- German blockchain project IOTA has partnered with multiple firms to track the supply chain of garments
- This is a shift from the typical forte of IOTA – M2M and IoT economy
- The aim is to track garments from the point of production right to the retail store
Blockchain project IOTA announced on May 15, 2019, their partnership with Avery Dennison, ALYX, and EVRYTHING to develop an end-to-end distributed ledger technology-based solution that would help track the opaque garments supply chain.
IOTA Enters the Supply Chain Space
Germany’s IOTA Foundation has, to date, kept itself within the bounds of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine to Machine (M2M) economy space. The Tangle-based project has already got on board multiple multinational giants including Jaguar, Bosch, Audi, and maybe even Ford.
Now, it seems that the startup has shifted its focus towards the supply chain industry as it aims to provide consumers full transparency regarding their garments purchases.
The Participants and their Roles
Just by scanning QR code with their smartphone, consumers will be able to view the complete supply chain specifics of their purchase, thus, essentially tracking the product from the point of production to the retail rack. This way, customers will also be able to confirm the legitimacy of the product. Further, courtesy of IOTA’s Tangle ledger, they can view the smallest of details of the product including the raw material used, production batch, and the place of origin, among other things. The Tangle will also ensure that no data through the supply chain ever gets compromised.
Similarly, other players in the initiative have their specific roles carved out. For instance, ALYX is a popular luxury fashion label known the world over for their high-quality garment designs and products.
Avery Dennison, a global leader which has made a name for itself as the go-to supply chain solution provider for the garments and footwear industry will take care of all the peripheral elements of the process including graphic tickets, price tags, labels, packaging solutions, and others.
Lastly, EVRYTHING, which has already partnered with IOTA in the past, is one of the largest IoT SaaS platforms in the world. The company currently manages millions of digital identities in the cloud of various data science firms.
More can be learned about the collaborative initiative in the press release.