Bringing Technology and Innovation into the Earliest Phases of the Fashion Supply Chain
Process optimization and the introduction of new technologies in support of more sustainable and transparent value chains are indispensable imperatives for the future of fashion
An end-to-end solution designed to make every step of the communication, sourcing, and sales processes between buyers and suppliers faster, easier, and more automated. But more importantly, more sustainable. An idea born with our Founder Andrea Fiume's leading 3 Ps: People, Profit, Planet, learned and adopted from his previous career as a Product Manager at Lifegate. The last P, a leading force behind the Bsamply project born in 2017.
Today, in fact, fashion accounts for up to 10% of global carbon dioxide output—more than international flights and shipping combined, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. With this exponentially growing need for more green solutions within the industry, optimizing existing, and introducing new technologies is fundamental to lowering the fashion industry’s impact and increasing its transparency.
Today in fact, fashion accounts for up to 10% of global carbon dioxide output—more than international flights and shipping combined, according to the United Nations Environment Programme; a figure that explains the booming movement for sustainable fashion.
With climate change bearing down hard, and the industry’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 – as well as meet consumer demand for greener practices, as mentioned by Dana Thomas, Sustainability Editor of British Vogue, brands are in a certain sense forced to towards research and development to implement new methods into their production and products and reframe business models to keep in mind values that reflect their responsibility and accountability for the impact on society and the planet. Many luxury fashion houses, including brands like Chloé and Hermès who have long been set in their ways are actively evolving. In a 2019 interview of Chief executive Riccardo Bellini of Chloé just after being hired by the brand, Bellini stated that “growing the bottom line is not efficient or related to why any of these fashion companies were founded.’’ What was needed was “a reframing of the entire economic growth model and the relationship between company and society. We wanted to instill purpose into the company at every level” and chose four areas to address: “People, sourcing, communities and planet.”
But how exactly is the Bsamply marketplace an eco-friendly alternative to the many traditionally offline processes found within the fashion industry? By offering both buyers and suppliers from across the globe a shared work tool to manage their entire workflow and communication using one unique platform, Bsamply incorporates 5 main aspects contributing to the overall well-being of the environment.
The first one, the reduced need for travel. Whether it be a day trip or an overnight business trip, the need for agents and buyers to meet in person and attend physical tradeshows is reduced. Many of the activities taking place at initial meetings or at tradeshows can be in a certain sense replaced by the many communication and work tools found within the platform. Some of these tools include an internal chat and video appointment function, as well as digitalized supplier catalogs and mood boards. Functionalities that may not entirely replace the activities, but significantly lower the need for in-person interactions, especially during the early phases of the scouting and sourcing process. As a result, an individual's carbon footprint and the carbon emissions caused by the transport medium are also reduced.
Smaller shipment sizes. By giving raw material suppliers including those in fabrics, yarns, leathers, buttons, and zippers the ability to create individual showrooms and digitalize their collections with detailed product sheet pages, buyers of brands can pre-screen and filter through supplier catalogs and therefore reduce the number of physical sample requests. Buyers also have the option to save digitalized samples in a dedicated folder, each of these options resulting in smaller and lighter freight shipments.
Looking further into the sourcing process on Bsamply, it’s important to mention the ability for suppliers to mark all product and compliance certifications they hold with a green tag and upload corresponding PDFs. This facilitates a buyer’s search for sustainably certified products and companies, helps increase transparency and traceability within the supply chain, and overall encourages sustainable sourcing. Buyers can search for specific certifications, download them, and manage them according to their needs.
But sustainable sourcing is not only encouraged and facilitated through visible and trackable supplier certifications that can be downloaded and managed but through a dedicated section of the platform home to stock service, reuse stock, and leftover stock. An aspect supporting a circular economy and a particularly interesting offer for small brands requiring smaller order quantities and committed to offering a sustainable product, created solely from recycled materials or sustainable sources.
And finally, 3D. In Bsamply’s mission to maintain an innovative mindset and be the more efficient sourcing solution for buyers, Bsamply has implemented 3D technology into the platform, giving buyers and suppliers the ability to exchange 3D maps, encouraging the creation of digital prototypes and reducing the need for physical samples and prototypes.
Together with Dedagroup Stealth, Bsamply is expanding its technology to create true hub, connecting all aspects of the fashion industry through a new software, S-Connect. S-Connect is designed to facilitate communication and workflow between the brand and the suppliers it works with, allowing them to share the necessary, definitive information concerning all operations across the sourcing, production, and final shipment of the finished garments from the warehouses. It will give the possibility for brands and suppliers to integrate all the information across the different stages into their ERP systems. One platform, one common work tool, and one unique system to digitalize sourcing and sales processes for buyers and suppliers. An innovative solution that helps reduce time and costs but also increases the sustainability of day-to-day operations. The sustainability model is fluid and the Bsamply team is committed to delivering new, improved, and more green solutions for buyers, and suppliers and for the overall well-being of the fashion industry and the planet.
