NFTs were a common thread throughout New York Fashion Week 2022

Later today, the 2022 edition of New York Fashion Week comes to a close. Throughout the five-day event, we saw some of the biggest names in fashion such as Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Tommy Hilfiger and Tom Ford debut their latest looks for 2023 and beyond. But the underlying theme that connects all the shows held at NYFW? Web3.

Over the past five days, some of the biggest brands and designers in the world have launched a number of Web3-focused projects and initiatives. Brands are moving towards “phygital” offerings that blur the line between the physical and digital worlds, and the fashion industry is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of this trend.

The fashion industry has been dipping its toes into Web3 and NFTs in recent months. For example, modeling agency Photogenics launched a metaverse-ready avatar department earlier this month. In addition, Gucci branches began accepting crypto payments in August. And at this year’s New York Fashion Week, attendees were offered a glimpse of the fashion industry’s Web3-focused future. So here’s a quick roundup of some of the most notable Web3-forward projects announced at this year’s New York Fashion Week.

Afterpay’s “keys” to New York Fashion Week 2022

For those wondering how to get into this year’s New York Fashion Week, Australian fintech company AfterPay came up with a way to make it more accessible: NFT “keys” to this year’s festivities. For this year’s NYFW, AfterPay collaborated with five fashion designers to create NFT “keys” that doubled as access passes to exclusive IRL experiences at this notoriously hard-to-reach event.

Among the collection of designers that AfterPay worked with to make this collection possible are ALTA, anOnlyChild, Jonathan Simkai, Kim Shui and Blonds. With NFTs inspired by each designer’s upcoming Spring and Summer 2023 collections, holders can choose to receive access to exclusive NYFW events with keys, digital tools or limited edition memorabilia to be distributed in person at the event.

Tommy Hilfiger sent an NFT to all New York Fashion Week attendees

As well as unveiling his upcoming collections at this year’s NYFW, Tommy Hilfiger also took the opportunity to launch Rove: his new Web3 studio and media launch pad. Billed as a “seamless” way for “brands, creators and artists to launch Web3 products and experiences” on its website, Rove hopes to act as another bridge that luxury brands can use to enter the Web3 space.

As part of Rove’s launch, Tommy Hilfiger held an activation that allowed NYFW attendees to seamlessly create crypto wallets and receive their new NFTs at the event. All participants had to do to receive these NFTs was to tap their phones on NFC stickers pasted over the walls of the activation site.

So what did Tommy Hilfiger give out at the activation? NFTs of a Warhol-esque print of Tommy Hilfiger himself using a Polaroid camera. A fitting image to sum up Tommy Hilfiger’s fashion show at NYFW, considering that the “Tommy Factory” was built as a tribute to where Warhol built his most groundbreaking works in the 20th century art world: his factory.

Puma debuts metaverse experience at NYFW

Sportswear brand Puma unveiled something big at NYFW – and no, it wasn’t the reinvented shoe. Black Station headlined the sportswear brand’s “Futrograde” show at NYFW – a metaverse experience for holders of their newly designed Nitropass NFTs. Named after “PUMA’s home for our most innovative designs in fashion,” as Puma CBO Adam Petrick stated in a press release, Black Station hopes to recapture the brand’s energy at its peak.

As such, Puma’s metaverse experience gave attendees the chance to experience the work of Puma’s designers “without the typical constraints and limitations of our shoe manufacturing process,” said Puma’s Chief Innovation Officer Heiko Desens, in the press release. By entering the Black Station, Nitropass holders can receive one of two NFTs – one tied to Puma’s recently announced Nitro NFRNO and Nitro Fastroid sneakers, or an NFT tied to an exclusive IRL experience. To receive physical sneakers at the event, NFT holders simply burned their NFTs and received the shoes in return.