Is the world of luxury brands and fashion dying? No, it’s just the beginning of a new medium for domination. And the seed of this beginning was sown back in March 2019. Iridescence, the world’s first Non-Functional Token (NFT) couture piece, was the brainchild of Dapper Labs, The Fabricant and Johanna Jaskowska, which raised $9,500 at its auction. What you are reading is just a drop in the ocean called metaversion. The Metaverse is defined as an embodied internet experience.
Rob Litterst
FIRST PLACE ADVANTAGE
Fashion brands and retail stores have recognized that entering the Web3 and metaverse is the most financially and non-financially viable move in the industry. Interestingly, luxury brands have made a move to seize first mover advantage in the space with players such as Nike, Balenciaga, Jimmy Choo, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Louis, Nike, adidas, Prada, Balenciaga, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren . entry into metaversion. Metaverse consists of several technologies and elements, two of which are NFTs and virtual stores. Non-fungible tokens are digital assets with unique identifiers that are used to certify and verify ownership. Simply put, building an NFT makes the creator the sole beneficiary of the earnings unless and until it is sold. In addition, NFT-based transactions reduce fraud and facilitate trading. NFTs can be in any format, but the most notable are music, art, sports, and fashion. By purchasing clothing, users will be able to customize their avatars to their liking. And this is the biggest reason why fashion NFT and fashion poetry will boom in the coming time.
MARKET
Depending on the type of market, fashion NFTs may be smaller compared to music, art and sports, but they are quickly gaining traction. A digital auction of nine pieces of Dolce & Gabbana’s Collezione Genesi became the most expensive fashion NFT, selling for an eye-popping $5.65 million at the time of purchase.
Adidas has joined The Sandbox to create its own AdiVerse platform alongside the launch of its NFT collection in December 2021. Gucci has also joined The Sandbox to create its own experience, ‘Gucci Vault Land’, for its users to glimpse its history through games and NFTs. Fast fashion brand Zara also dipped its toes into the meta version by launching its phygital Y2C Creatures collection and the one-off Lime Glam collection on Zepeto. According to Dune Analytics, Nike ranks first with the highest NFT revenue at $185 million. On Web 3.0, fashion brands have been reported to command higher prices than their physical counterparts. Through the gaming platform Roblox, Gucci sold the virtual Gucci Dionysus bag for around $4,115, while its physical version would cost around $3,400. In 2022, the global metaverse market was valued at $100.27 billion, up from a valuation of $63.83 billion in 2021.
THE INDIAN SCENARIO
Speaking of the Indian landscape, Manish Malhotra became the first designer to enter the game with his five-piece NFT clothing line titled Illuminous Showstopper, which sold for INR 2.8 lakh. Anamika Khanna and Raghavendra Rathore join the list.
In 2021, Rathore launched his four-part NFT on his work and the brand in collaboration with FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week. This made him the first Indian designer to raise charitable funds through NFT. “Having studied robotics, NFTs and metaversion seem like a natural extension for the brand. NFTs open up a new consumer world for brands and can change the way we look at fashion by allowing consumers to retain lifetime ownership of trackable and verified assets and a secondary market for creators and consumers, uncommon in the luxury and fashion industries,” says Rathore. One of the most promising areas of fashion NFTs is virtual stores and verses.
Shubhika’s Papa Don’t Preach has become the first Indian brand to showcase its apparel and accessories collection on the Metaverse platform as part of the World Economic Forum’s ‘A Cohesive and Sustainable World in the Digital Era’ theme. “It allows me to express and use materials and things and shapes and forms that I can’t really use unless I have a commission. And that kind of money I can invest in 3D printing or something like that.” Shubhika Sharma, Founder, Papa Don’t Preach.
French clothing brand Lacoste recently unveiled its first-ever virtual store in collaboration with Emperia. The list includes the likes of Burberry, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. In October 2022, Flipkart launched its own verse, Flipverse, where the platform will provide users with a virtual shopping experience. Rival Amazon was not left behind either, providing its users with a gamification experience as part of #AmazonMetaWorld.
There are several players in the market that are building and providing established and startup companies with the launch of a metaverse of experiences related to its brand. One such key player in the Indian market is Trace Network Labs. It focuses on hosting events, setting up lounges, creating shopping and social districts to create and mint Metaverse Experiences along with web3.0 wallet integration. “This new approach to retail shopping opens the door to new markets, product lines and business models and can make for better long-term investments. Not to mention, it provides an immersive customer experience that increases customer loyalty, revenue and overall global market impact ,” said Lokesh Rao, co-founder and CEO of Trace Network Labs.
FUTURE
Investment bank Morgan Stanley predicts that digital fashion could help the industry’s revenue jump by $50 billion by 2030. SkyQuest Technology estimates that the NFT market will reach $122.43 billion by 2028, while Verified Market Research expects $239 billion by 2030. sustainable approach and lifestyle, we realize that fashion pieces are one of the biggest polluters in the world. By moving to digital and virtual technologies, brands will be able to achieve higher margins on their products, not be hurt by low wage disputes, and drop storage and warehousing costs.
Entering the Metaverse is one way to keep legacy alive for brands along with transitioning to a sustainable strategy. As we move towards a more sustainable approach and lifestyle, we realize that fashion is one of the world’s biggest polluters. The infamous kickback law is forcing several luxury brands to burn unsold merchandise. Burberry alone destroyed $37 million worth of products in 2018. By moving to digital and virtual products, brands will be able to make higher margins on their products, not be hurt by low-wage disputes and let go of warehouses and warehouses. expenses.