Enhancing transparency and traceability in fast fashion: The role of blockchain technology

The fashion and textile industry’s socio-environmental impacts need immediate solutions. However, the lack of clarity about systemic supply chain problems acts as a major obstacle. Blockchain technology (BCT) established itself as a transformative solution to enhance supply chain traceability and transparency in luxury fashion through the Aura Blockchain Consortium. Nonetheless, the potential of BCT in the fast fashion industry has received insufficient attention despite extensive studies about its use in luxury fashion. This research investigates the practicality of implementing Aura’s digital product passports (DPPs), multi-token minters (MTMs) and Blockchain Agnosticism platform to improve fast fashion transparency and traceability and consumer trust. This study follows a qualitative case study approach to evaluate technical, economic and operational barriers while highlighting collaborative innovations of BCT. The findings indicated that DPP and blockchain-agnostic features show partial feasibility for the fast fashion industry. The low margin structure and greenwashing practices, along with overproduction issues, make the MTM system less effective for fast fashion. The research suggests that BCT adoption needs regulatory changes to address structural unsustainability in the fast fashion industry.