A startup called Osmo has created an AI-powered machine that uses scent to authenticate products, like sneakers and bags.
The Big Whiff: Dupe products have flooded the luxury market as secondary sales have soared. Finding a way to keep them out of the marketplace before they can reach consumers (something resellers spend a lot of money on) is necessary for the integrity of the industry.
Between The Scents: Osmo wants to smell your shoes… or, at least, all the unique fibers, materials, and glues that make your shoe the genuine article.
Osmo’s machine “sniffs” shoes and other products to verify their unique scent signature created by the mix of raw materials and chemicals that make up the product — something humans at marketplaces like StockX already do.
Fake sellers typically use cheaper materials to build their knockoffs, so the scent is different — a pilot test by Osmo was able to determine reals from fakes 95% of the time accurately.
Future Fragrance: Like anything AI, Osmo is only as good as the data it’s trained on, so it’s better at recognizing products that it’s had plenty of exposure to, as opposed to a rare item where only a few may have been manufactured.
So, some brands, such as LVMH’s Patou, are adding a custom scent into their items, so that they can be authenticated at scale — a “digital fingerprint,” according to Business of Fashion. Don’t be surprised if the practice becomes standard for the entire luxury industry… a service that Osmo also offers.
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