Bulgari’s exclusive watch to include NFT
Luxury jewelry brand Bulgari is launching an exclusive watch limited to ten editions. Each watch will have a QR code engraved that, when scanned, yields access to a unique non-fungible token (NFT) representing digital art.
The watch, Octo Finissimo Ultra, claims to be the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, measuring only 1.8mm in thickness. The technology involves innovative processes and equipment that highlight the watch’s futuristic positioning, which is enhanced by the integration of NFTs.
Besides the digital artwork, the NFT that’s accessed through a watch’s unique QR code also serves as a method of authentication. At a limited supply of ten and a cost is $440,000 (according to Gizmodo), it could be a magnet for counterfeiters. As such, scarcity and product authenticity must be protected to maintain the watch’s value, and NFT technology facilitates this.
Other luxury watch brands such as Breitling and Hublot have used similar technology to ensure product authenticity, mostly through the use of blockchain to implement digital passports. The passport technology is also an NFT but was previously used for functional rather than creative NFT applications.
On the other hand, Bulgari is making full use of the opportunity to tie creative content to the watch. Besides the NFT artwork, the QR code also gives access to information regarding the history, concept, design, and manufacturing process that underpin the watch’s production.
“This fabulous benchmark that we are setting today with the Octo Finissimo Ultra is in fact for me and for all the teams an apparently impossible dream to come true,” said Bulgari’s CEO Jean-Christophe Babin. “One that guarantees that Bulgari will forever be recognised as a company that has written some of the finest pages in Swiss watchmaking. And the fact that this is an Italian house makes us particularly proud.”
The launch is in partnership with the LVMH founded AURA blockchain consortium, which focuses on initiatives that use blockchain technology to fight counterfeiting in the luxury goods market as well as proof of sustainability. It recently announced plans to get involved in creative NFTs, and Temera, Luxochain, and Polygon Studios were also involved in the Bulgari project for that aspect. Hence there were two separate smart contracts, one on Aura’s private permissioned blockchain network and the artwork one on the public Polygon blockchain.
Bulgari is part of the LVMH luxury consortium, which until now, had not engaged much in NFTs beyond authenticity except for Hennessy, which sold exclusive cognac through NFTs. Yet, the opportunities in the industry will likely make it inevitable for other brands to soon get involved.
A report on luxury goods and the metaverse carried out by Morgan Stanley estimated that by 2030 metaverse gaming and NFTs could account for 10% of luxury revenues (equivalent to €50 billion or $60bn) and contribute towards 30% of profits.
Outside of fashion, “luxury cars” are heavily involved with creative NFTs. Lamborghini launched NFTs linked to space exploration, and McLaren is planning to launch luxury car NFTs with InfiniteWorld.
(source of news: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/bulgaris-exclusive-watch-to-include-nfts/)
Adidas Among First to Lean Into TrusTrace ‘Material Compliance’ Software
Today, Stockholm-based SaaS company TrusTrace announced the launch of its new blockchain-based solution for supply chain traceability – TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance. The company has an existing product traceability and supply chain transparency platform and considers its new innovation a one-stop-shop solution for material compliance. Sports brand adidas is one of its first adopters and provided early input into its development in line with the company’s ambitious sustainability goals for the coming years.
Globally, the fashion industry produces almost four times the environmental impact of the airline industry, with 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the production of apparel and footwear. The unsustainable ways in which fast fashion is produced is one of the leading causes of climate change. A lack of regulation and unchecked greenwashing from major companies only exacerbates its environmental impact. TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance aims to combat misinformation and improve transparency and traceability within the fashion industry.
“In the midst of global greenwashing and challenges with unsubstantiated claims, brands and regulators are moving quickly to instill confidence among consumers that products are, indeed, as sustainable as they claim to be,” said Shameek Ghosh, CEO of TrusTrace. “Brands that want to establish near real-time traceability at the lot level by mapping the movement of raw materials to finished goods – and automatically calculate the sustainability metrics of those goods – now have a proven solution in TrusTrace Certified Material Compliance.”
The solution provides a lot of information about a product’s material composition and supply chain transactions in one single place. Examples of the processes it can track are the calculation of material waste, a product’s origins, and the documentation of the percentage of certified vs non-certified material content. Hence brands can demonstrate their compliance with national and international standards and regulations.
TrusTrace developed its technology using a combination of AI, blockchain, IoT and software automation. This allows near-instantaneous updating of garment information, as well as the assurance that the details are immutable, traceable, and transparent. Other brands that TrusTrace has worked with include Fjällräven, Decathlon, Filippa K, and Coop.
In October, the startup raised a $6 million Series A funding led by Industrifonden and Fairpoint Capital. Fashion for Good is also a supporter.
Meanwhile, other fashion traceability solutions that use blockchain include TextileGenesis used by the Cotton Trust Protocol, Aware adopted by the Denim Deal initiative and a blockchain sustainability initiative adopted by the UK Fashion and Textile Association in association with several fashion retailers.
(Source of News: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/adidas-adopts-blockchain-solution-trustrace-for-sustainable-materials/)
Cathay Pacific’s Rewards Programme Happy with its Blockchain Port
In May last year, the Cathay Pacific Group, via its rewards programme Asia Miles, launched an app utilising smart contracts via blockchain.
The campaign at the core of the new platform was a newly launched Asia Miles dining promotion in Hong Kong. Asia Miles members will have their miles credited to their accounts the following day, an unusual move from the usual months-long process for calculating miles before.
Today, it’s now close to a year since Asia Miles has incorporated blockchain into its operations, and it has been an interesting journey of melding the regular call center-style operations Cathay Pacific had been doing until recently, with the tech-forward blockchain-based operations.
Seemingly to commemorate their now almost 1-year-old dalliance with blockchain, Forbes held an interview with Micheal Yung, the Head of Digital Product and Technology at Asia Miles. According to Forbes, Micheal has helped grow the company and helped it continue its evolution into becoming a digital leader in the loyalty space for 5 years now.
The Asia Miles loyalty programme was launched in 1999, accumulating over 11 million members, and about 700 partners around the world to serve those members.
As a 20-year-old programme that previously primarily operated via newsletters and call centers, making the shift to blockchain requires a partnership team that is able to work with its extensive partner list to ensure that targeted members are channeled to the partners so they can grow their business.
There is also the issue of providing the right offers, products and services to members so that they see Asia Miles as something of value.
As a result, of the blockchain port, the typical several-month wait for bonuses to arrive at the consumers has been shortened to mere hours via smart contracts—as this removed the need for real-life teams to make the calculations, data retrieval, and reconciliations before awarding bonus hours.
Yet, Micheal reports that they still have members who have been around for more than a decade that still prefer the call center.
Then, it is all about finding a better way to sell their offers to the right members: which Asia Miles attempts to do so by tabulating their persona, their lifetime value and their stage in life.
Looking ahead, Micheal is now eyeing self service technologies like chatbots and robotic process automation. For one thing, these technologies improve back-office efficiency and allow them to link legacy systems together.
As such, they continue to be deeply interested in blockchain and smart contract technology, as with their loyalty program, Asia Miles can save time and effort in reconciliation, data integrity and other important areas.
Asia Miles has its contemporaries across the globe. Malaysia’s AirAsia, around the same time, announced that it was mulling a cryptocurrency-based rewards program as well, and Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer, was set to launch a new digital wallet app, powered by blockchain.
(the source of news: https://fintechnews.hk/9231/blockchain/cathay-pacific-asia-miles-blockchain-rewards-program-smart-contracts/)