Today we’ll talk about Your jeans on the blockchain. The clothing industry is a dynamic world. Much of what we see on the clothes racks comes from distant lands. Just think of India, Cambodia, China, Vietnam … Sometimes we also find things that are made closer to home, such as in Italy and Turkey. Only very rarely will you see that something is made in our own country. They are usually small workshops or well-known fashion houses that effectively carry out the production here as well. Now, of course, this only pertains to the manufacturing process. If we look at where the raw materials for our clothing come from, we see that this comes from all over the world.
Als we specifiek kijken naar katoen (welke veel zon en warmte nodig heeft), dan komt deze uit landen zoals China, de VS, Indië, Burkina Faso, Mali, Turkije, Griekenland enz. Wanneer de katoen geteeld is, wordt deze vaak naar het buitenland geëxporteerd. Daarbij is het dus zeker niet altijd makkelijk om die lange weg die katoen aflegt overzichtelijk en transparant te houden.
The large ecological footprint in cotton production
The jeans fabric (denim) industry has been confronted with new ecological challenges in recent years. In the production of 1 pair of jeans, up to 8000 liters (!) Of water is consumed, which is an enormous volume with the increasing drought and water shortage. In addition, only 63% of the total global jeans production is sold. Only 0.1% of the trousers that are thrown away are recycled. As the demand for cotton continues to grow, a solution is really needed to make the textile and clothing industry more sustainable.
The Denim Deal wants to address this problem by introducing a new, circular economy in the jeans industry. In doing so, it wants to bring all important parties, such as recycling companies, government agencies, well-known brands and fashion houses together, to stimulate the use of recycled fabrics in jeans production. The ultimate goal of this Denim Deal blockchain network is to use at least 5% recycled material in every pair of jeans. If this is successful, up to 750 liters of water can be saved per year.
Denim Deal voor groeiend bewustzijn en duurzamere katoenindustrie
The Denim Deal network has entered into a partnership with the Dutch company The Movement, in order to better achieve these goals. The Movement is a clean blockchain technology company that developed a solution to the cotton problem under the name ‘Aware’ , which means ‘conscious’. Using nanoparticle technology, the origin of the (recycled) cotton, which is used in clothing production, can be traced.
Daarbij worden de katoenvezels met microscopische tracing-partikels gemengd. Deze informatie wordt dan als een soort van DNA in een digitaal paspoort in een blockchain netwerk opgeslagen. Wanneer de productie van een kledingstuk dan voltooid is, kan met een bijzondere scanner onderzocht worden of de gebruikte materiaalvezels effectief van deze gerecycleerde katoen stammen. Is dit het geval, dan krijgt het kledingstuk een Aware-label. Een prachtige nieuwe stap met blockchain technologie in het verduurzamen van supply chains wereldwijd!
