Fast Company Names Avery Dennison One of the "World's Most Innovative Companies"

Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY, headquartered in Mentor, Ohio), a global leader in material science and digital ID solutions, has been named one of Fast Company's "World's Most Innovative Companies" for 2026.

This prestigious selection by Fast Company is a result of the high recognition given to the company's groundbreaking "Optica™" portfolio, which is revolutionizing supply chain visibility and sustainability in the global apparel industry.

Fast Company's editors select the "World's Most Innovative Companies" through a rigorous evaluation process that reviews thousands of applications based on innovation, impact, timeliness, and social significance. This annual ranking covers 58 industries and sectors, from energy to digital advertising, highlighting companies that are leading the world through transformative innovation.

Comment from Delia Glover, VP of Product, Apparel Solutions at Avery Dennison:

"This selection validates our belief that every garment and product has a story to tell. Our technology effectively integrates digital intelligence into fashion fabrics. By connecting the physical and digital and revealing the supply chain, we ensure product accuracy. This helps our customers operate with confidence."

**Transforming the fashion industry's supply chain crisis**

Avery Dennison's Optica solution for the apparel industry addresses the critical challenge of an "opaque supply chain," which leads to waste, inefficiency, distrust, and revenue loss. This challenge is further amplified as consumers increasingly demand more information about the clothing they purchase. According to a recent survey cited in Avery Dennison's "RFID for Circularity" report, 71% of global respondents value transparency from brands regarding the materials used and the manufacturing processes behind their products.

The "RFID for Circularity" report highlights how item-level identification is emerging as a crucial requirement for expanding circular business models such as resale, reuse, and recycling. The report indicates that RFID-enabled sorting systems can maintain up to 99% identification accuracy under certain deployment conditions and can significantly reduce manual garment sorting time (up to 99% in specific implementation examples). These capabilities are becoming increasingly important as brands prepare for various regulations, such as the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements, expected to be enforced from 2028-2029.

Glover further adds: "Being recognized by Fast Company validates that we are providing the support manufacturers, brands, and retailers need to achieve more sustainable, efficient, and transparent operations. By providing item-level visibility from production to store and beyond, Optica addresses a wide range of challenges, from operational inefficiencies and product loss to system fragmentation and circular economy requirements. This is key for the fashion industry to shift from passive problem-solving to active opportunity creation."

**Large-scale business impact**

The Optica solution portfolio for apparel includes RFID-enabled intelligent labels, QR code technology, the connected product platform "atma.io," and trigger sensors specialized for numerous use cases. By leveraging these in combination, brands and retailers gain real-time visibility from raw materials to finished products. This platform helps reduce waste and inefficiency while improving revenue, leading 4,500 factories to already adopt Optica's apparel solutions and restructure global supply chain operations.

The impact extends across 36 countries.