The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) plans to design, prototype and pilot a new technology platform based on IBM technologies. As per Innovation in Textiles, UKFT has collaborated with IBM, Tech Data, and the Future Fashion Factory for the project that will help the UK fashion and textile industry to drive sustainability and profitability through increased transparency within the supply chain.

The project will also include retailers Next, H&M’s COS brand, N Brown, New Look and yarn manufacturer Laxton. Known as the Sustainable Supply Chain Optimization, the project will be developed with £1.4 million funds from Innovate UK, a part of UK Research and Innovation, on behalf of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge.

The new technology platform will combine a number of emerging technologies like blockchain, AI and sensors to digitize the key processes in the supply-chain, creating a shared system of data that the different parties can trust and easily act upon.

It will provide a better understanding of where and how each garment’s fabric was processed and finished, by whom and in what conditions. It will enable manufacturers to spot potential disruptions before they have a chance to affect delivery. They will also be able to better monitor production processes and flows resulting in a real chance to reduce waste and optimize stock.

The nine-month project will deliver a solution built on a combination of IBM’s blockchain and AI technologies running on IBM Cloud. The blockchain technology will enable increased transparency in the supply chain and the AI technology will facilitate the detection and response to supply chain disruption and provide the insights for real-time analysis of current business performance, rapid problem solving and optimization of business flows.