Imagine scanning a garment and unlocking the world around it: where it came from, how to repair it, the platforms it is being resold on, exclusive experiences and so on. For Patina, that is where fashion’s next major shift begins, with the transaction marking only the beginning of the brand-consumer relationship.
That thinking has been years in the making for founders Leanne Elliott-Young and Cat Taylor. Across five intense years building IoDF, and more than two decades of collective experience as founders, the pair have spent years embedded in the fashion industry, working with brands and institutions to understand where technology can solve its most persistent problems. Along the way, they began to see a persistent gap: fashion has spent decades refining discovery and acquisition, while much of what happens after the point of sale, from the way a garment is repaired or resold to how a brand maintains its relationship with the customer, has remained fragmented.
The key element of the whole idea came into focus when the European Union brought the Digital Product Passport (DPP) into its wider Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation framework. Elliott-Young and Taylor saw the incoming product-specific rules for fashion as an opportunity to build on something they had already been exploring, with every garment carrying its own verified record while opening up a continuing point of connection between the product, brand and customer.
That realisation eventually led them to what they call Post-Purchase Commerce, with Patina building an infrastructure designed to turn compliance into a new way for brands to stay connected to their products and customers long after a sale. “The product is no longer the end of the transaction; it’s the beginning of an ongoing conversation,” the founders share.
It is a useful reframing for an industry that has spent years pouring money into visibility, acquisition and social media attention, only to lose sight of the garment once it enters someone’s wardrobe. Patina’s proposition is that the product itself can become the channel, with a simple tap opening up repair, resale, events, community access and brand storytelling without sending the customer into an algorithmic maze.
And the idea has already been tested through projects such as the Maximilian Raynor cap, where its DPP became a key to London Fashion Week access. For Taylor, that moment captured the larger promise of the platform, with a garment becoming less of a static object and more of a “living touchpoint” between the brand, its customer and the life it continues to have.
What do you think fashion is missing when it treats DPPs purely as compliance?
The biggest mistake fashion can make is treating DPPs as a compliance exercise rather than a customer opportunity. What fashion is missing is that every product is potentially a media channel, a service channel, a loyalty channel and a commerce channel. The product itself can become the relationship. Fashion has spent decades innovating around how to get products into customers’ hands, with very little innovation after the sale. That is where the next billion-pound opportunity sits. The brands that win will stop asking, “How do we comply?” and start asking, “How do we create value after purchase?”
You’ve spoken about making DPPs feel desirable to the customer. What does desire look like when the product is essentially data? For us, the product is not data.
The data is simply the infrastructure that powers the experience. What customers care about is accessibility, value, convenience and experiences that improve their day-to-day lives. People want things to be easy. They want things to work. They want things that save them time. Our vision is incredibly simple: tap the product and everything you need is there. Book a repair. Authenticate an item. Resell a product. Access an event. Contact the brand. Unlock exclusive content. Join a community. The customer only interacts with the product because they know there is value inside it. That is where Post-Purchase Commerce becomes powerful. The product continues delivering utility, experiences and value long after it leaves the shelf.
With Patina’s platform, you seem to be asking brands to think about a garment’s life after the first sale. How does that change the way a fashion house understands ownership?
For decades, brands have spent enormous amounts of money acquiring customers, persuading them to purchase a garment once and then spending more money trying to reacquire that same customer. Meanwhile, the product they designed is still out in the world generating value for somebody else. Resale platforms, marketplaces and third-party operators have built entire businesses around products that brands originally created. Post-Purchase Commerce asks brands to rethink that relationship. The products they design, manufacture and sell can remain connected to them throughout their entire life cycle. Ownership does not end at the point of sale anymore. The relationship can continue for years through various experiences, effectively becoming a living touchpoint between the brand and the customer.
“The relationship can continue for years through various experiences, effectively becoming a living touchpoint between the brand and the customer.”
Was the Maximilian Raynor cap a proof of concept for how product identity can become part of the experience?
Absolutely. The cap became a key. That project was one of our earliest demonstrations of Post-Purchase Commerce in action. It also showed the level of orchestration a brand can have behind the scenes. For the first time, the product becomes an active participant in the customer journey. With our system, brands can see how products are being engaged with, what experiences customers value, what access feels desirable and how relationships evolve over time. Compared to traditional CRM [customer relationship management] systems, this is far more contextual. The interaction is driven by the product and by the customer’s genuine interest in engaging with it.
Luxury has always been built on provenance, craft and story. Do you see DPPs as a new way of protecting those ideas or does it force brands to be more honest about them?
Both. Luxury has always relied on storytelling, craftsmanship and provenance. DPPs provide an opportunity to protect and verify those claims in ways we have never been able to before. At the same time, transparency creates accountability. Brands can no longer simply tell stories. They increasingly need to substantiate them. The exciting part is that provenance becomes part of the customer experience. Storytelling evolves from marketing into something customers can actively engage with throughout a product’s life cycle.
There has been so much fashion-tech noise over the past few years, from NFTs to the metaverse to AI. Why do you think DPPs have a better chance of becoming part of everyday fashion behaviour?
Because they solve real problems. Unlike many previous technology trends, DPPs and our Post-Purchase Commerce platform create immediate value for both consumers and brands. They help people authenticate products, access services, repair items, resell goods, unlock experiences and engage directly with brands. The challenge is creating experiences people genuinely care about. Technology companies that do not understand culture will struggle because behaviour change is ultimately a cultural challenge, not a technical one.
What kind of relationship can a brand build through a product once it leaves the store?
Historically, brands have lost visibility once a product leaves the store. Post-Purchase Commerce changes that. A product can become the foundation for ongoing relationships through resale, repair, trade-in services, authentication, exclusive experiences, loyalty programmes, community participation and customer feedback. Most importantly, it creates direct communication. Instead of relying entirely on social platforms and algorithms, brands can engage customers through products they already own and value. The future customer relationship is built through owned products.
For younger designers, especially those with strong communities but smaller teams, could DPPs become a way to protect their work and keep value inside their own ecosystem?
In many ways, smaller brands may benefit the most. Emerging designers often have incredibly engaged communities but limited resources. Post-Purchase Commerce allows them to create direct relationships with customers, protect authenticity, manage resale opportunities and build ongoing engagement without relying entirely on thirdparty platforms. It gives independent designers access to infrastructure that helps them retain value, data and customer relationships within their own ecosystem.
You’ve often spoken about digital fashion through the lens of access. How can DPPs avoid becoming another tech layer that only bigger brands can afford to use well?
The industry has a habit of overcomplicating technology. The future has to be accessible. If only the largest luxury groups can participate, we’ve missed the point. Our belief is that the technology should become increasingly invisible. Customers shouldn’t need to understand the technology. They should simply benefit from the experience. Post-purchase commerce has the potential to democratise access for everyone, from independent designers and emerging brands through to global luxury houses.
When you imagine the wardrobe of the future, what do you hope a piece of clothing will be able to tell us that it cannot tell us now?
I think we will start to see products carry their own living histories. Imagine walking into a vintage store and being able to see who owned a garment previously, where it travelled, what cultural moments it was part of and how it evolved over time. It could also hold information about production in a way that makes people want to know more: the stories from the studio design team and even the ideas that never made it into the final garment. That kind of access can build a deeper understanding of craft and the people behind each decision. A product will not just tell you what it is. It will tell you where it has been and who made it. That is where Post-Purchase Commerce becomes truly exciting.
