How NFTs and the Metaverse Can Keep Fashion Luxurious
It’s no secret that the fashion industry has begun to explore the cryptoverse, with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Philipp Plein and Tiffany & Co. which makes its own way down the metaverse runway.
Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week hinted at a new wave of fashion, while Philipp Plein brought the metaverse and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) right into his London store. The innovative technology mixed with the ever-changing world of fashion was an inevitable pair, but there is always room for more.
Even in its infancy, the promise of the metaverse has convinced people to pay millions for land in the virtual worlds – so why not fashion? The fashion industry is always looking for new ways to innovate and create new traditions.
While the metaverse removes the tangible aspect that captivates many in the fashion industry, it is a new way to experience wearing and wearing beautiful pieces digitally on a personal avatar. Lokesh Rao, CEO of Trace Network Labs, previously told Cointelegraph that “a digital avatar can wear any garment without limitations of type, design, fabric and use.”
As many know, the fashion industry remains one of the most exclusive industries in the world. With Chanel’s bag quota or buying criteria and the long waiting list to get a Hermès Birkin or Kelly, much of the influence in the fashion industry comes from exclusivity, price, attire and in many cases who you know.
And as many fashion enthusiasts understand, there’s nothing like opening the box of a long-coveted piece and holding, wearing and loving it for the first time. The idea of luxury is a mixture of both exclusivity and passion. Why should fashion in the metaverse be any different?
Keeping and developing traditions
While prominent brands value their traditions, they should also evolve with time. However, it is not easy to appeal to a new user base while keeping the existing ones entertained.
In a struggle to keep customers and enthusiasts loyal to the brand, Indrė Viltrakytė, a fashion entrepreneur and the founder of Web3 fashion venture The Rebels, suggested that they “co-create digital wearables with members of their community and share commercial rights/profits or royalties. with them.”
In this case, Viltrakytė told Cointelegraph that digital collectibles can help show fashion enthusiasts their interest in a brand. These will not only be available to influencers, or those lucky enough to get PR packages for their large following and interest in a brand, but can be for anyone.
For example, Maison Margiela may offer a certain number of digital wearables when you purchase a pair of the Bianchetto Tabi Boot. The boots can be used in the Metaverse and in real life for the die-hard fans who don’t necessarily have a following.
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Tiffany & Co. has already done something similar with their CryptoPunk NFT collection NFTiff, a collection of CryptoPunk-inspired NFTs that are “exclusive to CryptoPunk holders.”
We take NFTs to the next level. Exclusively for CryptoPunks holders, NFTiff transforms your NFT into a custom pendant handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. artisans. You will also receive an additional NFT version of the pendant. Learn more: #NFTiff #TiffanyAndCo pic.twitter.com/pyKlWejHv4
—Tiffany & Co. (@TiffanyAndCo) 31 July 2022
For 30 Ether (ETH), CryptoPunk holders can secure a physical version of their favorite and probably most expensive NFT that can be used as a status symbol. This is something that will not be exclusive to those with influence and can be ushered online into the new era of Tiffany’s little blue box, an iconic emblem of the brand.
Digital fashion items are non-fungible
NFTs, according to the Ethereum Foundation, are “tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique objects.” They cannot be altered or erased once imprinted, and “digital assets never deteriorate,” Viltrakytė said.
Unfortunately, many assets in the fashion industry, like the aforementioned Birkin, which has “outperformed the S&P 500 over 35 years,” according to Finty, can be stolen, destroyed or worn out over time without proper care. This is where digital assets rise above because, “like some ultra-exclusive, non-tangible experiences currently available, not everything expensive needs to be ‘touched’ to have value,” Viltrakytė noted.
Additionally, outside of collectors and custodians, it is almost impossible for an enthusiast to obtain an archive, especially if preservation may be an issue. Sometimes brands will showcase their archive in cities like Paris or Milan for a limited period, but in many cases it is a private affair owned by private individuals. However, one way brands can use this exclusivity of a non-degrading asset is through NFTs and blockchain-based NFT museums.
Viltrakytė said: “If an NFT gives you direct access to Chanel archives or the creative director of Hermès, it means the special status you can have or even upgrade with time.” NFT will never expire and there will always be a way to create a luxurious and exclusive experience.
Another way, she suggested, is to create something like a fashion band, where after a certain point the NFT can be exchanged for a luxury item. “For example, if you’re an Hermès client and want to buy a voucher for your daughter to redeem for a one-of-a-kind bag on her 18th birthday, you can do that seamlessly as an NFT,” she said, adding:
“Paper certificates burn; servers crash and lose data; but blockchain doesn’t lie, and a non-functional token like that would be 100 times more liquid, verifiable and durable than any traditional document.”
Embrace e-commerce and technology
As exciting as it is to go to the store and try, feel, walk around and experience the store and its clothes, e-commerce is already on its way to becoming the main way to shop. The metaverse can help make it as luxurious and modern as traveling to Paris to buy a beloved Kelly. A new and creative approach is needed because, as Viltrakytė said, “now, post-covid, 99.99% of brands sell online, including Hermès.” Brands need to embrace what technology can do for their image and customers.
Viltrakytė believes that the industry is in the experimental phase of Web3 and virtual reality to see how they really affect the fashion industry, since “we don’t have solutions that can make a digital garment ‘fit’. When we have a “good enough” depth sensor in the smartphone’s front camera and AR technology that can ‘fit’ any item perfectly on anyone, it will be the true start of the digital wearables era.”
According to Vogue Business, a Los Angeles modeling agency, Photogenics, has already experimented with this type of technology by creating “avatars via 3D scanning of the models’ faces, while their bodies were rendered from scratch.” The models and their avatars, adapted to the model’s preferences for reality or creativity, are available for use in the metaverse as virtual models.
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Digital wearables can also shape who we are online. If one decides to move into the metaverse for various reasons, an identity there is as important as it is in real life. In fashion, people use details to express themselves, add their own embroidery and customize it to represent their personality. This concept will be as important online as it is offline, as Viltrakytė suggested:
“The virtual presence can be an extension of one’s physical self and personality, or it can be something completely different from who a person is in real life. I think we’re going to see a mix of these two concepts.”
The simple fact is that the technology is not there yet. But as the fashion industry has proven time and time again, “our creativity shows how we can exploit all this potential in the fashion industry.”
