The fashion industry today faces threats to traceability and transparency of the supply chain, brand preservation and counterfeiting which have become real concerns since the rise of fast fashion.
Blockchain could have an enormous impact on these issues.
Blockchain is a distributed digital system maintaining records of events across a public or private computing network. It stores events in the form of “transactions” replicated across the network.
Blockchain could be used to record the history of a product, starting with the production and including all steps in the supply chain.
By documenting every step in the production, blockchain unable also to monitor and demonstrate that manufacturing processes meet ethical and environmental guidelines.
In Italy the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) has recently launched a pilot project focusing on blockchain as a key tool for the protection of Made in Italy products.
This paper examines the basic principles of blockchain and its potential to impact supply chain and intellectual property.