Levi Strauss & Co joins the sustainable cotton blockchain

Levi Strauss & Co, with its historic brands Levi’s, Dockers, Denizen by Levìs and Signature by Levi Strauss & Co. has joined the US Cotton Trust Protocol, a system that sets quantifiable and verifiable targets for sustainable cotton production. The protocol provides verified data on the sustainability practices of US cotton farmers and access to aggregate data on an annual basis on key elements such as water use, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, efficiency, erosion and the presence of organic carbon in the soil, with complete transparency of the supply chain through the use of TextileGenesis blockchain technology. Over 450 members already join the Cotton Trust Protocol, including brands, retailers, factories and manufacturers, including Tesco, Gap and Next. This is just the latest news of a growing and constantly evolving trend, which applies the blockchain to textiles with a view to sustainability. It is a fragmented industry with complex supply chains spanning the world, where it is difficult to trace with certainty the ethical provenance of raw materials. As TextileGenesis founder Amit Gautam explains, “The supply chain of a single garment can involve up to seven different production stages in different countries. The raw material sometimes changes hands even ten times before being transformed into a t-shirt “. TextileGenesis uses its digital tokens, fiber coins, to create a timestamp of the product along the entire supply chain and processing stages, so that the brand knows exactly which raw materials end up in its product. In addition to the US Cotton Protocol, TextileGenesis is working on other projects, including one with fast fashion giant H&M to track the recycled polyester and certified and sustainable wool of its Conscious lines. funds or major for blockchain tracking in the textile industry. The Trick project, funded by Horizon 2020, aims to provide SMEs in the textile sector, within 42 months, with a complete, reliable, affordable and standardized digital platform that can foster a sustainable and circular approach. the transparent tracking of raw materials and all processing phases also takes place here via blockchain. Not just sustainability: the blockchain in textiles also comes into play for the protection of intellectual property and against counterfeiting, especially for luxury brands. In fact, through blockchain it is possible to give a certain marking to sketches of fabrics, garments or accessories that have not yet been made but that you want to protect from theft of ideas, since with this system you can certify with certainty the date, identity of the creator and immutability of the document created . It is also possible, for each physical product, to give life to its corresponding NFT, “virtual twin” which, connected via a digital label, certifies its originality and ownership, putting an end to fraud, falsification and theft, even in the market of used.