Life of Luxury: Fashion Turns to Blockchain

Although once confined largely to agriculture, blockchain technology is now making major inroads into the luxury goods supply chain market.

"AURA is a groundbreaking innovation for the luxury industry. ConsenSys is proud to contribute and to work with LVMH on an initiative that will serve the entire luxury industry, protecting the interests, integrity, and privacy of each brand, leveraging Ethereum blockchain technology in a truly decentralized way."

Although Louis Vuitton's relationship with blockchain reportedly spans three years to date, other luxury brands are already experimenting with the technology to help streamline their supply chains.

Alyx, a luxury brand created by New York-based creative director Matthew Williams, is pairing up with the German blockchain foundation Iota in order to create a more ethically transparent supply chain.

"We're taking it a step further: we're going to be the first brand to introduce blockchain technology this month in Copenhagen. We're doing a blockchain prototype that shows the raw material to the finished garment. Our brand is about evolution not revolution, so we work on making the things we do better".

"Currently, the supply chain industry is fragmented, with parties adopting a siloed approach. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology could bring standardization and transparency. Due to an increasing demand from customers for the proof of legitimacy and authenticity of the products they purchase, there is a strong interest in the deployment of blockchain for product provenance, often referred to as pedigree. In general, blockchain has features that can help trace a product's digital footprint. The fact that the data is timestamped provides a single source of data integrity and allows users to retrieve a full history of activities."

"We have assembled organizations from across all supply chain functions, cutting edge blockchain companies and key members of civil society in our project community. They are collaborating to shape the deployment of blockchain for supply chains towards interoperability, inclusivity, and integrity."They know blockchain and distributed ledger technology is coming, whether the industry likes it or not.

Gartner survey finds damning results for blockchain solutionsDespite the latest wave of companies turning to blockchain, a technology survey of user wants and needs conducted by Gartner reported that only 19% of businesses rated the technology as important for their businesses, according to a press release published on the company website on May 7.Gartner, which refers to itself as the world's leading research and advisory company on its website, states that, in addition to the 19% that see blockchain as important for their business, only 9% have actually invested in the technology.

The survey found that, although blockchain enjoys popular support, it sees 90% of blockchain initiatives within the sector suffering from "blockchain fatigue" by 2023.

What the Blockchain for Supply Chains project is trying to do is help decision makers cut through the hype with a framework to guide them towards interoperability and integrity in blockchain deployment.