Garments to be traced from origin to sale via blockchain

Have you ever wondered which roads your garments traverse before they adorn your body? If you have, there’s good news headed your way. You can now stop wondering and actually trace the above-mentioned journey of your garments. A startup in Kiwi has undertaken the responsibility of developing a blockchain based platform to trace the route that your garments travel. On that note, they have currently raised $1.2 million to develop the aforesaid platform.

So where’s this funding coming from and what is this startup all about? To start off, this project was founded by Samantha Jones who has already made a mark on the retail industry with her ethical clothing supplier startup called Little Yellow Bird. She was also awarded the 2017 New Zealand Young Innovator of the year award. The funding to develop this platform is being obtained from the NEM Community Fund. This funding will be given to New Zealand based company Origins who will develop the platform. Jones is the first woman ever to have a project that will be funded by NEM.

What this new platform seeks to achieve is to put a stop to modern-day slavery by ensuring ethical manufacturing of clothes. Jason Lee, Expansion Director for Australia and New Zealand at NEM has shown great enthusiasm for the project and he has said that “The supply chain industry is one of best areas to develop a real-world blockchain use case and we are enthusiastic to support Origins in exploiting the NEM blockchain technology which will be a substantial showcase globally.” He also emphasizes how support for this project aligns with NEM’s intention to support more projects that have a positive social impact.

Jones plans to visit India in August in order to develop and setup the first phase of the implementation plan designed by Origins. She has expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the retail sector and she hopes that her project will be able to solve that issue. She is all set to deliver a talk on the same at Social Enterprise World Forum in Edinburgh, in September.