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  • Nestle India plans up to 3-dozen product launches in 2019, eyes higher exports

    Nestle India plans up to 3-dozen product launches in 2019, eyes higher exports

    FMCG major Nestle India has lined up nearly two-three dozen products that it plans to launch in calender year 2019 across categories in the country to drive its aggressive growth plans, Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan said.

    According to a report, the company, whose 6 percent revenues come from exports, is now looking to tap more overseas markets by targeting countries with higher Indian diaspora such as SAARC and South East Asia.

    “In 2018, our core brands have performed well…We look forward for greater acceleration as we go forward….We have two-three dozen projects (products) in pipeline for launch in 2019. These products are across categories,” Narayanan said.

    Reiterating the company’s focus on the Indian market, he said, “As an organisation the one clarion call that we are working to is that we are in the business of growth to thrive and not to survive…It is not a survival mode that we look at the opportunity in India or the opportunity for growth..but a thriving mode.”

    While the domestic market has been driving its growth, Narayanan said Nestle India would now look at expanding its export basket.

    The company is looking at tapping overseas market with higher Indian diaspora such as SAARC and South East Asia to expand its exports, he added.

    Commenting on fake news on nutrition, Narayanan said it was affecting choices and lives of people.

    Therefore, Nestle India in partnership with Google, using a chatbot mechanism, will launch a personalised information dissemination website called ‘Ask Nestle’, he added.

    “Ask Nestle seeks to be a reliable and anchor platform for nutrition and lifestyle information for customers. India is the only market where this website is being launched,” he was further said.

    When asked if the company will in future also link Ask Nestle with its own e-commerce website for selling its products, he said it is a possibility.

    “…Going forward it could morph into something bigger in terms of linking up with our own e-commerce intentions, if at all it happens. But today it is only for information sharing, dissemination and helping,” he said.

    When asked if there has been any impact on sales of Maggi noodles after Supreme Court revived government’s case in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) against Nestle India seeking damages of Rs 640 crore for alleged unfair trade practices, false labelling and misleading advertisements, Narayanan said “No”.

    When asked if the company is looking for manufacturing capacity expansion, he said: “…This is a question that is coming up with active consultation. That exercise is on but I can not share more at this stage”.

    Typically, our approach is to augment (capacity) at our existing factories, but it does not rule out a new manufacturing facility, Narayanan said.

    Nestle India, at present, has eight factories across the country.

    The company also did not rule out evaluating inorganic growth in the country and said it may consider it if any opportunity arises.

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  • HSBC pre-tax profit up 16% at US$19.9 bn in 2018

    HSBC pre-tax profit up 16% at US$19.9 bn in 2018

    Banking giant HSBC said on Tuesday that pre-tax profit rose 16% to US$19.9 billion last year with growth across its global businesses despite a “challenging external environment in the fourth quarter”. The results capped the first full year at the helm of the Asia-focused bank for chief executive officer John Flint, who has vowed growth while keeping a lid on costs as trade tensions between the United States and China rumble.

    However, earnings in the last three months of 2018 came in below expectations as Washington’s trade war began to bite globally and hammered the stock markets, especially in Hong Kong and China.

    Adjusted pretax profit fell one percent to US$3.39 billion in October-December, missing the US$4.4 billion consensus average by Bloomberg Newsderived from estimates compiled by the bank.

    Global markets adjusted revenue was down US$202 million to US$1.1 billion over the same period, while wealth management dropped 18%, also to US$1.1 billion.

    Overall the year saw strong growth for HSBC with net profit ballooning 30%to US$12.6 billion while adjusted pre-tax profit rose three percent to US$21.7 billion.

    The bank had to lay off tens of thousands of staff as part of a wide-ranging overhaul that also saw it sell its Brazil operations in 2015.

    But it showed a healthy doubling of profits by 2017, a year that also saw it nominate Mark Tucker as chairman, breaking a longstanding tradition of appointing insiders to the post.

    In a statement attached to Tuesday’s earnings, Tucker and Flint said the bank was prepared to weather fallout from both a possible deterioration in the trade talks between Washington and Beijing and Britain’s impending departure from the EU.

    “The fundamentals for growth in Asia remain strong in spite of a softer regional economic outlook,“ Tucker said in a statement attached to the annual report.

    “The system of global trade remains subject to political pressure, and differences between China and the US will likely continue to inform sentiment in 2019,“ he added.

    With Brexit looming, HSBC followed the other major British financial giants in ring-fencing its UK bank.

    “We continue to prepare for the UK’s departure from the EU” Flint said, adding its operations in France “gives us a major advantage in this regard”

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  • Japanese fund buys Vietnamese fashion chain Elise

    Japanese fund buys Vietnamese fashion chain Elise

    Japanese investment fund Advantage Partners (AP) is to buy Vietnamese fashion brand Elise and its affiliate companies. This transaction marks AP’s first foray into Vietnam. Going forward, AP will focus on accelerating Elise’s growth, using its experience in women’s fashion investments in other markets. Founded in 2011, Elise is a leading Vietnamese fashion label targeting women aged 20-45. It currently operates 95 stores across the country.

    Last year, Elise was reported to have been acquired by Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing however, the Japanese group has since denied the move.

    Advantage Partners is a private investment firm with asset platforms in Asia, and offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

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  • Carlsberg Malaysia declares highest ever dividend payout for FY18

    Carlsberg Malaysia declares highest ever dividend payout for FY18

    Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd has declared its highest dividend payment amounting to RM1 per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18) following a record performance for the year. Managing director Lars Lehmann said this is equivalent to a 110.3% payment of the group’s FY18 net profit, in line with its dividend policy to declare at least 75% of the group’s quarterly net profit and a special dividend in the event of surplus cash after considering future cash requirements.

    The group declared a fourth quarter (Q4) interim dividend of 16.6 sen per share. It also proposed a final interim dividend of 22.4 per share plus a special dividend of 9.3 sen amounting to 48.3 sen per share.

    Together with the interim dividends declared for the first nine months of FY18 amounting to 51.7 sen, the total dividends for FY18 amount to RM1 per share.

    Carlsberg’s Q418 net profit rose 34.9% to RM67.45 million from RM50.01 million a year ago thanks to strong sales in the Malaysian operations, higher profits from Carlsberg Singapore Pte Ltd as well as higher profit contribution from Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC.

    Revenue grew 22.3% to RM525.65 million compared with RM429.94 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

    For FY18, the group’s net profit jumped 25.3% to RM277.15 million from RM221.17 million a year ago, while revenue grew 12.1% to RM1.98 billion from RM1.77 billion.

    Looking ahead, Carlsberg warned that rising prices for raw and packaging materials will see costs increasing 5%-10% if it is unable to mitigate such effects. Lehmann, however, stressed that the group is improving its efficiency.

    “There’s a bit of headwinds for increase in prices of raw materials like malt and packaging materials like cans that are not specific to Malaysia but globally. There’s a bad harvest in Australia for barley and the prices are going up,” he told a media and analyst briefing after announcing its FY18 financial results today.

    He added that the group will continue its focus and execution on the third year of SAIL’22 strategy in both Malaysia and Singapore, while areas of growth for FY19 are its premium brands like Connor’s, Somersby, 1664 Blanc and Asahi Super Dry.

  • The personal care company start using refillable containers

    The personal care company start using refillable containers

    On a trip to Thailand in 2017, serial entrepreneur Brian Bushell went diving for the first time and expected that the water would be pristine. Instead, it was filled with trash. “We were about to dive off the back of the boat, and all of the sudden we’re surrounded by junk plastic containers,” he says. That night, he went back to his hotel room and looked at the products he had sitting on the bathroom counter. “I realized that I was part of the problem.”

    Bushell, who had recently left Baked by Melissa, the chain of successful New York City-area cupcake bakeries he co-founded, started researching the challenge of plastic waste.

    “We learned that a third of all the single-use plastic products in landfills are personal care products,” he says. “So we decided that personal care was really an important nut to crack.”

    With co-founder Joshua Goodman, he started working on By Humankind, a new line of personal care products that launched today. Each product eliminates single-use packaging.

    A new type of deodorant, made from natural ingredients that the company says are formulated to kill bacteria more quickly than other natural products, comes in a reusable container the first time you order. (The reusable container is plastic; the founders say they believe that plastic is not inherently bad, but it needs to be designed in a way that it doesn’t immediately land in the trash.)

    In the next order, the product shows up in a paper pod that pops into the original package and then twists out like a typical deodorant. The company’s mouthwash comes in tablets that customers drop in water, eliminating the need for a plastic bottle. Its shampoo comes in a bar form wrapped in paper instead of liquid in a bottle.

    Unlike Loop, a new experiment from major brands that will sell products like deodorant in packaging that is sent back to manufacturers for reuse, the startup thought that it made more sense to make packaging that consumers would keep and reuse themselves.

    “We didn’t think that customers were going to want to do the work to send it back,” Bushell says. “And there’s also an additional cost in that reverse or return logistics.”

    With the first three products, available online, the startup has calculated that in a year, an average American consumer can keep five pounds of plastic out of the environment. The company will also donate $1 for ocean plastic cleanup for each first purchase of a product. It plans to continue adding new personal care products.

    “Our whole thesis is, what if you could help save the world from single-use plastic just by getting ready in the morning?” he says. “And so anything that’s within that morning routine is within our target.”

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  • Pandora appoints Alexander Lacik as chief executive officer

    Pandora appoints Alexander Lacik as chief executive officer

    The Board of Directors of Pandora has appointed Alexander Lacik as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lacik’s strong track-record as a consumer marketer and brand architect will help drive the execution of Programme now and assert Pandora’s position as the world’s largest jewellery brand. He will join Pandora as soon as possible.

    Alexander Lacik (54) brings international experience from growth and brand building in global consumer companies. He joins Pandora from the position as CEO of Britax Ltd., a world leader in child safety products. Prior to this, he was President of North America at RB (Reckitt Benckiser) from 2013-2017 and has held key management positions with the leading global consumer goods company since 2004. Previously, Lacik held positions in sales and marketing with Procter & Gamble from 1992 to 2004.

    At RB, Lacik contributed significantly to the company’s growth turnaround in a competitive global consumer business where brand distinction and brand equity are critical components. He successfully drove strategic brand positioning and above market growth in the group’s largest region with more than USD 3.5 billion in revenue and a full value chain. Lacik has lived and worked in five countries and managed businesses in regions across the world, covering manufacturing, product development, sales, marketing, and retail partnering.

    Peder Tuborgh, Chairman of the Board of Directors says: “I am delighted that we have secured Alexander Lacik as CEO of Pandora. Alexander is a strong match for our recently announced strategic direction and will be instrumental in executing Programme NOW. Alexander is a brilliant marketer and brand architect and has throughout his career shown himself as a great leader and a highly effective executor. His skills and experience will be key to revitalising the Pandora brand.”

    “I am honoured and excited to join Pandora. Pandora is an incredible company that has grown to be the world’s largest jewellery brand at unprecedented speed. I am encouraged by the current direction with a strong focus on brand reignition to restore growth. These are business aspects that I am particularly passionate about, and I look forward to joining and supporting the management team in the execution of Programme NOW”, says Alexander Lacik.

    Following the appointment, The Executive Management team of Pandora will consist of Alexander Lacik (CEO), Anders Boyer (CFO) and Jeremy Schwartz (COO). Until Lacik joins, the joint leadership of Anders Boyer and Jeremy Schwartz will continue unchanged.

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  • Farfetch announces the first chief fashion officer

    Farfetch announces the first chief fashion officer

    The close relationship between luxury e-tailer Farfetch and Browns, the physical store that it acquired back in 2015, has become even closer with Browns’ CEO Holli Rogers having taken up a new role at the parent company. Rogers will stay on as the senior manager at Browns but has also become chief fashion officer at Farfetch, which will see her working closely with the e-tailer’s marketing, styling and VM teams “to ensure the company’s fashion approach is incorporated into the DNA of the overall customer experience of the brand”.

    Rogers, who was formerly Net-a-Porter fashion director, has had an impressive career at the cutting edge of both luxury physical retail and high-end e-tail. She has also worked at Neiman Marcus and Chanel.

    Farfetch CEO and founder José Neves said she “could bring her unique experience to the broader Farfetch business at an executive level. [Her] reputation, high regard among fashion CEOs, influencers and the wider industry, her relationships and her incredible aesthetic will be a huge benefit to Farfetch.”

    It is clear that she’s highly regarded at the company after having overseen a number of success for Browns from the opening of the Browns East location to the revamped visual image, launching collaborations at home and abroad and continuing to nurture new names.

  • FamilyMart Malaysia to open 300 more stores by 2022

    FamilyMart Malaysia to open 300 more stores by 2022

    QL Resources, the Malaysian operator of Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart, is going ahead with plans to open 300 stores by March 2022, despite a slump in the economy. The firm opened 30 FamilyMart Malaysia outlets within the last financial year and plans to reach 90 new stores for the year ending March 31, 2019.

    “We still stick to our plan to open 300 stores in five years”, said QL chairman Chia Song Kun.

    Market leadership in the territory is currently controlled by 7-Eleven Malaysia, which operates more than 2000 stores in Malaysia. A major shareholder in the firm recently announced plans to open another 200 outlets this year.

    Malaysian spending is increasingly focused on domestic trade as exports continue to be affected by the US-China trade war.

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  • Huawei confident of 5G role in Vietnam

    Huawei confident of 5G role in Vietnam

    Huawei Technologies says it has a good chance to be a supplier of 5G equipment to Vietnamese service providers. Fine Fan, CEO of Huawei Vietnam, said that the Chinese company is in talks with Vietnamese partners on conducting 5G trials later this year. “We are confident of expanding in Vietnam,” Fan said, adding that Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung “is open to every provider.”

    Fan said that Huawei cannot be beaten on quality or cost in Vietnam. “Huawei will provide better technology and solutions, along with financial support to local operators to deploy 5G.”

    Huawei’s expression of confidence comes as major mobile carriers in Vietnam have previously announced plans to develop 5G networks using equipment from other suppliers, including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung Electronics.

    Viettel, the country’s largest telecommunications company, became the first firm to receive permission to trial 5G services last month.

    The company has earmarked $40 million for the development of its own 5G chipset, but was also considering using technology from Ericsson and Nokia, its president and CEO Le Dang Dung said.

    Last November, Minister Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” Hung said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    Huawei has been the largest provider of 2G and 3G network equipment in Vietnam, though the company lost its lead when 4G arrived, CEO Fan said.

    Vietnam’s telecom market was estimated at more than $16 billion in 2016, with the three state-owned providers, Viettel, MobiFone, and VNPT, accounting for 95 percent of the market.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G, primarily used for smartphones and other similar devices. 5G is also expected to support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

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  • Lifestyle deploys new retail technologies

    Lifestyle deploys new retail technologies

    A part of Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark Group, Lifestyle has been enhancing its Omnichannel experience for its customers at a very fast pace in the recent years. With 75 stores at present, Lifestyle is now also available online through www.lifestylestores.com where customers can shop from the convenience of their home.

    Offering men’s, women’s and kids’ apparel, footwear, handbags, fashion accessories, beauty products and much more, all under the same roof, the fashion retailer has added features such as ‘Self-Checkout Kiosk’, ‘Mobile POS’, Fitting Room Assistance’, etc., to augment its in-store experience.

    “Lifestyle has always endeavored to provide its customers the best-in-class shopping experience. With technological advancements, the shopping experience has evolved and we, as a progressive retailer, have embraced many of these technological advancements to further enhance the shopping experience we off er our customers,” says Vasanth Kumar, Managing Director, Lifestyle International.

    New Tech-Advancements

    Lifestyle has introduced ‘Self- Checkout Kiosk’ in a few key stores, a facility that allows customers to bill their merchandise and complete the payment transaction in a few simple steps on their own with no or very little intervention from the staff thereby greatly solving the long queue by enabling quicker checkouts. Another initiative to further ease checkouts is the ‘Mobile POS’, which was introduced for billing products such as watches, fragrances or cosmetics.

    Using insights from customer shopping behavior, the retailer has also launched ‘Fitting Room Assistance’ program that allows for size retrieval with the help of technology where the store assistants are alerted on the size and style required in the fitting room. “This initiative has helped in enhancing our conversions and is now being scaled up across key stores,” Kumar says.

    “Several of our initiatives are technological solutions to real customer problems which we discovered through our interaction with customers as well as staff . Using this feedback, we have created simple yet impactful solutions leveraging technology. These have led to positive impact on our overall customer experience and helped increase engagement with the brand,” he further adds.

    At the same time, with features like ‘Click & Collect’ and ‘In-store Endless Aisle’, Lifestyle is offering a true Omnichannel experience to its customers. An Omnichannel initiative, ‘Click & Collect’ allows customers to order online and collect merchandise from a Lifestyle store of their choice. ‘In-store Endless Aisle’ helps customers find missing in-store sizes on the e-commerce channel. Also, the retailer has introduced visual search and enabled voice-based search for its mobile applications which has helped in creating a more personalised and convenient shopping experience. Lifestyle has also implemented the ‘Put-to-Light’ system for effective storing and distribution at its warehouses. It has enabled single view of inventory for its e-commerce portal, www.lifestylestores.com, making the entire inventory across all warehouses accessible to the online customers thereby enhancing the merchandise availability and online conversion.

    “We are continuously evolving our stores with new technologies. To fully enable our customers to enjoy these new introductions, it is important for our sales personnel to understand, communicate and comfortably operate all new innovations. Before implementing any new technology or introducing product innovation, our entire store team goes through an extensive knowledge session, which enables them to understand the product/technology being introduced,” says Kumar.

    Lifestyle regularly tracks consumer satisfaction through NPS (Net Promoter Score) in store, by the virtue of offering, staff interactions, store ambience and consistently deliver an overall delightful shopping experience thereby winning customer trust and loyalty.

  • Wholesale apparel portal Joor eyes Asia as its gets $16 million

    Wholesale apparel portal Joor eyes Asia as its gets $16 million

    US wholesale platform and data exchange Joor has raised US$16 million in Series C funding. The financing round was led by Itouchu, one of Japan’s leading conglomerates with participation from existing investors Canaan Partners and Battery Ventures. Joor has now raised $36 million since its launch and the new cash will fund ongoing product innovation for both brands and retailers, as well as expansion into Asia.

    Through the partnership with Itouchu, Joor will be able to access more than 150 US and European brands, and accelerate the entry of new overseas brands into Japan.

    “Joor’s dominance in North America and Europe makes it the natural choice for expansion into the Japanese market. We are excited to continue supporting their strategic growth,” said Yoshihiro Fukushima, executive officer of Itochu.

    “At Joor, our focus from day one has been the simplification of the wholesale process for brands and retailers,” said Kristin Savilia, CEO of Joor. “Our mission is to bring the industry together with one platform. The team at Itouchu supports this mission and we are excited to have its expertise and support to enable Joor to expand into Asia, furthering its global dominance.”

    Joor connects 8600 brands within 53 categories and 200,000 retailers in 144 countries into one wholesale platform.

    Luxury companies including Kering, LVMH, Richemont, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs have moved their wholesale business exclusively to the platform.

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  • India’s WoodenStreet eyes 15 stores by end of 2019

    India’s WoodenStreet eyes 15 stores by end of 2019

    In 2016, WoodenStreet entered the retail market with its first brick-and-mortar experience store in Bangalore. Established in 2015 as an online platform for quality custom furniture, WoodenStreet expanded its reach by opening 2 stores in 2017 and 9 stores in 2018, totalling to 12 experience stores. What’s next? 15 new experience stores by the end of 2019.

    Lokendra Ranawat, CEO, WoodenStreet expressed his aim to bring customization and quality a step closer to everyone’s home. “It’s not just about an online presence”, he elaborates, “but getting down there and interacting with our customers makes buying furniture a more personal experience, as it should be. We want people to not just visualize, but also feel the quality of furniture that we offer. We want them to see the limitless configurations, combinations and customization possibilities that they can actually get for themselves.”

    2018 was a long but fruitful year for WoodenStreet. Mumbai and Jaipur stores have been established in the last quarters of 2017, and the overwhelming response from these two stores, combined with a financial push from US$ 1 million Series A funding from RVCF, hardened the resolve to expand into further cities. Hence came the first stores of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon and Indore, with two more stores in Bangalore and Jaipur. This set up a large Omnichannel network, enabling greater penetration into the furniture market with a promise of quality and flexibility.

    “Last year was challenging but fun.”, says Virendra Ranawat, COO of WoodenStreet.com, commenting on the rocking journey. “But this hasn’t stopped us. We want to ensure that 2019 sees the addition of 15 more stores to our ever-growing roster. Which means that by the end of this year, we’ll have 27 brick-and-mortar stores in total.”

    WoodenStreet.com is a custom furniture store, with more than 30 delivery hubs and 12 experience stores spread across India, bringing quality solid wood furniture and the flexibility of customization closer to people and their dream of setting up a home flavoured to their tastes.

  • Japanese megastore Don Quijote to open its first Hong Kong store

    Japanese megastore Don Quijote to open its first Hong Kong store

    Don Quijote Hong Kong is set to make its debut in the middle of this year. The Japanese discount merchandise retailer – which has three stores in Singapore and also plans to make its Thai debut in Bangkok this year – has leased a 15,000sqft space in the basement of Mira Place Two on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

    In Japan, most of the company’s 160 discount stores trade 24 hours, but this is unlikely in Hong Kong.

    Helen Mak, senior director and head of retail services at Knight Frank said the basement location would appeal to local consumers and tourists.

    “Don Quijote’s Tsim Sha Tsui location can attract mainland tourists who travel via the high-speed rail and mega bridge. Instead of shopping for luxury items, these same-day visitors usually spend money on cosmetics, health care items and food, products that are most celebrated at [Don Quijote].”

    According to the SCMP, Don Quijote will pay HK$1 million (US$127,000) a month for the space, with the fitout expected to be complete by July.

    Besides its general merchandise and fresh food offer, the Don Quijote Hong Kong store will feature a cafe.

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  • Swiggy India now opens Stores to deliver everyday needs

    Swiggy India now opens Stores to deliver everyday needs

    India’s food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy Tuesday said it has launched ‘Swiggy Stores’ moving beyond its core food delivery segment to provide access to consumers items across multiple categories. The company will deliver from these stores “in categories such as fruits and vegetables, kiranas and supermarkets, florists, baby care, health and supplements among others,” Swiggy said in a statement.

    With the launch of these stores, Swiggy wants to become the one-stop delivery app that enables access to every store in the city, it added.

    “Today’s announcement takes Swiggy to categories beyond food, where we hope to deliver the same level of delightful experiences to consumers for their everyday needs,” Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said.

    It is the first milestone in Swiggy’s vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience, he added.

    Swiggy Stores will give its merchant-partners unmatched access to a combination of core assets to reach more existing and new customers, the statement said.

    For the delivery partners this will give them access to an additional avenue for income, it added.

    Founded in 2014, Swiggy currently connects consumers to over 60,000 restaurant partners across more than 80 cities.

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  • Blockchain in the business of fashion

    Blockchain in the business of fashion

    Fashion brands are finally beginning to take note of the rising consumer awareness on traceability and sustainability particularly driven by the millenniums. These evolving consumers are deep diving into knowing the history of the apparels before they buy – the story behind each garment and where and how are they manufactured.

    Moreover, mere claims or information is not enough to be trustworthy unless backed by detailed sequence of data on the complete value chain necessitated in wake of some or other global brand getting exposed of unethical sourcing or not being sustainable.

    This is making fashion companies to attempt towards transforming their business models focused on delivering transparency of data – both in backend and frontend by employing the emerging technologies.

    There has been a global buzz around new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Blockchain for some time now and the global Fashion industry has also moved in the last few years to adopt some of these in ways it firmly resisted for a long time. However, blockchain applications haven’t really seen much adoption by fashion organisations.

    So, What is Blockchain?

    According to Digital Trends, blockchain is a database that’s validated by a wider community, rather than a central authority. It’s a collection of records that a crowd oversees and maintains, rather than relying on a single entity, like a bank or government, which most likely hosts data on a particular server.

    Each ‘block’ represents a number of transactional records, and the ‘chain’ component links them all together with a hash function. As records are created, they are confirmed by a distributed network of computers and paired up with the previous entry in the chain, thereby creating a chain of blocks, or a blockchain.

    Blockchain is the technology behind digital currencies like Bitcoin and involve cryptography while in a usability sense they are just shared database or digital ledgers that publicly show a record of transactions having happened. Every time a product changes hands, that information on change in custody is recorded by the user in the ledger and entry becomes linked to every other entry (or Block) and every other copy of the ledger is automatically synchronised via internet. The interconnection among all the blocks forms a chain and the complete application becomes the blockchain. The chain of custody on blockchain provides a record of the last party to gain custody of the product. So, blockchain means decentralised structure that provides security and transparency and thus making data trustworthy.

    In broader sense, blockchain is not just technology, its impact goes beyond the industry or the society for creating a fair, safe and more transparent fashion industry.

    Applicability into Fashion Business

    Blockchain applications are not only for tracking virtual payments and financial transactions but have wider applications in securely distributing other product and supply chain information including complete database at SKU level. In other words, blockchains may be understood as indexes of standardised information or in simple sense, these are community generated data maps by brand and product.

    Most promising application of blockchain in fashion industry could be in supply chain and inventory management. What blockchain technology can enable in the fashion business is uniform real-time access to updated product information supplied by brands, a universal pathway for retailers to immediately report back to suppliers on aspects like stock levels and customer feedback, the final consumer details and many more might come along once something like this new basic building block structure is in play. Distributed nature of blockchain technology makes it superior to other tracking technologies as here the records can’t be altered, destroyed or lost.

    Blockchains have merely begun transforming apparel supply chains through technology such as track-and trace and inventory management. But as other technologies like 3D printing and AI continue to advance, the fashion apparel industry may very well see much more dramatic changes in years to come.

    Greater transparency in fashion supply chains will create new incentives for companies to change the way they do business and even how they view themselves as an organisation. If so, adoption of blockchain is only the beginning as the fashion industry may be entering a new era with vastly different forms of production and consumption.

    Advantages of Blockchain in Fashion

    • Nowadays, one of the major trends in the fashion industry is sustainability and circular economy. Today’s consumers believe in fair trade practices and hence increasingly demanding transparency and want to know where the product is coming from not only in food but also in fashion.
    • Blockchain enables fashion companies to securely communicate to the public the complete product story (DNA) for each and every fashion garment. This includes comprehensive details on all stages of product life cycle starting from design inspiration, raw materials, manufacturing and distribution to the stores and also providing visibility of all stakeholders involved in the value chain to create traceability and transparency in true sense.
    • Blockchain applications allow customers to scan the tag and discover the history of every garment and thus help in improving the customer experience.
    • Global companies like Patagonia and Everlane have been successfully betting on sustainability and supply chain transparency as a distinct selling proposition enabling customers to identify their suppliers.
    • Authenticity of branded products can be verified by both retailers and consumers since branded garments pass through the blockchain steps and hence can be tracked. This could help reducing the counterfeiting and diverting out of authentic products. Every time a fashion item moves from one place to other, its tag or code gets scanned thus recording its location with the time stamp. Consumers would be able to scanthe item and trace its journey from raw material stage to their home and would be able to ascertain if the product is real or a counterfeit. Blockchain applications can help provide protection against the counterfeiting.
    • Blockchain applications also can help fashion companies who license their trademarks or designs in tracking the sales and working out the royalty payments. Similarly, it enables design houses to document design process steps and thus having the organic evidence of ownership on the designs.

    Blockchain helps create peer-to-peer and decentralised network that connects all stakeholders in the value chain (design houses, farmers, raw material suppliers, manufacturers, transporters, distributors, retail outlets, banks, consumers and other parties of the complete supply chain). Using decentralised system, all communication between these parties will be direct and will not pass through a specific central entity. Due to its decentralised nature, the blockchain platform will not have any single point of failure and will not rely on any single entity.

    Through this technology, there could be a possibility wherein everyone from the farmer to the textile mill to the garmenting factory can communicate directly with the brand that buys from them. And, even the consumer can interact directly with the brand/design house for co-creation or customisation of the garments, influencing pricing and even co-investing in the concept.

    Given all the advantages, blockchain clearly seems to be the future for fashion, however, to speed up the application, a single and comprehensive blockchain standard adopted by the fashion industry has to come in fast.

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