible material choices, reduced resource use, and greater transparency across supply chains. Socially, bAwear Score reduces greenwashing and strengthens consumer trust by empowering companies to communicate honest, data-driven claims.

Through this transition from guesswork to grounded data, bAwear Score demonstrates that meaningful sustainability is not only possible but practical. By making environmental impact measurable for businesses of all sizes, the company helps shape a future in which transparency becomes the norm, responsible choices are accessible, and the textile industry moves steadily toward a more sustainable and accountable global system.

Interview

Jesse Dolstra, Co-founder