BLK DNM, a Swedish-American fashion label, was bought by ChromaWay, a blockchain company, in June 2023; the marriage of fashion and blockchain led to the development of “connected fashion”. Connected fashion means that these garments exist in both physical and virtual worlds.
Henrik Hjelte, CEO and Co-founder of ChromaWay, says this innovation is “totally futuristic” and that “nothing like this has been attempted in fashion before.” This exciting technology will first appear in BLK DNM’s FW 2023 collection. The company will first use the chips on its leather item but has plans to introduce the technology in other products in the future.
How Does this New Blockchain Technology Help Fashion?
Each garment will come with a digital “garment ID”, which is a hidden microchip that gives each item a unique and traceable identity in both the physical and virtual worlds. This breakthrough technology grants benefits to both the fashion industry and its customers.
- One notable feature of the digital garment ID is that it can easily verify the authenticity of the product. The fashion industry loses billions of dollars a year due to counterfeiting. High-end clothes, bags, and watches are the usual targets of counterfeiters. Some of these fake products have a very close resemblance to the original. Having the technology to verify authenticity will help protect customers and fashion companies alike.
- The digital ID also rewards responsible behavior like refurbishing and reselling garments.
- Each garment’s unique history is also recorded. This includes past owners, events, and places worn. It even records all repairs and alterations done to the product. Just imagine owning a garment that was worn by a celebrity at a red carpet-event and being able to prove it via blockchain technology.
- Each garment can also be used as an event ticket. Imagine waltzing into an event and being granted access because of your clothes.
- The blockchain-powered garment also gives access to voting rights on key brand decisions based on item ownership.
Blockchain and Fashion are a Match Made in Heaven
When somebody mentions blockchain, most people would think of Bitcoin or tokens that can make investors rich. However, blockchain is a technology that has uses aside from creating tokens that represent value. We have to remember that Blockchain is a type of database that stores information in blocks that are linked together by cryptography, making it hard to crack, immutable, and transparent.
Chromaway and BLK DNM has harnessed blockchain technology to add value to fashion items. First, they have addressed the issue of protecting customers from counterfeit products. Second, products can increase in value because of their provenance, which can all be verified on-chain. Third, it is amazing that a unique piece of clothing can be used in both the real and virtual worlds.
When we imagine fashion in the future, we usually think of shoes or clothes that instantly adjust to our size. Or maybe clothes that never get dirty. However, not a lot of us imagined a world where a piece of clothing can record who wore it and when and where it was worn. It is exciting to think that this was made possible with blockchain and this is just the start.
About BLK DNM and Chromaway
BLK DNM is a Swedish-American fashion brand that was founded in 2011 and relaunched as a luxury label in 2023. It has a strong cultural identity that revolves around themes like equality, freedom, politics, and art. It is also the first fashion brand to introduce intelligence into clothing with blockchain technology.
ChromaWay is a blockchain technology company that was founded in 2014 and acquired BLK DNM in 2023. It is the creator of relational blockchain, a class of blockchain platforms that combine the power and flexibility of relational database systems with the secure collaboration and disruptive potential of blockchain. Its head office is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Source: Benzinga
Featured Image from Pixabay
