What: Altana company aims to use artificial intelligence to help fashion businesses manage their supply chain.

Why it is important: Altana will be able to regulate the fashion industry as it can compile billions of data points on how goods move through the global supply chain.

The company recently captured a multi-year deal with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to block goods that could be made by Uighur forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region which happens to be the epicentre of cotton production in the country.

The purpose of Altana is to give customers transparency on the full value of goods as well as give businesses insights on how to structure their supply chain to take advantage of free-trade agreements, minimise tariffs, and manage risk.

Altana uses AI to collect a mix of public and private information from different languages and formats, analyse them, and derive relevant information to share with businesses.

The co-founder and chief executive, Evan Smith, envision the platform helping companies make international trade simpler by fast-tracking clearance of their imports after sharing their data with CBP.

The goal is to include fashion companies and other smaller firms on the platform.

Will AI finally bring visibility to fashion’s supply chain?