Tracking the provenance of materials is at the centre of understanding whether a product is ethical, but that's not easy with global supply chains.

There may be a solution: blockchain. That's according to Provenance founder Jessi Baker, who told attendees of WIRED Retail that brands can build trust through transparency using the bitcoin technology.

And that's something we could do right now. "When everything from shoes to crisps are claiming to be handcrafted [...] you might say we're experiencing a slight crisis in brand trust," she said. "We need mechanisms to help broker this digital trust."


Jessi Baker Carsten Windhorst

Best known as the digital ledger at the core of bitcoin, blockchain is "a great way for making and preserving truths." Just as blockchain tracks the movement of bitcoins, it could be used as an open way to follow any other good or product, bringing "concrete trustable facts to the retail environment", she said.

For example, Provenance is working on a blockchain project to track fish, noting when and where and how the animal is caught, checking its status with certifiers (such as whether it qualifies as organic) and tracking it as it changes hands, so that data can be shown to the final buyer. That could help brands prove to their customers that products are as promised, helping build trust.

Aside from tracing the origins of your fish and chips, it could also help in the battle against counterfeit goods. "I think blockchain could be incredibly powerful with that notion: is this real, is it what I think it is," Baker said.