MANCHESTER MET UNIVERSITY
FASHTRAX: the knowledge exchange hub for SMEs
Client: MANCHESTER MET UNIVERSITY
Timeline: 2025
Focus
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Compliance navigation for SMEs,
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Human-centred UX Design,
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Data infrastructure,
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Transparent supply chains & circular economy
'FASHTRAX aims to be your go-to platform for all regulatory information and resources tailored for Small and Medium Fashion Enterprises (SMEs). In an ever-evolving landscape of regulations and standards, FASHTRAX offers the tools and insights you need, including our Compliance Navigator, to ensure your business remains up to date across various regions.
The aim of this website is to offer a simplified summary of regulations that broadly address global strategies for sustainable and circular textiles'
’.
Dr Hilde Heim
Senior Lecturer and Deputy Division Head for Fashion Communication
The Manchester Metropolitan University
The Challenge: Design an interactive compliance tool for fashion
The FASHTRAX knowledge exchange hub developed by Manchester Metropolitan University in collaboration with industry bodies such as UKFT, operates as an interactive hub, connecting fashion industry stakeholders with cutting-edge research and tools for supply chain transparency. Users can access a vast repository of reports, videos, and diagnostic tools designed to guide businesses through the digital transformation of their supply chains.
The platform features interactive elements like decision trees and assessment tools, allowing companies to tailor solutions to their specific needs. By fostering collaboration between industry professionals, academics, and technology providers, FASHTRAX facilitates the sharing of best practices, insights, and innovations, driving more sustainable and transparent operations across the fashion industry.
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FASHTRAX is underpinned by a complex matrix of compliance and technical information, including a range of requirements based on company size, use of specific materials and processes, provenance, end-user typology and many more. FASHTRAX challenges included
How can we make a complex solution accessible, yet accurate?
How can we support SMEs in establishing their compliance obligations without feeling overwhelmed?
Who is likely to be the primary user of the FASHTRAX tool and what information do they need to have ready?
The Solution: From complexity to simplicity with human centred UX and deep subject matter expertise
The Madeby team was tasked with helping the FASHTRAX team develop an accessible, user-centric solution that would help fashion companies assess their sustainability, supply chain transparency and circularity compliance obligations quickly and easily through the FASHTRAX knowledge exchange platform. With a particular focus on SMEs accessibility, the tool, underpinned by over 100 regulations, requires equal focus on usability and accuracy of information. ​
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Madeby applied its deep subject matter knowledge in sustainability, supply chains management and circular compliance, combined with human-centred UX design expertise to design and test the FASHTRAX compliance tool. During this project much focus was placed on holistic user testing, which included stakeholder from small fashion businesses all the way to corporations such as The Very Group and Regatta, coming from diverse backgrounds and a variety of internal teams.
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The pilot focused on:
Stakeholders Insights
to understand the real-world users of the tool
Content analysis and structure
to inform the best possible information flow for technical accuracy and usability
Designing for humans
using human-centred and environmental design principles
Going back to the users
with a comprehensive and inclusive test programme
Results: Simple user experience, underpinned by complex data
Through the pilot, Manchester Met University achieved several key outcomes:
A clearer understanding of fashion industry users and how they engage with the compliance tool
Clean design principles for a more inclusive approach that considers the needs of companies of different sizes
A pragmatic, elegant yet precise information flow, with guided questions and decision trees to support users every step of the way
Ready-to-deploy design files, packaged and ready for handover to the University's coding team
Actionable results page and report, that empowers users to preserve their data, and start acting on their obligations quickly
“FASHTRAX puts “easy-to-follow regulatory guidance at businesses’ fingertips, allowing them to stay ahead of rapidly evolving legal standards, including the upcoming EU digital product passport (DPP)”, press material states. At the heart of the platform is the Compliance Navigator, an intelligent diagnostic tool offering tailored advice based on company size, product type and supply chain footprint.“
—Dr Hilde Heim