Footwear Product-Passport Reverse-Flow Board Adviser

The mandate

The venture can retrieve product composition and brand claims, but a returned shoe arrives worn, repaired, contaminated or separated from its original identity. Management assumes the European Digital Product Passport will unlock circular routing, while repairers and recyclers still need observable condition and economic thresholds. The standing board question is which passport evidence remains decision-useful after use, what must be inspected physically and whether the reverse network creates genuine second life rather than better-labelled waste.

Two half-day challenge clinics each month cover cohort economics, partner evidence and preparation with the chair. Seven committee sessions and three two-day field sprints, each following returned pairs through inspection and one disposition route, are contracted separately within the retainer. Material authenticity or market-release questions receive written challenge within forty-eight hours. Management retains product, partner, consumer and platform decisions.

The term runs ten months through registry integration, two brand launches and a financing decision. The chair may approve one two-month extension only if the live DPP registry interface delays a named launch, following refreshed conflicts; neither warrant tranche rolls into that extension without a new shareholder decision. The adviser leaves condition archetypes, evidence limits, partner gates, cohort economics, decision history and unresolved identity, repairability, resale-demand and recovery assumptions.

The adviser has no line authority, executive responsibility, product-authentication role, recycler approval, data-controller duty or board vote. Executives operate the platform; brands own source data; qualified partners inspect and process items. The adviser may challenge routing logic, evidence claims and scale economics, but cannot grade shoes, approve passport data, select partners, direct returns, certify recycled content or promise regulatory compliance.

Interests involving footwear brands, resale platforms, repair networks, recyclers, DPP vendors, material suppliers, logistics providers, investors or assurance firms require disclosure. A current role for an entity under review triggers recusal. Other non-conflicting appointments may continue within cadence. Cash and options are independent of returned pairs, resale value, recovered material, brand signings, financing value, registry approval or regulatory outcome.

Why the board wants this voice

The founders understand digital identity and consumer experience, while the missing perspective is physical reverse-flow operations after wear. The board needs someone who has watched product data fail at inspection, repair and recovery handoffs. Independent challenge should keep the passport tied to real disposition without making the adviser a certifier or partner selector.

What you will own

• Press management to trace returned pairs from identity match and inspection through repair, resale, disassembly, material recovery or disposal.
• Test which passport attributes survive wear, repair, component substitution, contamination, ownership change and incomplete brand data.
• Challenge circularity claims that count collection while excluding rejected grades, replacement parts, storage, export and final yield.
• Examine partner economics and evidence for authentication, repair warranty, resale condition, disassembly and recovered-material acceptance.
• Shape board gates for brand onboarding, registry connection, routing release, partner expansion and market replication.
• Maintain an independent record of conflicts, data gaps, inspection disagreement, rejected cohorts, conditions and dissent.
• Leave the committee a cohort review connecting passport confidence, physical disposition, customer remedy and realised unit economics.

Candidate qualifications

• Has governed reverse logistics, repair, resale or material recovery for footwear, apparel or comparable composite consumer products.
• Can evidence a digital-identity proposition changed after physical inspection and recovery yield were measured.
• Understands product passports, item identity, grading, repair, resale, disassembly, recycler acceptance and circular economics.
• Has challenged venture founders while preserving regulatory, assurance, brand-data and partner operating authority.
• Can distinguish product record, matched item, inspected condition, qualified route and completed second-life outcome.
• Is independent of relevant brands, platforms, repairers, recyclers, DPP vendors, logistics providers and investors.

Non-negotiables

• Can provide two monthly challenge clinics, seven committee sessions and three two-day European reverse-flow field sprints.
• Will not authenticate products, approve passport data, select partners, certify content or make compliance claims.
• Brings direct post-use footwear or apparel operations; digital traceability or sustainability investing alone is insufficient.
• Will disclose brand, platform, repair, recycling, technology, logistics and investor interests before cohort review.

1. 49 words maximum. Which product-passport attribute became unreliable after a real repair or resale inspection?
2. 49 words maximum. What brand, platform, repairer, recycler or investor interests require disclosure here?
3. 49 words maximum. When did collection volume overstate actual circular value in a reverse network?