We’re using NFTs to disrupt the fashion industry. If you’re looking to learn more about why we’re doing this, please have a read of our last blog post -
CONNECTED CLOTHING.
This blog post will set out how our NFT → shirt connection works, how to view and share your NFT and what information will be stored on the NFT.
We’ll then talk a little about how we plan to extend and improve the functionality of our NFTs over time.
The NFT that accompanies our first range of shirts will link to invoices from every supplier in our value chain. Our customers will be able to see exactly who has made our clothes and how much they've been paid.
Every garment we produce will be accompanied by an NFT. As well as being able to view and access this NFT through your wallet and tools like
Pool.pm, we thought it would be important to be able to call up this information from the shirt itself.
We’ve thought a lot about this interaction. It’s important for our customers to be able to easily show off their NFT to friends. It’s important for us as a business for our NFTs to be shown to as many people as possible. Finally, we think it’s important for NFTs as a technology and a cultural phenomena to receive more widespread awareness for use cases other than monkee JPEGs.
Each shirt contains a unique identifier tag sewn on the bottom of the inside placket. The identifier tag uses a QR code and NFC tag. Both contain the same data.
We’ve chosen to use both technologies to allow as many people as possible to view their NFTs as reliably as possible. QR codes are readable by almost all current mobile devices however they don’t work well in low light conditions. NFC tags can be read by fewer devices but offer a much more reliable scanning experience.
The identifier tags contain two pieces of information. First is a link to the garments unique page on the Origin Thread website. Here the information stored on the tag is displayed in an easy to read way. You can view the page for our first sample shirt here -
www.OriginThread.com/bagru/shirt/01/00 So, what information and which files will be referenced from our first shirt’s NFTs?
MAIN IMAGE - Image of bagru/shirt/01 shirt.
NUMBER: - Shirt’s unique ID number.
VIDEO: - Video of the “Fadat” printing process used to make the shirt’s material.
ABOUT: - A pdf file of the “about” text. This includes info about the material, printing and cut and sew processes.
FABRIC: The type of fabric used.
FABRIC SUPPLIER - The name and location of our cotton supplier.
FABRIC INVOICE: - PDF invoice from our cotton supplier
PRINTING ARTISAN: The name and location of the textile artisan responsible for printing our fabric.
PRINTING INVOICE: PDF of fabric printing invoice.
CUT & SEW SUPPLIER: - Name and location of our cut and sew partner.
Cut and Sew INVOICE: - PDF file of cut and sew invoice.
FINISHINGS INVOICES: - PDF file of finishing invoices. (Buttons, labels, QR codes, NFC tags)
We’re proud to have reached what we believe is a minimum viable implementation of an NFT that accompanies a garment and adds value to the end user.
That said, there’s lots of ways that we can improve upon this first iteration of an Origin Thread garment and NFT. Here’s what’s in our pipeline for future collections.
1. Exclusive Media
In our minds, the ability for anyone to view the content of an NFT is a fantastic feature. We would however like to keep some things exclusively for owners of our clothes. We’re hard at work building the first prototype which will use information recorded on a garment’s ID tag to “unlock” additional content stored on the blockchain.
2. Veritree Integration
Many fashion retailers now plant trees for every purchase in an effort to regenerate the environment and offset the carbon emissions generated from producing and shipping a garment.
Veritree have brought this to the blockchain and are using NFTs as a “proof of planting”. We’re exploring how to integrate this into our process. The unique Veritree proof of planting NFT or transaction will be referenced from every garments NFT.
3. "On-chain" UX Implementation
Our current NFT data implementation could look much better when viewed using tools such as
pool.pm - We’ve been inspired by the work of Cardano NFT artists such as
egon fx to improve the UX of our tokens. Our goal is to store an experience similar to the one enjoyed on the Origin Thread website directly on-chain.
4. Onboard Suppliers to the Blockchain
Whilst our use of NFTs to link to supplier invoices is a radical leap forward for transparency in fashion, we’ve got a lot further still to go. Over time we aim to onboard all of suppliers to the blockchain. Doing so will allow us to reference transactions directly from our garment’s NFTs. Combined with incoming identity solutions, this will allow customers to verify who we have paid and how much we have paid them.
5. Fabric Supply Chain
When creating Origin Thread, it was our vision for our customers to be able to trace a garment’s provenance from cotton field to cutting table. In a time where fake certifications for standards such as GOTS run rampant, this piece of work is of critical importance. This does however produce an enormous challenge. Cotton supply chains are extremely complex and opaque. Raw materials pass through many hands before they reach a cotton mill. The reality is until we grow significantly as a business and placing much larger orders it’s simply impossible to fund the work required to make this happen. We are however confident that with time and persistence we can reach this standard.
