Smart packaging for fashion e-commerce: experimentation in the Made in Italy sector

This chapter presents a field experiment on smart packaging for fashion e-commerce within the Made in Italy context, addressing systemic pressures for transparency, circularity, and data-informed decision-making. Building on a supply-chain mapping of the sector, we ran a design laboratory with three local partners: ZEROBARRACENTO (brand and use case), Movopack (reusable physical packaging), and Astrakode (blockchain-enabled digital infrastructure). The experimentation unfolded across four phases: requirements analysis, co-definition of the brief, design and development, and testing and validation, culminating in a reusable packaging solution linked via QR code to a digital interface aligned with the forthcoming Digital Product Passport. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), conducted to compare candidate options, provided objective evidence on environmental performance, challenging intuitive assumptions and underscoring the value of measurement in design choices. While the process confirmed the strategic role of packaging as a communicative and traceability device, it also highlighted constraints typical of SMEs (economic/organisational resources), regulatory and standardisation uncertainties, and open questions regarding the effectiveness of communicating sustainability data to consumers. The findings yield a pre-framework of actionable guidance that informs the subsequent chapter’s operational guidelines for smart packaging in fashion e-commerce.