Creating your first passport
Last updated October 9, 2026
Step 1: Start a new passport
Open the Dashboard. In a new workspace, click Create a passport in the card at the top of the page. Once your workspace has a draft, the button at the top right reads Continue passport (when you have one draft) or View drafts (when you have several). To start another passport, click Create Passport at the top of the Passports page. The setup checklist also leads there: its Publish your first passport item opens the new passport form while you have no draft.
Step 2: Pick a product category
The next screen asks "What kind of product is it?" and offers three categories:
| Category | Best for | Fields | Required | Time estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Textile / Apparel | Clothing, footwear and home textiles | 51 | 7 | 8–12 min |
| General Product | Any other product type covered by ESPR | 28 | 6 | 6–9 min |
| Battery | EV, industrial and portable batteries under the EU Battery Regulation | 99 | 35 | 18–25 min |
Textile / Apparel is marked Most used. It adds fibre composition, care symbols and supply-chain traceability on top of the universal field set. Battery adds cell chemistry, capacity, carbon footprint and due-diligence data.
Clicking a category card asks "What's the product called?" Enter the Product name and click Create passport: the draft is created and opens in the editor. Change takes you back to pick a different category. If you have many products, the Bulk import option on the category screen lets you upload a spreadsheet instead and drafts a passport for every row.
If your workspace was set up with one product type, the Create a passport button on the dashboard skips this screen. The form opens straight on "What's the product called?" with that type already chosen.
Step 3: Work through the editor sections
The editor opens in the Guided view by default: a step-by-step wizard with a Continue button at the bottom of each step. For a textile passport, the steps are:
- Product basics — what the product is and how it's identified, plus product photos.
- Manufacturer — who makes it and where they're based.
- Materials & care — fibre composition and care guidance.
- Manufacturing — where and how it's made.
- Sustainability & compliance — environmental data, regulatory compliance, and documents.
- Additional information — fields your workspace adds to every product.
- Review & publish — the final check before going live.
A General Product passport uses the same flow without the textile-specific steps. A Battery passport uses the same chapters as a textile one, filled with battery fields. If you prefer to see everything at once, switch to the One page view with the toggle at the top of the editor — you can fill the sections in any order.
Fields marked To publish are the ones that must be complete before the passport can go live. For a textile passport these are Product Name, GTIN, Product Description, Manufacturer Name, Manufacturer Address, Manufacturer Country, Substances of Concern, and Material Composition. The category card counts seven of them. GTIN is not in that count, but publishing still needs it. Not sure what to enter somewhere? Our guide on what data to collect for a DPP walks through every data point.
GTIN can wait
A GTIN is optional while you draft, but it becomes required the moment you publish — it powers the GS1 Digital Link URL behind your QR code. You can create the whole passport now and paste the GTIN in later. A product sold in sizes or colours meets this requirement with one saved size or colour instead.
The barcode field in Product basics opens with the question "Does this product come in multiple versions?" For a product with one barcode, keep One version and enter it in the GTIN field. For a product sold in several sizes or colours, choose Multiple sizes or colours. The Sizes and colours sheet opens, each size or colour gets its own row and barcode, and Add N entries saves them. One passport covers them all, and one saved size or colour meets the GTIN requirement when you publish. The full walkthrough is in Sizes and colours under one passport.
Step 4: Save your draft
Autosave means you never need to save manually; changes are written about a second after you stop typing, and the Saved indicator in the bottom status bar confirms everything is written down. If you want to explicitly park the passport before leaving, the Review & publish step also has a Save as draft button. Your passport now appears on the Passports page with a Draft badge. Drafts are private: nothing is visible to the public until you publish.
Sizes and colours are the one exception to autosave: they are saved when you click Add N entries in the Sizes and colours sheet, and the sheet confirms it. Rows typed into the sheet but not added are not part of the draft yet.
Next steps
When the completeness meter reads Ready to publish, you're set to take it live — see Publishing a passport for what happens next, including QR codes and plan limits. For the bigger picture of the whole process, read our step-by-step guide to creating a Digital Product Passport.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to fill in every field to save a draft?
No. Drafts save automatically no matter how complete they are. Only the fields marked 'To publish' are required, and only when you publish — optional fields can stay empty for as long as you like. Sizes and colours are the one thing that is not autosaved: they are saved when you click Add N entries.
My product comes in several sizes. Do I create a passport for each?
No. In Product basics, answer 'Does this product come in multiple versions?' with Multiple sizes or colours. The Sizes and colours sheet opens, where each size or colour gets its own row and barcode. One passport holds them all, and each barcode gets its own QR code.
Which category should I choose for clothing or footwear?
Choose Textile / Apparel. It adds fibre composition, care symbols, and supply-chain traceability fields that the General Product category does not include.
Can I switch between the Guided and One page views?
Yes. Use the view toggle at the top of the editor at any time — both views share the same data, and the editor remembers your last choice.