Smart Clothes: How Digital Clothing Labels Promote Sustainability in Fashion

At this year’s London Fashion Week(Opens in a new tab)the growing intersection between fashion and technology took a new direction: digital clothing labels.

Backstage at the Ahluwalia show(Opens in a new tab) In February, I saw these labels attached to pieces from the British brand’s latest collection in collaboration with Microsoft and software platform EON.(Opens in a new tab). Instead of an average, flimsy clothing tag (often removed quickly after purchasing an item), these versions each have a QR code. When scanned, the tags reveal information about the garment package: how Ahluwalia produced it, an understanding of the supply chain, the material’s life cycle and the creative process – including music designer Priya Ahluwalia.(Opens in a new tab) He listened while working.

EON’s mission is to improve traceability and enable garment recycling. Luxury brands have been killed.(Opens in a new tab)Prada, including coach(Opens in a new tab), and Ralph Lauren are looking to introduce some digital product identities, or have already done so, as part of a larger goal to more strongly incorporate sustainable and technologically advanced practices into their businesses. Amazon Style(Opens in a new tab)It opened its first brick-and-mortar store in California last year and has similarly added QR-coded tags to its clothing, which focus on details like product sizes and customer ratings, rather than information about Amazon’s manufacturing process.

Digital IDs being presented at Ahluwalia LFW.
Credit: Microsoft

In circular fashion, the concept is often reduced to a buzzword(Opens in a new tab)It’s something that brands strive to provide more of. Circularity, in this regard, is the ability to reuse and recycle clothes. Fashion is one of the most polluting industries(Opens in a new tab) On the planet, producing 20 percent of the world’s wastewater(Opens in a new tab) and 10 percent(Opens in a new tab) of all greenhouse gas emissions. Collective pressure to destroy this name(Opens in a new tab) And sustainability has increased over the years – not to mention the growing clothing market(Opens in a new tab) It is estimated to be worth $350 billion by 2027.

The latest report from the UN on climate change and the CDP(Opens in a new tab) It shows that the fashion industry is finally making tangible changes to be sustainable and act on climate change. But there is work to be done: greenwashing is still prevalent when it comes to high street labels; Fast fashion presents many challenges. 92 million tons of fashion wear is still a big deal.(Opens in a new tab) Textiles end up in landfills every year. Estimated in 2030.(Opens in a new tab) This number adds up to 134 million tons of waste per year.

Many in the fashion industry believe that technologies such as digital identities have the potential to bring about effective change. In this case, the labels act as a sort of passport to the garment, providing a comprehensive, end-to-end overview of the product. Finally, Blueprint offers a trinity of ambitions: resale (very environmentally friendly(Opens in a new tab) Method when it comes to fashion, repair and reuse.

For Natasha Frank, founder and CEO of EON, digital identities – in the form of QR codes or NFC tags(Opens in a new tab) – Capture the ability to transform “simple products” into “available and valuable assets”.

“Products will become immersive media channels, connecting brands directly with their customers, on-demand,” she tells Mashable. “Customers can scan their items on their phones and get in-depth information on where and how they were made, or access services like styling, care, repair, resale and more.”

These bits of “embedded data,” as Frank puts it, can turn a piece of clothing into a smart garment, especially for brands and people entering the resale market. EON is organizing a quick resale.(Opens in a new tab) A program where users can scan their product’s digital ID and instantly resell it. The startup is currently working with French luxury brand Chloe and fashion resale site Vestiaire Collective.(Opens in a new tab) In this initiative.

Marushka Lobser, director of global partnerships at Microsoft, tells Mashable that digital identity labels, like the company’s collaborations with Ahluwalia and EON, are “an integral part of the future of fashion” for their ability to creatively promote circularity.

“Digital IDs enable proven resale, rental and service business models – turning products into services,” explains Lobser. “In general, if a garment is smart, it allows for a lot of interaction to take it from a linear business model to a circular one – whether it’s being resold, rented, recycled or upcycled, it allows the garment to be transparent.”

“Digital IDs enable authentic resale, rental and service business models – turning products into services.”

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has gotten into fashion, recently diving into the intersection where AI meets design.(Opens in a new tab) with Portuguese company Fashionble to create an “AI algorithm that generates original clothing designs, helps fashion companies meet customer needs, go to market faster and reduce clothing waste.”

Backstage at London Fashion Week: Ahluwalia x Microsoft.
Credit: Microsoft

These accounts are growing everywhere. In fact, the European Union has proposed the standardization of digital passports for textiles(Opens in a new tab) Last March, the appearance of the Circular Economy Action Plan(Opens in a new tab) It is part of the EU’s ambitious 2050 climate neutrality target and the European Green Deal.(Opens in a new tab).

Consumer attitudes still need to change. A combination of sustainability(Opens in a new tab)A non-profit organization focused on the consumer goods industry conducted a global 2020 survey(Opens in a new tab) “Digital tags can measure frequency and duration of clothing use with reasonable reliability,” he concluded. The company recognized that there were some limitations to expanding the concept, but consumers’ attitudes toward these labels were increasingly positive. Yoox Net-A-Porter Group(Opens in a new tab)The international online retailer works with EON to “accelerate circularity” in the research.(Opens in a new tab) As customers engage in processing of information provided through Accounts. In the year By 2021, the company said, 39 percent of consumers looked at product care information, while 47 percent looked at transparency details.

Frank says brands that embrace technology in this way can “outperform others” in the area of ​​sustainability. She also believes that the opportunities for this technology are huge for development in other areas, as it has the potential to connect products with technologies such as digital apparel, gaming and metaverse applications, NFTs and more.

“Successful brands move from selling ‘simple products’ to selling ‘intelligent assets,'” she says. “The possibilities are endless, and there are more innovations to come.”