Swedish-American fashion brand BLK DNM this week reveals the first apparel embedded with blockchain-enabled hardware, marking the first instance of ‘connected fashion’: garments that exist both physically and virtually, each aspect ‘twinned’ via technology.
Seventy two of BLK DNM’s signature leather jackets, in seven different styles and released as part of the brand’s FW 2023 collection, have been fitted with a ‘digital garment ID’ – an undetectable chip that gives each physical item a unique and recordable identity in the digital world, enabling a host of responsibility- and value-driving features.
The 72 jackets, across seven different styles, will retail between $1490 and $2490, released in drops across NYC, Chicago, LA, and Stockholm from the 5th October.
Via the ‘digital reflection’ of each physical item, maintained in the virtual world, the first features to be introduced are:
Authentication of each garment as genuine, eliminating the possibility of fakes and counterfeiting
Invitation to BLK DNM Society, a community of BLK DNM owners connected digitally via their garments
A cashback ‘forever refund’ on each item at any point in the garment’s lifetime (which is designed to be almost infinite) – be it in five years or five decades – with the cash value based on how well the item has been treasured and maintained
The technology has been purpose-built by BLK DNM’s parent company, Swedish blockchain innovation firm ChromaWay.
The future of BLK DNM’s connected fashion
Subsequent collections will introduce more items to BLK DNM Society through embedded digital garment IDs. Additional features that will be activated incrementally across all connected fashion-enabled garments (both new and existing) include:
A record of each individual item’s lifecycle and story tracked on the blockchain, including owners, events and places worn, repairs and alterations – enabling the item to accrue emotional and monetary value over time
Rewarding responsible behaviors of treasuring and caring for garments long-term, such as refurbs and second-hand purchases
Voting rights within BLK DNM Society, granting influence over the brand’s future direction
Each item acting as a digital ticket for entry to events
Toni Collin, CEO of BLK DNM, comments: “Each of these 72 jackets is a piece of history. With their release, technology begins to empower consumers to cherish and prolong their clothing, against the backdrop of an industry driving waste and overproduction. We hope that this puts pressure on clothing producers to be more transparent about and mindful of the impact they are having on what goes to landfill – there is no excuse now not to meet supply and demand, when you and your customers can work together to track and treasure every garment. As an industry, we need to wake up.”
Henrik Hjelte, CEO and co-founder of
