MonoChain, a London-based start-up, is targeting the escalating problem of textile waste through their innovative blockchain application to connect primary and secondary markets, facilitate reuse, extend product lifecycles, and further shift consumer and manufacturer behaviour.

At present, only one out of six post-consumer apparel items gets resold. If an item's lifespan is extended by just nine months through resale, it reduces that garment's carbon, water, and waste footprint by 20% to 30%. The secondhand apparel market is currently valued at $28 billion and is expected to grow to $64 billion by 2024, according to a ThredUp report. Additionally, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation research estimates that more than $500 billion worth of value is lost in the fashion industry each year because clothing is not worn and is not often recycled. By capturing some of an item's resale value, Blockchain estimates that a brand can double or even triple the profit on that garment. This mindset shift could deliver higher margins and allow companies to pull back on the volumes they produce without sacrificing profit, prompting labels to make garments that are more durable and resale friendly, thereby encouraging a circular economy. 

MonoChain offers a ledger based on blockchain technology that shows who owns what, who's an authorised licensee, etc. It enables everyone in the supply chain, including consumers and customs authorities, to validate a genuine product and distinguish it from a fake. MonoChain allows for provenance authentication because it can record verifiable details objectively about when and where products are made and raw materials used. Fashion companies have the opportunity of extending their relationship with the customer and monetisation of the product well beyond current limits by providing a value-add service of reducing the risk of being caught out by counterfeit fraud and facilitating opportunities to resell the product at the end of its life with a particular customer.

MonoChain is a B2B solutions partner for global fashion companies, providing them with the opportunity to extend relationships with their customers (and – vitally – their lifetime value). Specifically, MonoChain can transform the secondary market by allowing firms to facilitate the onward sale of fashion items.

MonoChain aims to be a bridge between primary and resale markets to facilitate reselling, enabling fashion retailers to enter the circular economy.

This will lead to an increase in the ability to track the source of materials to be used in production (e.g. provide traceability).

Secondly, it will increase the utilisation rate and decrease the risk of throwing away clothes after minimal use.

Thirdly, it will enable easier recycling and automated sorting of clothing based on textile components (e.g. easier to separate polyester clothes from cotton clothes).