Is Blockchain the fashion industry’s next glow up toolkit?
By Tumelo Monica Setlaba
A glow up is a radical transformation for the better, usually as a sign of coming of age. For decades the fashion industry has been critiqued for not taking care of itself. Overproduction, exploited workers, a massive carbon footprint, counterfeiting and much more. Could blockchain be this season’s glow up challenge for fashion? I explore how this combination can lead to change for good.
Overproduction
There is apparel out there that is being manufactured but that is never going to be worn for its intended purpose. Bloomberg rates it’s something like 2,150 pieces of clothing being thrown away per second. Yikes!
Personally my biggest pet-peeve contributor to this issue is size. “No garment will fit everyone.” veteran fashion consultant, Victoria Nicholls tells me. “The best you can hope for with standard sizing is around 75% of the population”.
That means about 25% of a batch of medium (M) sized t-shirts will have to be “figured out” (literally). That is, each garment must find its way to the body, shape, size, and fit of a shopper who does not even consider themselves a medium to begin with.
It’s like hoping to find a Tinder match, using the UberEats app- no one is hoping to find you on there, even if you might find each other tasty.
As a result 40% of shoppers end up buying clothes online with the intention of trying them on at home and then returning most of them. Then, up to a quarter of clothes that are returned (oh hello increased courier carbon footprint) cannot be resold and end up in landfills. XXL Yikes!!
Glow up 101 is about improved self esteem and feeling good in one’s body. But try being different sizes across brands, countries, and even within the same store…
…and suddenly one is an A-sized student at the University of Body Dysmorphia. This is not beauty school, but I certainly opt to drop out of this one, thanks!
At Stylexxa, we’re using blockchain technology to collect shopper biometric data and combine it with garment data to tell you in real-time, during your online shopping experience if an item will fit or not. As a shopper, just measure yourself in seconds using our body scanner available on any participating retailer’s website, and we manage the rest.
Why is blockchain needed for this? Well, the garment data sits all along the global and very complex fashion supply chain. So, with the benefits of the interoperability of blockchain, Stylexxa is almost system agnostic. We can integrate with various manufacturers and retailers with greater ease for the collection, security, and distribution of the data.
Crypto where credit is due
There is no “I” in team, but there is in blockchain. This part of the fashion industry’s glow-up is about shining light on the creators of fashion, honouring ownership or even just contribution; and therefore giving credit where credit is due.
Blockchain technology allows designers and brands to develop an unchangeable proof of creation as a store of value which can be traded, stored and transferred in the digital world. This makes it convenient to track royalty payments, trademarks, license designs, and origins of sale.
Blockchain-based solutions like Bernstein for example can enable designers to document every step of the creation process.
“While the protection provided by the current legal system is valuable, copyright, trademarks and unregistered design rights are not always effective as they can be difficult to prove and, therefore, enforce.” the company explains.
Why does this matter? In the world of fashion, there are countless claims of creative and cultural heists. Remember when Zara appeared to have appropriated the designs of South African homegrown talent Laduma Ngxokolo and his explosive brand maXhosa? Or when small brands fell victim to fast fashion giant, Shein allegedly stealing their designs? Or when Zara and Shein copied each other! Lol.
Although I am a true believer in collaboration and co-creation, I am happy to declare that all is fair in love and war and blockchain.
Counterfeit ain’t cute
A glow up is about unique identity, originality and authenticity. One could say exactly the same about luxury fashion products. Being a carbon copy or counterfeit, strips value whether in a person or in a product.
With blockchain technology (plus tracking chips or code tags) embedded in the fashion supply chain, product originality is readily accessible. This encourages consumers to reject counterfeit products, or the ones that come from ethically questionable production lines.
AURA, The Blockchain Platform for verifying luxury goods produced by LVMH, Prada Group and Richemont Consortium is a great example of this.
CEO, Derck Mekkering, tells me that RadyGo is getting ahead of the curve (and legislation) with the development of the Radygo Smart Tag® — which tracks the lifespan of clothing items from point-of-sale to the end-of-life. The main goal in this case is to ensure responsible return, re-use, and recycling.
Conclusion
So as the saying goes, “Beauty is only skin deep”. The fashion industry may look attractive, but it may not have all attractive inner qualities, and blockchain could be the first step to true industry-deep self-love.
More About Stylexxa
Stylexxa is a blockchain-powered supply chain SaaS solution, that encourages safe and cooperative data sharing between manufacturers, brands, retailers, and shoppers, to solve the sizing issue in online fashion retail.
Join Coinmonks Telegram Channel and Youtube Channel learn about crypto trading and investing
