“Dressing digitally” pins are hoping for blockchain to clean up fashion’s carbon footprint
Watch: ‘Dress Digitally’ Pins Hope on Blockchain to Clean Up Fashion’s Carbon Footprint | Crypto Mile
The fashion industry is responsible for nearly 8% of total global carbon emissions – greater than all international flights (2.5%) and global shipping (3%) combined. Can “dressing digitally” make a difference?
The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world, after the oil and gas sector, according to a UN report.
On The Crypto Mile this week, Yahoo Finance hears from Louise Laing, founder of PhygitalTwin, an organic fashion marketplace.
Laing argues that Web3 innovations can reduce waste from overproduction by using blockchain-based solutions to streamline workflows and give customers the opportunity to try on clothes in virtual environments before committing to a purchase.
Illustrating the extent of the fashion industry’s harmful impact on the environment, she stated that “fashion brands overbuy raw materials by at least 30%, so overall there can be around 30 to 40% waste in every single order that a fashion brand makes”.
“And on top of this, 5% of the world’s landfills come from discards from the fashion industry,” she added.
“Dress Digitally”
Laing claims that using a combination of Web3 innovations can radically reduce the amount of waste and carbon emissions produced by the fashion industry.
“At PhygitalTwin, we believe that using digital technology through 3D design streamlines the entire supply chain process.
“It allows you to use digital assets to test the market before a fashion company actually makes production,” said Laing.
She explained that producing digital versions of clothing lines allows consumers to virtually wear an augmented reality (AR) overlay of an item of clothing, before committing to a physical purchase.
Laing adds that recent Web3 technology developments, such as Snap filters, allow consumers to “dress digitally” before making a physical purchase.
This can lead to less product yield, a major source of waste in the industry. According to a study by e-commerce software company Shippo, 10% of all clothing purchases are returned after consumers show dissatisfaction with the purchase.
Average rates of return for e-commerce are said to be even higher, hovering around 20-30%, according to CX Strategies.
“Fashion manufacturers can use these tools to see what the demand is from your consumers before they actually go into production.
“This enables manufacturers to work very closely with the market in a much more efficient and agile way,” explained Laing.
Blockchain and fashion supply chains
Proponents of Web3 technology promote blockchain technology as a way to bring more efficiencies to supply chains by increasing transparency, improving traceability, reducing paperwork, increasing efficiency and improving security.
Laing suggests that efficiencies can be achieved across entire fashion supply chains, from commodity manufacturers to high street stores, by digitizing inventory and having orders tokenized on the blockchain.
This can allow real-time tracking of supply and demand worldwide.
And with companies seeking to meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, this will create a constant record of the origin, location and movement of goods to assess their ethical and environmental impact.
When it comes to their textiles and fabrics, H&M ( HM-B.ST ) has committed to being 100% sustainable by 2040, and Levi’s has stated that it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions in its global supply chain by 40%.
“With the blockchain, you can transparently track all steps in the supply chain.
“You can show the water consumption and how many CO2 emissions were emitted to produce that product, where the substance was grown, where it was made, like a digital label that shows the source of the product, which you get on food”, Laing added to.
Blockchains and and fake fashion goods
Tracking and recording every transaction in a supply chain can greatly improve an industry’s efficiency, and because blockchain ledgers are transparent for all to see, they can reduce the risk of fraud.
Counterfeiting is a huge problem for the fashion industry, data from Statista reveals that in 2020 alone, the fashion industry lost more than $50 billion due to counterfeit products.
By providing a transparent and secure supply chain, blockchains can help protect the intellectual property of fashion brands, improve consumer confidence and reduce the amount of counterfeit goods in circulation.
“A blockchain allows you to have complete transparency and efficiency. If a fashion brand releases a limited edition product, say one of 50, then when a buyer gets their product they can see via the blockchain that it is actually one of 50.” Laing explained.
Authentication of products on blockchains is enabled by giving each batch or product a unique digital identity.
This identity can be used to trace the product’s journey from manufacturer to retailer, making it easier to detect counterfeit products.
So-called “phygital” authentication is a solution to combat counterfeiting and also ensure that fashion brands have a presence in both the physical and virtual worlds.
Clothing will be sold with either attached a QR code linked to a non-fungible token (NFT) stored on a blockchain.
This authenticates goods using end-to-end encrypted blockchain systems and allows clothing to take on a new life in the metaverse.
This new ‘phygital’ paradigm has designs to revolutionize the fashion industry.
“When you buy an item on PhygitalTwin, you get the physical garment, but also the opportunity to redeem NFT, which is printed on the garment as a QR code.
Fashion’s colossal carbon footprint
Clothes used to be worn for years, repaired when damaged and not thrown away, objects that became intertwined with the personality of those who wore them.
But now most of the manufacturing activity is in the fashion and apparel industry which provides high volume, quick processing and affordable garments that people will wear for just a few months at a time.
This level of intense production has taken a toll on the world’s environment. The fashion industry is now the second biggest polluter in the world, behind only mining, according to a report by The Global Fashion Agenda.
The industry is responsible for 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually, each UK household, as a result of their clothing consumption, produces the equivalent emissions of driving a modern car for 6,000 miles.
Whether Web3 innovations will be adopted en masse by the fashion industry remains to be seen, but global industry and financial leaders are beginning to take ESG commitments seriously. Using the blockchain to automate many of the efficiencies needed to reduce carbon emissions may become more appealing.
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