LVMH and SMX Partner for Sustainability

A business unit of fashion group LVMH has partnered with brand protection specialist Security Matters (SMX) on a series of pilot projects to improve traceability of raw materials in the luxury goods supply chain.

One key objective of the alliance is to give LVMH visibility over its supply chain and to cut waste, which is a big problem for the fashion industry. It is estimated that 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated by the sector every year, and SMX says its technology can make it possible to sort, reclaim and reuse raw materials in unwanted or discarded products.

SMX offers a technological solution that has major attractions to the fashion industry due to its easy-to-drop in solution, comprising a marking technology that can permanently mark any kind of material, whether it be a solid, liquid or gas. An integrated digital reader enables the user to read the embedded data across all the different types of materials and products in real time, without the need for extensive lab tests.

The aim of the pilot projects is to allow complete tracing of products to verify environmental, social and governance (ESG) ethical sources and enable efficient sorting of materials for waste or recycling throughout a product's entire life cycle in what is sometimes referred to as a 'circular' economy.

The first of its kind project is expected to be completed in early 2022 and adds to the growing applications where traceability of raw materials and goods are helping waste reduction, recycling and upcycling in the fashion industry (see AN Nov 2020).