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HONG KONG – Historically, the luxury industry has been late to embrace technology transformation platforms, from e-commerce to social media. Now that the advent of the blockchain continues to receive more attention – and scrutiny – could it be the same story from the beginning?
Not if a number of high profile supporters who support the widespread adoption of blockchain have something to do with it.
"One of the main ways in which blockchain and its creation of a new reliable and verifiable infrastructure could turn luxury into the battle against counterfeit products," said Lubin. Now that provenance and guaranteed value are crucial priorities for brands and customers, Ethereum-based blockchain platforms built for supply chains, such as Viant, could allow the management, control and monitoring of goods from raw materials to the hands of consumers.
"It would take a fair amount of investment," Lubin said, "and it would obviously be easier to track a controlled supply chain than a larger supply network, but the technology is there and we are improving. "
Options include the creation of tamper-proof packaging that could be tracked, identifying serial numbers or closely monitoring the transport of materials or products from one stage to another. All these practices would, gradually, create perfect data that could make it more difficult to introduce unwanted or illegal additions into the system.
Other ways in which the platform could be used include facilitating wider and transparent communication between creators and consumers, as well as reducing intermediaries to allow more direct payments and licensing transactions. At one point, Lubin suggested that blockchain could also bring designers and brands to send digital design prototypes directly to consumers, enabling them to produce or print 3-D styles. It could also help small independent designers who believe that their work has been plagiarized by the big brands to verify their claims that they have conceived the idea first of all.
"Blockchain allows the creatives of all backgrounds to upload and tag representations of their work and is a great mechanism for non-repeatable timestamping," said Lubin. "The opportunities for positive change here are endless and they have just begun."
