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One of the most interesting uses of the blockchain is its application into the world of fashion. We know of Hermes, Burberry, Gucci, Bottega Venetta, Givenchy, Dior, amongst others, but what seems to be washing around these days in the fashion world is that of recycled ideas.
Well, while there is nothing wrong in one artist building on the idea of the other, when the same idea is used and the artist that “borrowed” that creative thought gets paid whilst the other perhaps lesser-known artist gets nothing, then a problem arises. Where is the fairness in remuneration? Where is the fairness in the originator of the idea capitalizing on that idea?
If for example, the designer in a top fashion brand happens to pass by the streets of Bangkok or Taiwan and sees an excellent avant-garde creative design that can be employed for the next season’s lineup for carry-alls, without that lesser known designer picking up or being informed of the latest fashion shows, he or she may miss the fact the creative artwork / idea has been ripped off and repurposed to line the pockets of the owners of the fashion house.
Here is where the blockchain comes in not just to level the playing field. If IP can proven at the time of origination for the designer, then another designer using the original work will have to impute a percentage in remuneration that is fair and equitable. For fashion houses that boast of top talent who may time to time borrow (let’s be nice) ideas from street artists, they must adhere to the blockchain mechanics in recognising where the idea comes from, remunerate accordingly not just once, but through the lifetime of that idea. So as long as the idea is sold in any piece of form – bags, shoes, perfume, whatever, the original artist will also receive a cut.
Possible solution providers - Zilliqa and Solana
Zilliqa and Solana are well positioned to resolve this issue for the fashion industry. Firstly, they have smart contracts and have very rapid transaction speeds complemented with low transaction costs.
Zilliqa has successfully deployed sharding on the blockchain, allowing over 2000 transactions per second, whilst maintaining watertight security features. To date, Zilliqa has not been hacked.
Solana has a transaction speed of more than 50,000 transactions per second made possible by its Proof of History method. This method removes a chunky load of establishment time as part of the “consensus” that it needs to fulfill. This provides a smooth throughput of more than 50,000 transactions per second, which makes Ethereum a slow competitor that struggles with gas fees as well.
Solana is challenging Zilliqa[1] on this front and asserts that sharding calls for some form of parallel processing to take place. When the data is processed in parallel within a trustless public blockchain, therein lies the need for inter-shard communication to occur. This in turn becomes a limiting factor for sharding because the more shards there are, the greater the communication problem, and also, the greater the security risks since hackers can exploit single shards as compared to an entire blockchain network.
Both top-notch tokens however, at this point have their work carved out for them and the tech innovation has to continue to strive for a better future for the blockchain community. Solana has received additional funding of over $600m and also the backing of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX which is the world’s largest crypto derivatives exchange. At the time of the writing in April 2021, FTX was processing nearly $11b in trades a day[2].
There is great value in watching how both tokens quickly occupy niches and stake their flags with their communities. At the end of the day, utility and adoption both have to go hand-in-hand to garner the support that would not otherwise be available in the absence of proper visibility.
Fashion is one key area that requires greater recognition and both these excellent tokens are well positioned to capture the market. With the pattern recognition AI that is available, the linkage that the blockchain has with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), followed by appropriately targeting the segments that handle payouts in the smart contract - the scalability, security and decentralisation of both Zilliqa and Solana will play a huge role in transforming this industry in the years to come.
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author: Cookie Mooning, 2021
All rights reserved. This is not investment advice.
[1] https://u.today/solana-cracking-the-scalability-challenge-with-proof-of-history
[2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-vegan-billionaire-disrupted-the-crypto-markets-stocks-may-be-next-11618565408
