The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) has launched a blockchain traceability project in partnership with IBM and retailers including H&M, Next and New Look. As per a Ledger Insights report, the nine-month sustainability project will develop and pilot a supply chain traceability solution for the UK fashion industry with £1.4 million support from Innovate UK.

As per the data firm Quantis, the global fashion industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters. The apparel sector makes up 6.7 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, rising to 8 per cent when footwear is included. The new platform will use IBM’s blockchain technology to share information about the clothing products – such as place and date of production, product composition and environment-related certificates – accessible to consumers via a QR code.

Key supply chain processes will be digitized, creating a shared system of data that different parties can access. This will all be stored on IBM Cloud, which will also use AI technology for optimization and to detect and respond to supply chain disruption. Other retailers participating in the pilot include N Brown and yarn manufacturer Laxtons.