It’s not only consumers who want to know where the products they buy come from. Manufacturers and retailers want proofs of origin, too – for example, when brand manufacturers want to protect their products from cheap copies. Or when the origin of a product from a production plant with specific ethical and ecological standards needs to be guaranteed. Proofs of origin can also be used as a guarantee of authenticity for recycled products by attesting that a product really is made from waste.
To provide proof of origin, Haelixa AG uses a process based on DNA, in other words the genetic information carrier. Every DNA structure has a unique pattern. The biomolecules can therefore be used to distinctively identify a product or product group. The product to be marked – for example, the cotton produced on a particular Indian cotton farm – is sprayed with a solution of DNA markers. The markers can then be found in all the garments made from this cotton. When the proof of origin needs to be checked, the product – a pair of cotton socks, say – is soaked in a liquid. The markers are transferred into the liquid and can then be read using a PCR test.
This DNA-based proof of origin was developed by Michela Puddu and Gediminas Mikutis while they were writing their doctoral thesis at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and the pair founded Haelixa AG in 2016. Users of the traceability technology include clothing brands such as Hugo Boss, C&A and Calida. They have been joined by fashion labels such as NIKIN and FTC Cashmere, both of which specialise in sustainably produced clothes.
Haelixa’s technology has a wide range of applications. For example, in addition to both natural and synthetic fibres, precious stones and gold bars are already being labelled in this way, and the Zürcher Kantonalbank offers gold with Haelixa proof of origin. So far, the company has marked more than 2000 products and secured 40 supply chains. Haelixa sees further excellent growth potential in the food sector, for coffee and cocoa products, among others. Its target customers are mainly European brand manufacturers.
Haelixa AG
