Nonfungible tokens (NFT) may disrupt the trillion-dollar fashion industry, but NFTs are just one piece of a much larger puzzle revolutionizing this sector. Rather, blockchain technology as a whole continues to be a game changer for the fashion industry.
While blockchain-based supply chains served as some of the technology’s earliest use cases could help detect fraudulent items, digital wearables built on blockchain networks are now coming into play. Megan Kaspar, co-founder and chief executive of Magnetic — a private crypto and blockchain investment and incubation firm — told Cointelegraph that digital fashion is a very powerful use case for blockchain technology. However, she noted that many brands are unaware of the value that blockchain can offer for creating new business models.
The rise of digital fashion and its impact
To explain the enormous possibilities that blockchain can bring to today’s fashion world, Kaspar noted that in the near future all brands will first move to a “digital-first” model:
“Here, collections are initially created digitally, whether in-house or outsourced to a company. The digital-first process reduces the time, energy and capital no longer required to preview collections prior to production. The digital collection can then be overlaid with photos through digital tailoring.”
To put this in perspective, Kaspar recently featured on the cover of the January issue of Haute Living. This was unique in that it was the first fashion magazine cover in the United States to feature digital luxury designer clothing on a human. Additionally, the cover of Haute Living features QR codes that generate augmented reality try-on features that allow readers to scan barcodes to see what each featured digital piece might look like. The designs, created by Fendi and digitized by DressX, can then be purchased directly from the Fendi website.
Megan Kaspar on the cover of Haute Living January 2022 in a digital Fendi dress. Source: Haute Living
While innovative from a marketing perspective, there are other benefits of digital-first fashion. Adrienne Faurote, fashion director at Haute Living, noted this in her feature, for example story that “the days of shipping 20+ boxes of clothes around the world” are over. This is an important point to consider, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a number of supply chain issues, e.g. B. to delays in shipping containers around the world.
It is also important to note that a blockchain network is not required when it comes to digital-first models. DressX co-founder Daria Shapovalova told Cointelegraph that while the Fendi garments worn by Kaspar on the cover of Haute Living are entirely digital, they are not NFTs:
“With this first digital cover in the US, we wanted to promote digital fashion to a mainstream audience by making Fendi AR fitting features available to everyone for free. Publishing the items as NFTs, on the other hand, would mean that the digital assets and AR would only be owned by the NFT holders, which would severely limit the audience’s ability to interact with the digital garments.”
According to Shapovalova, while NFTs are able to offer many opportunities to the digital fashion industry, such as B. a sense of belonging and a scarcity effect, but this was not what DressX wanted to achieve with this particular campaign. Kamal Hotchandani, Chief Operating Officer of Haute Media Group, added that the Haute Living cover shows how mainstream publishing capabilities are migrating into the digital landscape, with the advent of shoppable editorials and augmented reality (AR) try-on opportunities.
But when blockchain skills are applied to this mix, the benefits become far greater. For example, blockchain technology enables Web3 e-commerce between digital and physical items.
Justin Banon, co-founder of Boson Protocol — a decentralized trading platform — told Cointelegraph that the company has developed a fundamental base layer for Web3 that allows smart contracts to execute e-commerce transactions in metaverse virtual environments. Because of the capabilities that smart contracts provide on Boson’s blockchain network, Banon said that trust issues that could potentially arise in a metaverse environment can be resolved:
“For example, if a person enters a metaverse and comes across another avatar selling a car, one might wonder how secure that transaction would be. The boson protocol serves as a layer of trust between the metaverse and the universe by allowing the sale of NFTs with encrypted game theory, which can then be redeemed for real-world items.”
Blockchain, which serves as a trusted layer between Web3 commerce transactions, is crucial here, especially for big labels like Nike and Adidas Set up storage in the metaverse. Digitizing items as NFTs becomes the next required step for selling goods in virtual environments that bring additional functionalities.
For example, Kaspar explained that digital-first collections can be sold exclusively as NFTs and manufactured later if a buyer wishes to have the physical items: “The use of blockchain technology and NFTs provides production quantity, visibility of each garment and global availability for the first time in history. Limited edition drops and on-demand manufacturing could easily be by-products of Web3.”
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Voxel sneaker files for Metaverse
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Banon added that while 2021 has been mostly focused on brands selling NFT fashion, this year will see an increased push towards “digital-physical” or “phygitals.” According to Banon, brands sell physical fashion items in Web3 ecosystems connected to NFT counterparts. “Also consider physical sneakers with a wearable NFT version,” Banon said. That was recently shown by crypto fashion house RTFKT, as the company has partnered with “CryptoPunks” to create 10,000 NFT sneakers. For each “CryptoPunk” released, a custom pair of sneakers was created and then given to its rightful owner to wear.
The transparency that a blockchain network offers is also advantageous. For example, Kaspar pointed out that limited edition fashion drops appeal to certain consumers. In this way, it is possible to understand how many items actually exist on a blockchain network when sold as digitized NFTs. This was recently demonstrated at Dolce & Gabbana launched its nine-part NFT collection “Collezione Genesi”..
Although the Fendi collection featured in Haute Living’s January 2022 issue weren’t NFTs, DressX co-founder Natalia Modenova told Cointelegraph that non-fungible tokens represent the next level of utility in the fashion industry will represent:
“NFTs maximize possibilities and open up new areas for self-expression and creativity. We compare NFTs to high-end fashion or haute couture because they provide a sense of belonging, scarcity effect and a sense of luxury that would otherwise be unmatched in the digital world.”
How soon will digital-first mode be introduced?
While digital-first models can offer a number of benefits to the fashion industry, there are challenges that can hamper adoption. For example, while it is remarkable how realistic the digital Fendi collection appears on Kaspar, the amount of work required to achieve such an effect is enormous.
Up to this point, Modenova shared that the process of digitizing garments always depends on the materials provided by the brand. “All nine Fendi outfits were digitized from photographs, creating the luxury garments’ fabrics, patterns and silhouettes from scratch in 3D space,” said Kaspar, adding that all fashion design elements – like shape, color, Space, shape, texture, etc. – play a fundamental role in digitizing garments to create a perfect visual design. Therefore, this process requires professionalism, which can be difficult to achieve as the space is still nascent.
Related: Unlocking utility is key for fashion brands launching NFTs in 2022
This challenge does not appear to affect the role blockchain is likely to continue to play in the fashion industry. Hotchandani noted that Haute Living plans to convert all of the magazine’s covers into NFTs in the future. “Our covers are artworks and content relevant to the moment, so I feel creating NFTs of our covers gives our art a different expression and a permanent home on the blockchain.”
Modenova pointed out that the rise of the Metaverse gave rise to “Metamode”, noting that digital assets that were once only used for games are now being designed to dress up digital versions of humans:
“People with tech and gaming backgrounds are quick to understand this, but now the mainstream is starting to actively follow. This is a common pattern that emerges when innovative products are brought to market. Wearables are the most natural extension of the metaverse and the most important pillar of the metaverse economy.”
