Fashion

Ever Evolving Talks 2019: Blockchain, sustainability and Gen Z


Denim manufacturer Calik Denim was in Amsterdam at the end of October to
host the second edition of its Ever Evolving Talks, an event bringing
together fashion professionals, experts and fans to discuss the future of
denim, with topics spanning transparency, blockchain, high-tech innovations
and the new Gen-Z consumer. Here are FashionUnited’s highlights from the
event.

Consumer trend expert Matt Britton kicked off the event, talking about
the growing role of the Millenial and Gen Z consumers and brands’ need to
keep up with them. “Large companies are moving to cities to be closer to
their consumers and the young consumers want to be the CEO of themselves,”
he said. “GEN Z is everything GEN Y had and more, they are the most
sophisticated consumer ever.” One of the key trends of the young consumer
is their rejection of ownership. “Owning cars, music or clothing is nowhere
near as appealing as accessing those things, because this generation wants
to be fleet of foot, they don’t like being tied down to something,” said
Britton. Their dreams are no longer about settling down, which is reflected
in the explosive growth of the sharing economy and the increasing shift
towards an access over ownership model – a model that according to Britton
“gives them choice, less overhead and more flexibility and for companies it
creates tremendous growth margin profiles and recurring revenue.”

Founder and CEO of digital platform Provenance, Jessi Baker, spoke about
the role of blockchain in revolutionary transparency across entire supply
chains. “Fundamentally there is a lot of exploitation in opaque supply
chains – we believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant,” she said.
“It’s time to open up information about where products come from, who
created them and from what.”

Another advantage of blockchain is cutting down on excessive waste
within the fashion industry, according to Baker. “If you don’t know what a
material thing is you are likely to just put it in the bin, which seems to
be happening quite a lot in the fashion industry; sometimes with things
that haven’t even been sold,” she said “Today we buy products often on
price function and often we are seeing that that’s not enough. Increasingly
people are looking for more information on the impact behind the product
and making sure it does align with their values.”

This is becoming increasingly important to younger generations, such as
Gen Z who are playing an active role in the conversation about climate
change and its effect on the environment. They are only going to keep
asking more questions and wanting more transparency so companies should
make this a priority if they want to remain relevant. “We believe every
product should come with accessible, trustworthy information about the
origin, journey and impact,” said Baker. “We use tech to enable brands to
make their supply chains and impact transparent with integrity. If
materials are unknown and unvalued, they are wasted.”



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.