H&M Targets Ethical Consumers with Blockchain Traceability

Cos, the luxury subsidiary of the fast-fashion brand H&M, appears to have partnered with blockchain platform, VeChain, to provide detailed supply chain tracing data to customers.

While H&M is yet to confirm the partnership, VeChain’s main investor is already speculating as to how the two companies’ collaboration will expand.

VeChain CEO reveals new project with ‘fast fashion brand’

During a recent ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) with Sunny Lu, the chief executive of blockchain-based supply chain management platform, VeChain, revealed that the company is working on a new project with a “fast fashion brand” with which it had previously partnered.

Lu stated that “more than 4,000 sustainability products were traced” using ‘MyStory’ — a traceability platform powered by VeChain that was developed with international classification society DNV GL.

Speculation quickly surfaced that the mystery partner must be H&M, Vechain’s platform had been used to verify the organic manufacturing underpinning the manufacture of H&M subsidiary, Arket’s apparel, in 2018.

Sleuthing conducted by Chinese media platform, Uncle Cat, quickly identified the H&M’s high-end fashion label, Cos, as the likely partner, before spotting one of the company’s jumpers donning a MyStory tag.

Since being founded during 2007 in London, Cos has expanded to comprise 290 physical shops located in 44 different jurisdictions.

VeChain investors believe Cos partnership will expand

An article published by Cream, a blockchain and crypto investment firm and “one of the main driving forces behind VeChain,” suggests the partnership could also see blockchain technology used to enhance Cos’ second-hand marketplace ‘Resell’:

“For example, clothing items can have an NFT (non-fungible token) pairing generated at the point of sale, providing the new owner with a token proving authenticity and an immutable record of ownership.”

Cream suggests that VeChain and MyStory could be also used to strengthen internal supply chain transparency, in addition to consumer-facing sustainability monitoring.

In 2019, ConsenSys launched a platform in partnership with Microsoft and French global luxury goods conglomerate, LMVH, to verify the authenticity and ethics of high-end fashion, including brands Louis Vuitton and Parfums Christian Dior.