The supply chain of the fashion industry is known for its complexity and high fragmentation. Its vast number of stakeholders, including suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers, make it a challenge to obtain complete visibility of the entire production chain. Given this lack of transparency and traceability, several problems arise in this industry, such as the difficulty of assessing the environmental and social impact of each part of the chain, the consumer's lack of knowledge when purchasing a product, and the difficulty of demonstrating the authenticity of a product and identifying counterfeit products.

The growing number of consumers aware of the need for more sustainable fashion, in addition to pressure from NGOs and activists, has increasingly demanded the need for companies to seek alternatives. They need to be more transparent, demonstrating the materials used, the production process, working conditions and the social and environmental impact caused in clothing production. Thus, solutions such as blockchain are starting to be widely adopted, allowing the immutable registration of the production process between the parties involved in each step of the value chain.

In this use case with Alexander McQueen's MCQ brand, the use of blockchain and NFC were essential in helping the brand combat counterfeiting threats and being transparent and demonstrating its sustainable practices throughout the supply chain. The use of blockchain, provided by companies EverLedger and Temera, allowed the development of a digital identity for each product, creating a 'digital twin', enabling the product journey to be digitally tracked, from the manufacture of the raw material, until its sale, resale and recycling, if applicable.

To demonstrate this traceability to the brand's consumers, McQueen carried out a solution based on NFC chips in physical clothing to record the data on the blockchain platform. Thus, each actor in the supply chain now has the ability to record the events related to their process performed.

From the solution developed in this case of use, consumers can verify the origin of the product to be purchased, identifying who produced the raw material and who designed and manufactured the clothes. As a result, the project offered security to the brand and stakeholders due to the immutability offered by blockchain and an improved user experience, ensuring that the entire lifecycle of a garment can be easily accessed from an online platform.

Another relevant result of the solution is that traceability allows everyone involved in the supply chain to have greater visibility and active participation in the construction of the product, which is necessary for the context of the circular economy. In other words, everyone benefits from an approach with greater transparency and traceability.

It is possible to see a video explaining the solution in this video - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=424674645472205