The UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) is the largest network for fashion and textile companies in the UK. We bring together designers, manufacturers, suppliers, agents, and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry, both in the UK and worldwide. UKFT has launched a nine-month blockchain traceability project. UKFT partnered with IBM and retailers like H&M (COS Brand), Next, and New Look in this project.
Innovate UK will financially support it to the tune of £1.4 million (the US $ 2 million), which aims to develop a supply chain traceability solution for the UK fashion industry. The new platform will use IBM’s blockchain technology to share information about clothing products. Verify that the place and date of manufacture, product composition, and environmental certificate are accessible to consumers through a QR code. At the same time, the key supply chain process will be digitized, creating a shared system of data that different parties can access. It will all be stored in the IBM Cloud, which will use AI technology for optimization and detect and respond to supply chain disruptions.
Joanne Poynor, Head of Sustainable Development of Next brand, said, “Working together, we are pleased to support the development of a new supply chain platform tool for the apparel and textiles sector, to facilitate the gathering of robust sustainability data and provide clear visibility of environmental and ethical impacts to empower better decisions.”
