Oritain, experts in forensic origin verification, has announced the release of its inaugural Global Supply Chain Intelligence Report. Drawing on multiple global datasets, the report reflects a critical inflection point for global trade: as regulatory scrutiny, economic pressure and consumer scepticism intensify, visibility alone is no longer enough to operate with confidence.
The findings point not to a single-issue risk spike, but to a wider structural gap between supply chain documentation and supply chain truth, with implications for markets, consumers, investors and regulators alike. Using cotton as a spotlight commodity to examine how one of the world’s most traded materials moves under overlapping regulatory, trade and cost pressures, the report shows that after three years of steady progress, exposure to cotton prohibited by legislation has surged back to pre 2021 levels.
The report draws on a multi-year forensic sampling programme analysing approximately 1,000 garments across 40 brands annually, alongside large-scale consumer research, industry professional and supplier intelligence spanning key global manufacturing hubs. While nearly 94% of UK companies and 87% of US companies surveyed now trace their cotton supply chains, Oritain’s Market Insights data shows that 90% of brands analysed in 2025 recorded at least one risk consistent result, up sharply from 64% the previous year. The data suggests that while transparency initiatives have scaled, assurance has not kept pace.
The “Verification Gap”
Oritain’s Global Supply Chain Intelligence Report highlights a fundamental shift facing corporate leadership: while traceability demonstrates intent and process, only verification provides a defensible source of truth in an increasingly enforcement-led environment. As supply chains evolve and sourcing strategies adjust under economic and geopolitical pressure, periodic assurance models are proving insufficient.
“The data tells a clear story: risk isn’t disappearing, it is re-emerging,” said Alyn Franklin, CEO at Oritain.
“As brands pivot manufacturing regions they’re finding that upstream material exposure hasn’t gone away – it is increasingly appearing in other key manufacturing hubs. Without independent verification, that risk travels quietly through complex trade routes and only surfaces at the end of the supply chain, when goods are stopped, costs escalate and production timelines are already missed.”
Key Insights from the 2026 Global Supply Chain Intelligence Report:
• Risk Re-emergence: As sourcing patterns shift under tariff, trade and policy pressure, global manufacturing capacity is expanding faster than internal controls and traditional compliance models can adapt.
• Systemic Exposure: With 90% of brands analysed impacted by exposure to prohibited cotton, exposure is no longer an isolated issue. It reflects a system wide challenge requiring a programmatic, scientific approach rather than ad hoc checks or reliance purely on paper trails
• The Trust Deficit: Consumer scepticism is at record levels. 60% of consumers actively avoid products linked to untrustworthy origins, while only 3% trust marketing claims. Instead, trust is anchored in credible, independent evidence, with government regulation (27%) and scientific traceability to origin (23%) sitting at the top of the hierarchy of consumer trust.
• Transparency expectations are rising across materials: focussing on leather alone, 69% of consumers support mandatory ethical sourcing proof, reinforcing the need for the inclusion of leather within the EUDR scope.
• The Cost of Failure: The consequences are no longer theoretical. 80% of UK brands and 37% of US brands surveyed have already experienced material impact, including border delays, financial penalties, disrupted production cycles and lost commercial relationships.
Standard for Global Intelligence
“As regulatory and economic pressures intensify, visibility without verification no longer holds,” said Alyn.
“What matters now is evidence that stands up. Oritain’s role is to provide the science, intelligence and networked approach that allows organisations to move from reactive compliance to proactive supply chain management – building trust that is measurable, defensible and scalable over time.”
