Designer Rebecca Minkoff Reveals Product’s Eco Impact With Resonance

The sustainability tool and supply chain tracking platform, called One.Code, will allow shoppers to learn information about Rebecca Minkoff products they’re purchasing, including details regarding carbon emissions, fabric and water usage, who it was that made the garment, and the energy and resources saved through the use of Resonance’s sustainable production model. Resonance operates out of New York’s Chelsea Piers and offers cloud-based, on-demand production alternatives to help designers cut back on inventory and reduce waste, producing garments and products as they’re purchased by shoppers eliminating inventory waste. The fashion industry, particularly textiles, produces a lot of environmentally harmful byproducts, and its legacy production models are responsible for nearly one-and-half-percent of global oil production. Resonance’s on-demand platform offers an attractive alternative to the problem of fashion companies holding, and subsequently destroying, unsold inventory. 

Until supply chain activities are made transparent, and there is a broader public understanding of the processes at play within the fashion industry, brands will continue to contribute to the problem of environmental degradation. The One.Code transparency tool relies on blockchain technology’s immutable ledger to trace garments as they move through the supply chain to ensure they’re made using eco-friendly materials and ethical labor practices. The fashion industry generally relies on a global supply chain of middlemen and overseas factories and suppliers, which in turn all work with their own network of suppliers, sourcers, and middlemen. Because of the complexity, brands themselves often have no idea what is going on, with customers even further in the dark.  Little Minkoff, the kids’ line from Rebecca Minkoff, will use the One.Code transparency tool, as will the brand’s RM Green(e) collection. Each piece in the collection will also be made with fabric that is 95% biodegradable, chemicals that are earth friendly, and produced using techniques to decrease by a substantial amount the number of toxic chemicals used. Transparency is an important first step for the fashion industry to become more sustainable, and partnerships like the one between Resonance and Rebecca Minkoff offer an exciting glimpse into the future opportunities for the industry. 

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This article originally appeared in a PSFK guide for Delivering Sustainability in Retail with Merchandise & Sourcing Strategies