Top fashion brands introduce Digital IDs powered by EON to unlock intelligence, commerce and sustainability

Chloé, Coach, H&M, Mulberry, Johnstons of Elgin, John Lewis and Hylo Athletics are among the latest brands to announce their implementation of Digital IDs, powered by technology company EON. With a Digital ID powered by EON’s Product Cloud platform, brands bridge the gap between the digital and physical world, connecting products with a smart label (i.e. QR Code, NFC tag) that customers can scan to connect, shop, style, resell and more. With an ongoing connection to their products, brands gain ongoing intelligence and customer relationships, and can generate more profit for every item – solving for financial growth and sustainability.

First pioneered by leading luxury brands to deliver more information, transparency and services to their customers, Digital IDs are now connecting hundreds of millions of products for brands across the fashion industry, unlocking a new world of post-sale revenue, intelligence, and sustainability. Brands pioneering at-scale implementation of Digital ID can unlock infinite product possibilities: they can power new business models and customer services such as instant authentication, automated resale, and digital wardrobe, they can trace their entire product journey and deliver transparent information to customers, and they can increase sustainability by generating ongoing revenue and royalties from products already in the market.

In October, Richemont-owned luxury brand, Chloé moved ahead on its commitment to digitize all products by 2025, with the first collections with Digital IDs live in their SS23 Vertical collection, presented at Paris Fashion Week. The Digital IDs enable customers to deliver transparency to customers and trace their item from field to finished product – delivering greater transparency and increasing customer trust. Customers will also be able to access a certificate of ownership complete and instantly resell via scanning their garment’s Digital ID, powered by the EON Product Cloud.

 In November, H&M announced the launch of their Men’s Essentials collection, embedded with Digital IDs powered by EON. Customers can scan a QR code on their item to access an inspirational microsite to learn more, shop or repurchase the garment. Together, H&M and EON will be giving customers more ways to deepen their relationship with the clothes they wear every day, providing an even greater reason to take care of, repair, and recycle these garments.

YOOX NET-A-PORTER has been digitizing collections from all of their private label brands since 2021, and will next focus on building an ecosystem of circular and sustainable services that customers can access through their garment’s Digital ID. EON’s software platform, EON Product Cloud, has the capacity to support its partner companies in scaling partnerships with resellers and other business partners that rely on a central repository of product data, and power innovative new customer services such as one-click resale that could be made available through Digital ID.

EON has seen 4X growth over the past year. As brands race to meet new mandates for Digital ID, EON is a member of The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Fashion Task Force, which stewarded a commitment among many of the world's largest luxury brands to digitize all products. The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Fashion Task Force was founded by His Majesty King Charles III in 2020, when he was Prince of Wales, under the leadership of Federico Marchetti, former Chairman and CEO of YOOX NET-A-PORTER.
 
Driving this massive investment in digitization are the demands of today’s digitally native customers, sustainability and policy requirements and booming new business models — requiring brands to have a comprehensive product data layer that goes beyond SKU, and enables the unique identification, management and connectivity of each unique item across their lifecycle. These demands have given rise to a new retail tech stack essential: Product Cloud software. Just as the adoption of CRMs in the 2000’s enabled brands to manage customer relationships, the rise of Product Clouds are now enabling brands to do the same for products — manage relationships, get deeper insights and grow revenue. Product Clouds enable brands to combine the data sets — of Customer ID and Product ID — to create a unique ownership record for each product — laying the foundation for enhanced customer services, brand protection and web3 innovation. Product Clouds are the bridge between the existing enterprise tech stack, and the world of next-gen commerce.

With a data-first and ecosystem approach, EON Product Cloud provides brands a one-stop shop to drive all ‘relationships’ that the product has through its lifecycle — with suppliers, customers, new business models, applications and more. The sustainability benefits unlocked by Digital IDs have the potential to catalyze true sustainable business model transformation, and policymakers agree: Digital IDs, also known as Digital Product Passports —  are soon to be mandated by EU Policy — requiring brands to have a unique Digital ID for every product sold in Europe. They provide brands the commercial incentives and technology to deliver credible product -level sustainability information, and the infrastructure to profitably scale resale, rental, repair and recycle. Scaling digital infrastructure across industry, EON partnered with some of the largest US retailers, brands and circular partners, to develop the Global Industry Wide Action Plan: Digital Product Passports for Circularity.

“As more and more brands move to digitize, it’s evident that product digitization is now retail’s new normal. Without Digital ID, brands capture a fraction of the potential value from their products. EON delivers a comprehensive solution to digitization and identity management, enabling brands to connect their products to multiple use cases – from authentication to instant resale – and meet increasing sustainability and policy requirements. Our best-in-class data-centric approach provides the essential infrastructure brands need to scale new business models and services and catalyze sustainable transformation.”‍

- Natasha Franck, Founder and CEO, EON

In January 2022, EON announced a Series A, led by IMAGINARY VENTURES. Natalie Massenet, Founder of NET-A-PORTER and Managing Partner of IMAGINARY joined EON’s board. Looking to the future, EON will be using this funding to expand its technology to new retail categories, as demand for digitization rises in home goods, consumer packaged goods and more. The recent launch of John Lewis’ digitized homeware marks the beginning of this expansion.

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