Article 1 - What Can Blockchain Technology Do for the Fashion Industry?

What Is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a shared database or digital ledger that automatically updates information across an
entire network, without the need for a central intermediary. Blockchain technology was invented in
2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto (probably a pseudonym) for use as the public transaction ledger for
Bitcoin, allowing users to make and receive payments without the involvement of a central bank or
other financial institution.
When a user enters information in the ledger, that entry becomes linked to every other entry, or
“block,” and every other copy of the ledger is automatically synchronized via the Internet. The
interconnection among all the blocks in the “chain” makes the ledger unhackable, at least in theory,
because a hacker trying to alter a single transaction or entry would have to alter every other link in the
chain as well. The distributed nature of blockchain also makes it transparent, because every user can
see the entire history of entries in the ledger. A blockchain can be public or private, accessible to
everyone or only to selected companies and individuals.

Why blockchain?
Using a blockchain empowers the artisans being employed in places like Pakistan, which are doing
slow and measured production of the garment rather than the fast and cheap trade normally carried out
in sweatshop-type situations.

Blockchain Technology Relevance for Fashion

Among the most promising blockchain applications for fashion companies are supply chain and
inventory management. Blockchain applications combined with radio frequency identification
(RFID) and other Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies can instantaneously track shipments of raw
materials from source to factory, then track the finished product through its entire distribution chain to
the consumer. While other tracking technologies have existed for some time, the distributed nature of
blockchain technology means that records can’t be altered, lost or destroyed; if a supplier tries to alter
an order, for example, the customer will still have an indisputable record of the original order
information.
Blockchain also has the potential to enhance intellectual property protection for designers and brand
owners. When branded goods can be tracked through blockchain, their authenticity will be easily
verifiable by brand owners, retailers and consumers, reducing counterfeiting and fraud, even when
goods are sold second-hand or through discount sellers. Blockchain applications will also enable
designers to document every step in the design process, providing unalterable proof of creation in case
of a dispute. Brand owners who license their designs or trademarks can use blockchain technology to
track sales and royalty payments, similar to a system already being developed by the music industry
for tracking royalties, using IBM’s blockchain platform.

Early Adopters
The fashion industry is already beginning to test blockchain’s possibilities.
• In 2017, London designer Martine Jarlgaard, in collaboration with the blockchain
company Provenance, produced the first garments with “smart labels” that the consumer
could scan to see every step in the production process, from raw material to finished product,
complete with time stamps and location mapping for every step, even identifying the source
of a sweater’s alpaca yarn.
• In another experiment, fashion label Babyghost teamed up with blockchain platform
VeChain to incorporate Near-Field Communication (NFC) chips into its spring/summer
2017 collection, which could communicate with an app on the customer’s phone to tell the
“story” of the garment.
• In addition to tracking the production of a product and verifying authenticity, Babyghost’s
blockchain application allows customers to interact with the product, adding their own
photographs, videos or personalized messages, which can then be accessed through the chip.
 • So far, the largest-scale use of blockchain technology to prevent counterfeiting is by Chinese
e-commerce company Alibaba, which is developing a blockchain application to track its
products. Every time a product moves from one place to another, its code or tag will be
scanned, recording its location with a time stamp. Purchasers will be able to scan the product
and trace its journey from the factory to their front door and to verify whether a branded
watch or handbag is the real thing or a knockoff.

Article 2 - French Fashion Brand Adds Blockchain Tracking to Clothes Made From
Ocean Plastic

France’s True Tribe, a fashion brand that creates clothing out of discarded fishing nets and other
plastic waste from the world’s oceans, first garments to be tracked on a blockchain. True Tribe has
partnered with supply chain tracker SUKU, an Ethereum-based protocol developed by California-
based Citizens Reserve originally developed by engineers at JPMorgan (and now owned
by ConsenSys. SUKU provides a mobile app with QR codes and lots of provenance data pertaining to
the recycled clothing. Transparent track and trace have emerged as the most compelling non-financial
blockchain use for enterprises, evidenced by long-running firms like Everledger.

Article 3 – Six ways blockchain is changing luxury

This article speaks about the various way on how block chain has been changing the luxury brands.

Track diamonds even after they’ve been cut

San Francisco jeweller Brilliant Earth has introduced blockchain-integrated diamonds through a
partnership with London-based Everledger. By registering a diamond’s unique markings, Everledger
tracks and permanently records every step in a gem’s lifecycle. This includes location origin, rough
carat weight, customer ownership and videos of the rough diamond, all accessible through Brilliant
Earth’s website. This appeals directly to millennial and Gen Z customers who want to purchase
socially conscious products and engage with cutting-edge technology.

Prove authenticity
Paris-based non-profit Arianee has developed a blockchain-based protocol that creates a digital
identity for valuable goods, such as bags, sneakers and watches. The digital identity is like a passport
that assures the authenticity of both new and vintage goods and records information such as transfers
of ownership or when the item is serviced. Depending on the brand, the passport can be linked to the
item through serial number, chip or QR code, accessible through an app. As this process becomes
standard, it will be challenging to sell fakes at scale. It will have the ability to declare an item lost or
stolen, which could make it difficult to cross sell the stolen goods.

Communicate with customers after a sale

Arianee’s platform also allows the digital passport to act as a customer service channel. The brand and
the customer can communicate while allowing the owner to remain anonymous, even if the object
changes hands. In this way, a brand could share information or the customer could submit a customer
service request, which would be documented on the item’s record.

Record and share supply chain information

Seattle-based Fuchsia uses blockchain platform Provenance to share details about the workers who
hand-make the brand’s shoes in Pakistan. Six months after adding the information to its e-commerce
product pages, the company saw a 31 per cent increase in online conversions and a 45 per cent boost
in engagement. Additional Provenance clients include knitwear designer Martine Jarlgaard, whose
smart labels trace garment timelines back to the alpaca farm, and vegan accessories brand Mashu,
which shares details on its bags’ Greek origins via in-store QR tags.
Evaluate worker welfare
Levi Strauss & Co took a survey on worker well-being uses block chain to record employees’
anonymous answers. The company is already seeing benefits in terms of how quickly it can collect
feedback and share results on the screen of the factory floor. The results from one survey were
processed within 48 hours of its completion, and three other sets of responses were processed in less
than a week.

Transfer ownership of digital clothing

Dapper Labs auctioned a digital garment at New York’s Ethereal Summit, designed by Dutch digital
fashion studio The Fabricant on 11th May. Ownership of the garment is transferred through
blockchain, making the digital design impossible to counterfeit.

Conclusion
With this kind of transparency, a company would gain the trust and loyalty of the customer and also
help the customer to understand from where and how their clothes are made. This would also help the
company to keep an easy track of their products making the whole process smooth, efficient and easy
to keep a record.
In the US and most other countries, regulatory proposals have focused on Bitcoin and other virtual
currencies, and are still in their early stages. Beyond the financial sector, Malta has been an unlikely
leader in regulation, and in February 2018 proposed legislation that would create a regulatory
authority to certify blockchain service providers and platforms.
Virtual payments are only one application of blockchain because the technology is essentially a
shared digital ledger, it’s been compared to a Google spreadsheet, it can be used for any application in
which multiple users need to create and maintain shared records of transactions, events or other
information, without relying on a central administrator or interacting directly with each other.
Companies are already using the technology to verify digital identities, enable “smart” contracts that
execute automatically, and track shipments of goods around the world.
But right now, there is no standard governing blockchain applications or developers. The few fashion
companies that have adopted blockchain have employed developers to write their own applications,
which only work with their products and suppliers. An industry-wide standard, or even a single
platform, would make the technology more effective and less costly but would require a level of
cooperation that may be hard to achieve.
For now, companies should select providers that already have a track record in the fashion industry,
and should agree clearly on who’s responsible if something goes wrong and data is lost or
compromised. Blockchain has the potential to transform the fashion industry, but companies need to
think carefully before adopting the new technology on the block.

Reference:

What Can Blockchain Technology Do for the Fashion Industry? | FashNerd

French Fashion Brand Adds Blockchain Tracking to Clothes Made From Ocean Plastic - CoinDesk

6 ways blockchain is changing luxury | Vogue Business