Posted on 06/04/2022 4:27:05 PM PDT by grundle
Image Captured from Microsoft’s “Powering a Connected and Circular Future for Fashion”
Did you feel the shift in the fashion world?
Coming to a tee shirt near you, Microsoft, in partnership with Eon, announced they are planning to digitally tag 400,000 fashion items by 2025. Retailer H&M and global apparel company, PVH (known for the labels Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) have signed up to be part of the initial launch.
The idea behind this new technology seems to be two-fold:
to provide transparency on the journey of an item from manufacturing to consumer and finally to waste recycling to create a feedback loop for manufacturers, brands, and stores to build on the brand relationship with the consumer post-purchase
Both of these goals could be beneficial in many ways. Consumers could know where the garment was made (sweatshop-free). Brands could send styling tips on what to wear with your suit based on what is in your closet. Your garbage collection could even recycle the garment at the end of its life (Waste Management is also an early adopter if this program).
As we all know with new tech, once the genie is out of the bottle you cannot get him back in. Let’s Look a little deeper at this program, how it works, what it’s current goals are, and finally what could be extended into the future. How does Eon track clothing?
The basis of this program starts with issuing a unique id for each unit of clothing. This tagging is through Eon’s Circular ID product. (Could this be the end of SKU codes?) Items can be tagged in one if 3 ways:
QR Code, scan-able only if the code is visible Near Field Communication (NFC), currently found on all Androids, usable only in close contact (within 4–1/2 centimeters) Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID), communicating via radio waves, detectable up to 100 feet away
During the life cycle of the garment, the Circular ID tag will be scanned, and details registered for that specific product. Using the Internet of Things, data is sent to Microsoft, sorted by Microsoft’s Cognitive Services, and stored in Microsoft’s Azure Cloud.
If the garment is only using the QR code, you will be able to control when the code is scanned. But what about NFC or RFID scanning?
Will your clothing be registered when you go through airport security? Or is there an RFID reader at a restaurant or store you frequent? Will this data go back to the data file? Full transparency on any given item
What is interesting is the reason Eon gives for wanting to be fully transparent about clothing. They point to a 2016 Label Insights Study titled, “Driving Long Term Trust Through Transparency.” The strange thing is, this is a study on food, not clothing.
The main focus of this study is centered around people who want to know what is in their food (full listing of an ingredient, allergens, and accurate nutritional information), which makes sense. Additionally, the study calls out the Millennial Mom’s who respond to a tracked and full transparency thereby gaining trust and market share in this way.
But is this as important for clothing? Or is the real reason not transparency to the consumer as much as it is marketing data collection for the clothing labels? Feedback Loop
It is my belief the real focus for this technology is the “Feedback Loop”.
Plainly said, this is a new way to collect data on what you do, where you go, and what is in your closet. Eon will then be able to deliver a data-driven profile of each consumer which could include:
Where and when you bought the garment Tagging your clothing on blogger pictures for an easy way to search for the same garment Knowing how many times a garment has been rented and/or resold (and likely by who) A stylist could look up all the garments in your closet and offer possible outfit combos for you When you donate the garment to Goodwill
This kind of customer profiling does not exist now. It is something that marketers can only guess right now, making marketing less effective. Even with the rise in internet selling, this kind of data is hard to get.
It is a brand new world.
”As you can imagine, we capture all events for every item, so that’s a lot of data. And it not only has to be secure but also correct.”- Yuan Ma, Director of Engineering at Eon
When the genie is out of the bottle
Does it matter if Calvin Klein knows my husband wears a white undershirt every day, frequents Starbucks, and it takes a year to wear it out before finding the trash bin? Not really.
It is the 1984 possibilities that keep me up at night.
Will the IRS need you to prove your deductions with an itemized list of every piece of clothing you donated and the value of it at the time of donation?
Will anyone be able to track where you have been? Okay, they can do that with the iPhone.
Will you have control of your file of data collected on you through your clothing?
Or have the days of privacy come and gone.
We should all be aware when we are the actual product being sold, and have the chance to decide if we want to participate or not.
Consider yourself informed.
Somehow this is where it will end up. /preaching to the choir
Revelation 20:4
King James Version
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2020%3A4&version=KJV
Too much money and political influence in the hands of godless Globalist Davos-meeting multi-billionaires?
Big deal.
Your blog does far worse.
“Too much money and political influence in the hands of godless Globalist Davos-meeting multi-billionaires?”
I seriously think Zuck may be a reptilian.
The author is woefully naive. He doesn’t explore and barely thinks about how the GOVERNMENT can control every single aspect of your life with this tech. Totalitarian governments everywhere (and they all are, these days) will be salivating over this.
How long before this is mandatory and it become a federal offense to remove the tracker from your clothes?
But it will be sooo easy to grocery shop.
And some want digital “vaxx status” “
This IBM commercial is from 15 years ago:
Guess that if I buy any new clothes, I’m gonna have to stick them all in the microwave for about 45 seconds.
No....I mean “geotqgging “.
Note to self, toss new clothes in the microwave. Zap on high for 30 seconds.
They want to keep the good guys from getting the bad guys. You knw, the ones they let out of prison, cartels. They won’t bother them.
Which will set off an alarm and you will be surrounded. s/s
eventually someone will sell something to destroy theses tags
I knew I kept that room full of fabric and sewing machines for a reason. Other than a fabric addiction.
RFID tags can backfire. For example, imagine counterfeiting the tags and then paying a visit to your local Salvation Army, putting upscale tags on used, discount wear for the homeless and poor.
My truck is too old. I don’t carry or own a cell phone and go naked most of the time. He would have to waste Sat time to find me.
They always make it sound like it’s a good thing when they want to push some control mechanism on you.
They always tell you the positive ps as if the negatives and abuse will never happen.
But it will.
Guaranteed.
Nope. Won’t wear ‘em.
Microwaves can fry the chips
Ping…
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