There is no denying that Blockchain has been slowly finding its way into the business of fashion for a while now. As a technology that is set to revolutionize the fashion industry, it was recently announced that online luxury marketplace and platform Reebonz, founded in 2009, has partnered up with VeChain, a leading global enterprise-level public blockchain platform, to further its ecosystem strategy. Although still largely untested and unregulated the adoption of Blockchain still presents unexplored possibilities that could benefit the fashion industry in the long run.
Blockchain, The New Generation Of Infrastructure
When it comes to defining Blockchain, Alex Tapscott, co-author of the famous book Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, And The World, describes it as “a truly open, distributed, global platform that will fundamentally change what we can achieve online, how we do it, and who can participate.” Adding: “The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet of information. The second generation — powered by blockchain technology — is bringing us the Internet of value.”
Elaborating further Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm that focuses on technology and life sciences companies and start-ups, define blockchain as a shared database or digital ledger that automatically updates information across an entire network, without the need for a central intermediary. Basically, when a user enters data in the ledger, that entry becomes linked to every other entry, or “block,” and every other copy of the ledger is automatically synchronised via the Internet. With the power to be an unprecedented disruptor in the fashion industry, the good news is that some forward-thinking brands are already using the technology to verify digital identities, enable “smart” contracts that execute automatically and track shipments of goods around the world.
Providing a comprehensive governance structure, a robust economic model, and IoT integration, VeChain is becoming the go-to for fashion brands looking to connect blockchain technology to the real world. So far they have attracted fashion brands like cult fashion brand BABYGHOST, who they worked with in 2015 to demonstrate Blockchain’s potential. Fast forward to 2019 and the company is providing tamper-proof solutions that cannot be replicated or reused for Reebonz. Leveraging VeChain’s expertise, Torres Oey, Chief Technology Officer of Reebonz shared: “We are extremely excited to be a strategic partner of VeChain! This marks an important milestone as Reebonz celebrates its 10th anniversary in March 2019.”
Reebonz Adopts VeChain’s Blockchain Technology
Excited to be adopting blockchain technology Reebonz’s strategic decision is driven by the need to establish an end-to-end provenance of the luxury products sold on their platforms. Together with VeChain, they plan to develop a digital tag, that will enable the development of upstream and downstream supply chain assurance to allow product traceability, supply chain planning, product management, and proof of ownership.
Providing them with the means to facilitate trust and greater transparency in a rapidly growing sharing economy, VeChain will be helping Singapore based Reebonz develop an initial Proof of Concept that will take advantage of Blockchain functionality suited for smart contracts. “Our partnership with Reebonz sets a new industry standard for solutions using our robust VeChainThor platform. We welcome Reebonz into the VeChain community and look forward to building a long-term partnership with them,” said Sunny Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of VeChain.
As the wheels of Blockchain continue to turn, Reebonz is on a mission to ‘deliver enterprise-level blockchain solutions and create valuable transactions’ for participating customers, suppliers, merchants, and partners. On the outcome of their collaboration, Oey hopes that Vechain will help them build trust with their customers. For the CTO of Reebonz, the adoption of VeChain’s technology has been vital to their business. “This partnership will strengthen our vision of making luxury accessible to everyone and giving the power to our shoppers in determining the authenticity of products that they have purchased“, explained Oey. Adding: “The Blockchain technology is unprecedented in our sector and will be a disruptor in how we authenticate products. We believe that the expertise from the VeChain and VeChainThor platforms will be paramount in providing a complete end-to-end solution.”
