How Web3 is Transforming the Fashion Industry 👗👔

Imagine this.

It’s your 13th birthday and your parents finally bought you the Sims game you were eyeing. You spend all morning creating your Sims character–picking out the coolest clothes, jewelry, and makeup. Whether you realize it or not, playing this game was your first introduction to the “metaverse” and it highlights how wearables (i.e. shirts, pants, scarves, etc) play a crucial role in the way you identify in this virtual world. 

We’ve shared insights about how web3 and blockchain technology will transform the creator economy, but another industry that is prime for disruption is the fashion industry. Since New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is coming up soon, we thought this would be the perfect time to give a high-level overview of the intersection of fashion and web3. 

Let’s dive in!

What role do NFTs have in the fashion industry?

According to 3D Look, fashion NFTs are “virtual garments that customers can wear within virtual environments; digital content that owners can interact with; or digital twins of physical creations.” If we were executives at a top fashion company, we’d be paying attention to these six innovations:

1. Augmented reality clothing: Take Nike and RTFKT, for example. They recently launched Nike Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks, which is a collection of 20,000 NFT sneakers. Owners can visualize their NFT Cryptokicks in the real world through a Snapchat filter.

2. Virtual stores: They can buy virtual land where they build stores and showrooms to market to young consumers.

3. Digital twins: This is when brands combine NFTs with a physical product that they can touch and wear.

4. Exclusive content: Companies can develop experiences and content that is exclusive to NFT holders and also promotes the brand.

5. Video game collectibles: Brands can work with video game publishers to introduce rare NFT collectibles to their virtual worlds.

6. Metaverse fashion: Companies can empower consumers to wear their brand’s fashion throughout the metaverse.

Over the past year, we’ve already seen this come to life through iconic events.

Walk the runway, in ✨the metaverse ✨

On March 24th, 2022, the very first edition of Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) took place. The event was hosted on Decentraland, a virtual reality platform with free access. To virtually sit in the front row (or attend at all), all you had to do was create your own avatar. In case your avatar couldn’t make it, here’s what the people are saying:

The good - brand attraction: Over 70 brands participated. And these weren’t no-name brands - Tommy Hilfiger, Paco Robanne, Roberto Cavalli… and many more. Dolce & Gabbana even jumped in with 20 male and female model silhouettes. 

The Bad - the user experience: sadly, those who attended the event were left wondering whether they were watching a cutting edge tech fashion show or Sims from the early 2000s… on their family desktop… andthe dial-up took a while. But as Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, the head of MVFW, said “It is just the beginning. We need to take one step at a time.”

What does this mean for fashion week in the physical world?

If you’re a fashion-focused person or grew up learning how to smize watching ANTM (Chad was one too, don’t be shy!), you probably know that New York Fashion Week (NYFW)  is coming up in a couple weeks! And you might be surprised to learn that Web3 will actually be making an appearance this year too! Here two things to keep an eye out for:

• NFTs: AfterPay (the Buy Now Pay Later aka millennial layaway company) is partnering with 5 designers to offer 50 NFTs (250 total), with utilities including limited edition drops, designer collectibles, access to coveted experiences, runway seats, and after-party invites

• Metaverse Show: designers, like Tommy Hilfiger, are creating a digital version of its physical show in the Metaverse through Roblox

Innovation in the fashion industry seems to be at an all-time high right now–from major shows like NYFW and Metaverse Fashion Week creating virtual experiences, to young designers building exclusive collectibles. We can’t wait to see what comes out of NYFW in a few weeks!

Thanks for reading ✌🏽

Contributors: Kendall Rankin, Chad Payne