Online fashion retailer, Net-a-Porter, is increasing its environmental investments in order to assist shift customer behaviors and promote its new "buy now, wear forever" motto. As part of its effort, the retailer is also piloting a new Digital ID program that will aid in product tracking. 

The move is intended to encourage customers to shop in a more sustainable manner by implementing a circular consumption system. The program will use custom QR codes to give customers information about the design and origin of an item, as well as where they can recycle and repair it.

The technology, which was developed in collaboration with a supplier of traceability technology, EON, will be used in a line of shoes by Porte & Paire, a brand that Net created and brought to market. The plan is to expand the usage of the QR system into a larger range of Porte & Paire goods in the future, as well as provide more resale and recycling alternatives to encourage circular consumption 

Customers will be able to make more sustainable decisions with the information provided by QR codes, which will assist to close the gap in the production life cycle.

Lea Cranfield, the retailer’s chief buying and merchandising officer, luxury and fashion, said that as the pilot expands, they hope to give customers an even deeper opportunity to engage with their products, and eventually be able to keep track of an item's history throughout its life: where it came from, how to care for it, and consider where it might go next, for example through future connections to recycling and re-commerce opportunities.

Pointing to new names like Caes, Sindiso Khumalo, and Deiji Studio, which will be joining the Net Sustain offer, Cranfield added that over the last year, they've witnessed an increase in their consumers' desire to shop with sustainability in mind, with four out of five Net-a-Porter customers citing this as a factor in their purchase decisions in their customer insight surveys. Long-term quality, flexibility, and workmanship were regarded as important purchasing motivations.

Cranfield added that in an environment where they are contemplating how every purchase we make can remain relevant to how we dress over time as customers and as a purchasing team, ‘buy now, wear forever' is the backbone of their buying strategy.