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“Technology” in fashion is a broad term that covers everything from product data and traceability to logistics, inventory management and clothing labeling.As an umbrella term, technology covers all of these topics and is an increasingly critical enabler of circular business models.But when we talk about technology, we’re no longer just talking about tracking garments from supplier to retail store to measure how much garments are sold, we’re not just talking about showing country of origin and (often unreliable) information about product material composition Information.Instead, it’s time to focus on the rise of “digital triggers” in promoting recurring fashion models.
In a circular resale and rental business model, brands and solution providers need to return the garments sold to them so they can be repaired, reused or recycled.To facilitate second, third and fourth lives, each garment will benefit from a unique identification number and built-in lifecycle tracking.During the rental process, each garment needs to be tracked from customer to repair or cleaning, back to rentable inventory, to the next customer.In resale, third-party platforms need to know exactly what type of second-hand clothing they have, such as raw sales and marketing data, which helps verify it’s authenticity and informs how to price customers for future resale.Input: Digital trigger.
Digital triggers connect consumers with the data contained within the software platform.The type of data consumers can access is controlled by brands and service providers, and can be information about specific garments – such as their care instructions and fiber content – ​​or allowing consumers to interact with brands about their purchases – by directing them to To, for example, a digital marketing campaign on clothing production.Currently, the most recognizable and common way to include digital triggers in clothing is to add a QR code to a care label or to a separate companion label labeled “Scan Me.”Most consumers today know that they can scan a QR code with a smartphone, although QR code adoption varies by region.Asia leads the way in adoption, while Europe lags far behind.
The challenge is keeping the QR code on the garment at all times, as care labels are often cut off by consumers.Yes, reader, so do you!We’ve all done it before.No labels means no data.To reduce this risk, brands can add a QR code to a sewn woven label or embed the label via heat transfer, ensuring that the QR code does not clip from the garment.That said, weaving the QR code into the fabric itself does not make it obvious to consumers that the QR code is associated with care and content information, reducing the likelihood that they will be tempted to scan it for its intended purpose.
The second is an NFC (Near Field Communication) tag embedded in a woven tag, which is extremely unlikely to be removed.However, apparel manufacturers need to make it very clear to consumers that it exists in the woven tag, and need to understand how to download an NFC reader on their smartphone.Some smartphones, especially those released in the past few years, have an NFC chip built into the hardware, but not all phones have it, which means many consumers need to download a dedicated NFC reader from an app store.
The last digital trigger that can be applied is an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag, but RFID tags are usually not customer-facing.Instead, they are used on hang tags or packaging to track a product’s production and warehousing lifecycle, all the way to the customer, and then back to the retailer for repair or resale.RFID tags require dedicated readers, and this limitation means consumers cannot scan them, which means that consumer-facing information must be accessible elsewhere.Therefore, RFID tags are very useful for solution providers and back-end processes as they facilitate traceability throughout the lifecycle chain.Another complicating factor in its application is that RFID tags are often not wash-compliant, which is less than ideal for circular garment models in the apparel industry, where readability is essential over time.
Brands consider a number of factors when deciding to implement digital technology solutions, including the future of the product, future legislation, interactions with consumers during the product life cycle, and the environmental impact of clothing.They also want customers to extend the life of their garments by recycling, repairing or reusing them.Through the intelligent use of digital triggers and tags, brands are also able to better understand their customers’ needs.
For example, by tracking multiple stages of a garment’s life cycle, brands can know when repairs are needed or when to direct consumers to recycle garments.Digital labels can also be a more aesthetic and functional option, as physical care labels are often cut out for discomfort or visually unappealing, while digital triggers can stay on the product longer by placing them directly on the garment .Typically, brands reviewing digital trigger product options (NFC, RFID, QR, or others) will review the easiest and most cost-effective way to add a digital trigger to their existing product without compromising that digital trigger The ability to stay on for the entire life cycle of the product.
The choice of technology also depends on what they are trying to achieve.If brands want to show customers more information about how their garments are used, or let them choose how to participate in recycling or recycling, they will need to implement digital triggers such as QR or NFC, as customers cannot scan RFID.However, if a brand wants efficient in-house or outsourced inventory management and asset tracking throughout the repair and cleaning services of a rental model, then washable RFID makes sense.
Currently, body care labelling remains a legal requirement, but an increasing number of country-specific legislation is moving towards allowing care and content information to be provided digitally.As customers demand more transparency about their products, the first step is to anticipate that digital triggers will increasingly appear as an add-on to physical care labels, rather than a replacement.This dual approach is more accessible and less disruptive for brands and allows for the storage of additional information about the product and allows for further participation in e-commerce, rental or recycling models.In practice, this means that physical labels will continue to use country of origin and material composition for the foreseeable future, but whether on the same label or additional labels, or directly embedded in the fabric itself, will become possible Scanning triggers.
These digital triggers can increase transparency, as brands can demonstrate a garment’s supply chain journey and can verify a garment’s authenticity.Additionally, by allowing consumers to scan items into their digital wardrobe, brands can also create new revenue channels on digital platforms by making it easier for consumers to resell their old clothes.Finally, digital triggers could enable e-commerce or rentals by, for example, showing consumers the location of their nearest suitable recycling bin.
Adidas’ ‘Infinite Play’ recycling programme, launched in the UK in 2019, will initially only accept products purchased by consumers from official adidas channels, as products are automatically entered into their online purchase history and then resold.This means that items cannot be scanned through the code on the garment itself.However, since Adidas sells a large portion of its products through wholesalers and third-party resellers, the circular program does not reach as many customers as possible.Adidas needs to get more consumers involved.As it turns out, the solution is already in the product.In addition to their tech and label partner Avery Dennison, Adidas products already have a matrix code: a companion QR code that connects consumers’ garments to the Infinite Play app, no matter where the garment was purchased.
For consumers, the system is relatively simple, with QR codes playing a vital role at every step of the process.Consumers enter the Infinite Play app and scan their garment’s QR code to register the product, which will be added to their purchase history along with other products purchased through official adidas channels.
The app will then show consumers the repurchase price for that item.If interested, consumers can choose to resell the item.Adidas uses the existing product part number on the product label to let users know if their product is eligible for return, and if so, they will receive an Adidas gift card as compensation.
Finally, resale solutions provider Stuffstr facilitates pick-up and manages the further processing of products before they are resold to the Infinite Play program for a second life.
Adidas cites two main benefits of using a companion QR code label.First, QR code content can be permanent or dynamic.Digital triggers can display certain information when clothing is first purchased, but after two years, brands can change the visible information to display, such as updating local recycling options.Second, the QR code identifies each garment individually.No two shirts are the same, not even the same style and color.This asset-level identification is important in resale and leasing, and for Adidas, it means being able to accurately estimate buyback prices, verify authentic clothing, and provide second-life consumers with what they actually bought detailed description.
CaaStle is a turnkey fully managed service that enables brands such as Scotch and Soda, LOFT and Vince to offer rental business models by providing technology, reverse logistics, systems and infrastructure as an end-to-end solution.Early on, CaaStle decided they needed to track garments at the individual asset level, not just SKUs (often just styles and colors).As CaaStle reports, if a brand is running a linear model where clothing is sold and never returned, there is no need to track every asset.In this case, all that is needed is to know how much of a particular garment the supplier will produce, how much passes, and how much is sold.
In the leasing business model, each asset must be tracked individually.You need to know which assets are in warehouses, which are sitting with customers, and which are being cleared.This is especially important as it relates to the gradual wear and tear of garments as they have multiple life cycles.Brands or solution providers managing rental apparel need to be able to track how many times each garment is used at each point of sale, and how damage reports act as a feedback loop for design improvements and material selection.This is important because customers are less flexible when evaluating the quality of used or rented clothing; minor stitching issues may not be acceptable.When using an asset-level tracking system, CaaStle can track garments through the inspection, processing, and cleaning process, so if a garment is sent to a customer with a hole and the customer complains, they can track down exactly what went wrong in their processing.
In the digitally triggered and tracked CaaStle system, Amy Kang (Director of Product Platform Systems) explains that three key factors are essential; technology persistence, readability and speed of recognition.Over the years, CaaStle has transitioned from fabric stickers and tags to barcodes and gradually to washable RFID, so I’ve experienced first-hand how these factors differ across technology types.
As the table shows, fabric stickers and markers are generally less desirable, although they are cheaper solutions and can be brought to market faster.As CaaStle reports, hand-written markers or stickers are more likely to fade or come off in the wash.Barcodes and washable RFID are more readable and won’t fade, but it’s also important to ensure that digital triggers are woven or sewn in consistent locations on garments to avoid a process that warehouse workers are constantly searching for labels and reduce efficiency.Washable RFID has strong potential with higher scan recognition speeds, and CaaStle and many other leading solution providers expect to move to this solution once the technology develops further, such as error rates when scanning garments in some nearby.
The Renewal Workshop (TRW) is a complete end-to-end resale service headquartered in Oregon, USA with a second base in Amsterdam.TRW accepts pre-consumer backlogs and returns or post-consumer products – sorts them for reuse, and cleans and restores reusable items to like-new condition, either on their own website or on their website White Label plugins list them on partner brand websites.Digital labelling has been an important aspect of its process since the beginning, and TRW has prioritized asset-level tracking to facilitate the branded resale business model.
Similar to Adidas and CaaStle, TRW manages products at the asset level.They then enter it into a white-label e-commerce platform branded with the actual brand.TRW manages backend inventory and customer service.Each garment has a barcode and serial number, which TRW uses to collect data from the original brand.It’s important for TRW to know the details of the used clothing they own so they know exactly what version of the clothing they have, the price at launch and how to describe it when it’s back on sale again.Obtaining this product information can be difficult because most brands operating in a linear system do not have a process in place to account for product returns.Once it was sold, it was largely forgotten.
As customers increasingly expect data in second-hand purchases, just like original product information, the industry will benefit from making this data accessible and transferable.
So what does the future hold?In an ideal world led by our partners and brands, the industry will move forward in developing “digital passports” for apparel, brands, retailers, recyclers and customers with universally recognized asset-level digital triggers etc. can be accessed.This standardized technology and labelling solution means that not every brand or solution provider has come up with its own proprietary process, leaving customers confused in a sea of ​​things to remember.In this sense, the future of fashion technology can truly unify the industry around common practices and make the loop more accessible to everyone.
The circular economy supports apparel brands to achieve circularity through training programs, master classes, circular assessments, etc.Learn more here