Applied DNA Sciences to Provide “Fiber Forward” Supply Chain Protection for Extra Long Staple Pima Cotton

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: APDN), (Twitter: @APDN),a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced a commercial agreement with a textile manufacturer to purchase a SigNature® T DNA mark, in order to protect and authenticate Extra Long Staple Pima cotton starting October 27, 2014. This agreement will enable the textile manufacturer and its large retail partners to assure quality and preserve the integrity of the textile supply chain, starting from the grower to the consumer.

The SigNature T commercial program involves the creation of a unique, SigNature T DNA marker that will be used to mark the customer’s annual demand of Extra Long Staple Pima cotton at the ginning stage. Once marked, the premium Pima cotton fiber may be authenticated for textile identity along any node in the supply chain, from grower to ginner to spinner to manufacturer to distributor to retailer. The company calls this approach to managing textile identity in the supply chain “Fiber Forward™.”

Pima or Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton is a highly valued, luxuriously long fiber. It represents about 5%of the overall U.S. cotton output, the equivalent of an estimated $1.25 billion-per-year industry in the United States. Production of all types of cotton fiber is a $25 billion-per-year industry in the United States, employing over 200,000 people.

Once the Pima cotton is marked following each step of the process, its textile identity will be tested, accumulating “provenance data” linking the original cotton fiber to finished product, preserving the authenticity of the product and the integrity of the supply chain.

MeiLin Wan, Executive Director for Apparel and Textiles, Applied DNA Sciences, said: “The kind of value that comes from a trusted, traceable and transparent supply chain is immeasurable, and we know consumers respond well to brands they trust, and even more to products they know will wear and launder well. Every moment of our daily lives involves a textile — from the bed sheets you woke up in, to the wrinkle free cotton oxford shirt you wear with that wool suit, to the upholstered fabric in the car you drove to work in, to the carpet in your office,” commented Wan.

The SigNature T DNA marker, an advanced technology based on botanical DNA, is robust, long-lasting,and uncopyable. APDN’s platform also includes a unique test for Extra Long Staple Pima cotton identity called fiber Typing, and can also include a cloud-based track and trace system called digital DNA.


Applied DNA Sciences is a security provider in the form of a biotechnology platform. Many of its customers are protected under confidentiality.

Commented Dr. James A. Hayward, President and CEO, Applied DNA Sciences, “We have found in all our businesses — electronics, plastics, and many others — that supply chain participants must work together. There is no substitute for communication, trust and information exchange. We can help empower, with our DNA solutions, all supply chain stakeholders in building this kind of community.”

About Applied DNA Sciences

APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature® DNA describes the uncopyable marker that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of products such as DNAnet®, our anti-theft product, SigNature® T, targeted toward textiles, and digital DNA®, providing powerful track and trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.

The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements describe APDN’s future plans,projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 20, 2013 (amended on May 1, 2014) and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q/A (for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2013) and Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2014 and June 30, 2014. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.