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Metaverse Fashion Week demonstrated how brands and designers can further engage with consumers using NFTs.
The Metaverse may be an emerging concept, but the impact that virtual game-like worlds can have on the trillion-dollar retail industry was recently demonstrated during Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW). This entirely virtual experience was held from March 24â27, 2022, in Decentraland, a decentralized virtual social platform on the Ethereum blockchain. The online event attracted more than 70 brands, artists and designers including big names like Tommy Hilfiger, EstĂ©e Lauder, Philipp Plein, Selfridges and Dolce & Gabbana.
Gigi Graziosi Casimiro, head of Decentralandâs Metaverse Fashion Week, told Cointelegraph that MVFW is a diverse event aiming to connect physical and digital fashion with traditional brands and new creators:
âMVFW is important because it connects many parts of a bigger engine in the fashion industry. This event allows brands to explore new possibilities for their creation and communication with customers. We are essentially building a stronger fashion community in Decentraland that allows people to express art beyond physical limitations.â
Bridging the physical and the digitalÂ
Indeed, MVFW provided a glimpse into what the future of fashion may look like, as brands and designers displayed wearable nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on 3D genderless avatars that strutted across fantasy-like catwalks. While the concept may sound entirely unrealistic â which is the intent â renowned fashion designers praised MVFW as one of the most exciting and opportunistic ways for brands to further engage with consumers.
Avery Baker, president and chief brand officer of Tommy Hilfiger Global, told Cointelegraph that the Tommy Hilfiger brand has been curious about new trends and technologies, especially those that allow the label to connect with consumers in unique ways:
âConsumersâ appetite for digital experiences has never been stronger and as we integrate the digital and physical worlds, the Metaverse offers endless opportunities for creativity, collaboration, storytelling and community building. Whether itâs NFTs, avatar fashion shows or something else we havenât explored yet, Iâm excited to see whatâs to come.â
Tommy Hilfiger store at MVFW. Source: Boson Protocol
Echoing Baker, American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger mentioned during a fireside chat that the Metaverse is the future of fashion that took place at MVFW. Hilfiger was alongside Justin Banon, co-founder of Boson Protocol â a Web3 protocol building a settlement layer for commerce in the Metaverse â and Cathy Hackl, chair of MVFW. At the beginning of the discussion, Hilfiger stated:
âItâs part of our DNA to embrace whatâs next, and I really believe the Metaverse is next and will lead us to more creativity, more experiences and more opportunity to build a community of fans worldwide.â
Fireside chat with Tommy Hilfiger, Boson Protocol and chair of MVFW. Source: Boson Protocol
German fashion designer Philipp Plein also participated in MVFW, displaying his latest digital-only NFT collection in the newly acquired $1.4 million Plein Plaza, a 176,528 square-foot plot of land in the Decentraland metaverse.
3D avatar wearing a Philipp Plein NFT at MVFW. Source: Philipp Plein
Plein told Cointelegraph that he chose to be a part of MVFW for a few reasons, one being that the first event he hosted in Decentraland was very successful. âWe had our first event in Decentraland in February this year, which featured a real humanoid robot representing our voice in the Metaverse. We attracted over 3,000 attendees and sold 11 sneakers within an hour via an auction powered by NFT auction house Portion,â he said. Plein added that the average time attendees spent at his initial metaverse event was 40 minutes, which is much longer than the amount of time consumers typically spend looking at websites.
Shedding light on this, Banon told Cointelegraph that brands can better engage with consumers in the Metaverse since virtual environments blur the boundaries between physical and digital worlds. âWhat we are seeing is physical and digital items becoming âdigiphysicalâ â digital tied to physical â or physical items that have an experience component as well,â he said. In terms of how this will play out, Banon elaborated that Boson Protocol enables digital and physical elements to be represented by an NFT that can be gamified, tradable and programmable, making the Metaverse a game-like world for commerce. âThis is all merging into physical and digital experimental commerce,â he said.
To put this in perspective, Banon said during the fireside chat that in the future, there could be a window display at a flagship Tommy Hilfiger store featuring a digital jacket that canât be purchased in-store. In order to buy this item, Banon noted that consumers would have to scan a QR-code that would then take them to a metaverse environment, like Decentraland, where a game or quest would have to be played in order to earn an NFT. This NFT would then potentially unlock three components: a digital wearable to wear in the Metaverse, a redeemable physical NFT that can be claimed from a store or website or an experimental NFT that will give consumers access to a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show or event in the future. âThat physical to the digital experience for retailers is what the Metaverse and Boson Protocol enables,â explained Banon.
Although only a few major brands have been dabbling in physical to digital designs, Hilfiger commented during the fireside chat that he wants to be a step ahead of the competition. He said:
âThe Metaverse allows us to evolve the retail journey we are on. We are always looking for ways to make retail exciting because we know it can get boring doing what weâve been doing in years past, which is just selling physical products. If we are living in the Metaverse, it allows the community to create digital skins, buy, sell, trade them or put them on avatars to play games with and then reap the rewards.âÂ
Tommy Hilfiger store at MVFW. Source: Boson Protcol
In addition to digital wearables displayed on 3D avatars, MVFW featured pop-up shops from retailers selling NFT accessories tied to physical items. For example, PrivĂ© Porter, a global leader in luxury collectible accessories, planted its luxury resale pop-up shop in Decentralandâs Threedium Plaza. During the four-day event, PrivĂ© Porter featured four 3D NFT HermĂšs bags exceeding $500,000 in value.
HermÚs 25cm Birkin In and Out Biscuit/Multicolor Swift Leather Palladium Hardware (Z/2021) will be selling for 19.32 ETH ($58,000) during Privé Porter's MVFW Pop-Up. Source: Privé Porter
Jeffrey Berk, co-founder of PrivĂ© Porter, told Cointelegraph that the company has never dabbled in e-commerce before, noting that PrivĂ© Porter has exceeded over $130 million in revenue to date, largely off of its Instagram account. Berk noted that there is also a physical PrivĂ© Porter located in Miamiâs Brickell City Center. According to Berk, PrivĂ© Porter plans to become involved with e-commerce to reach other platforms and expand, which is why the reseller featured 3D NFT HermĂšs Birkin and Kelly handbags during MVFW. âWe are offering a more engaging experience than anyone else selling a Birkin today,â said Berk.
Berk elaborated that consumers who visit the PrivĂ© Porter pop-up are able to interact with the items by clicking on the 3D handbags. Boson Protocolâs technology then creates a pop-up interface with pictures, descriptions and other data specific to the item. If a consumer wishes to buy a bag, they will be asked to confirm a blockchain transaction that results in Boson Protocolâs smart contracts taking custody of the payment and the issuance of an NFT Voucher, redeemable for the physical good.Â
âThe buyer may then decide to transfer, trade or redeem the NFT Voucher for the physical item,â explained Berk. He added that if a customer decides to redeem the voucher, PrivĂ© Porter will deliver the item and issue the customer a PrivĂ© âA-NFT,â which is an authenticated nonfungible token where the amount of the sale is forever documented on the blockchain. Although MVFW ended on March 27, Berk said that the PrivĂ© Porter pop-up saw enough traffic that Threedium â the companyâs 3D technology partner â asked PrivĂ© Porter to extend its presence in Decentraland through the end of April 2022.
Privé Porter Hermes handbag seen on OpenSea. Source: Privé Porter
In addition to PrivĂ© Porter, the privately-held jeweler and wristwatch retailer Jacob & Co. hosted a showroom at MVFW in the UNXD Luxury District to display its new âAstronomia Metaversoâ collection. Shashi Menon, Dubai-based publisher of Vogue Arabia and founder and CEO of UNXD, told Cointelegraph that he views this collection as a catalyst to how luxury fashion accessories will look in the future. âJacob & Co. will do the same for watches and jewelry as Dolce & Gabbana did by becoming the first luxury label to display their designs in the Metaverse,â said Menon.
MVFW gives a glimpse of the future of retail, but will it catch on?
While the Metaverse enables a greater opportunity for brands and designers to reach consumers, some may wonder if this game-like concept will resonate with the mainstream, especially older generations. For instance, Hilfiger mentioned during his panel that the Metaverse is unlocking the future of fashion, specifically because we are living within a culture defined by Generation Z. âWe have to speak their language, and this is the language they speak,â commented Hilfiger.
Although this concept may resonate with younger individuals, the technical aspects associated with the Metaverse may be challenging for some. For example, some users expressed technical difficulties during MVFW, noting that computers couldnât handle Decentralandâs requirements.
my laptop fan sounded like it was about to take off on an international flight âïž
â cryptochic (@CADcrypto) March 24, 2022
Regarding technical complications, Casimiro explained that Decentraland is optimized to run as smoothly as possible across the board, but âolder systems, out-of-date software, etc., occasionally may see unforeseen issues.âÂ
Moreover, the graphics in Decentraland may also require improvement once marketing in the Metaverse gains traction with more brands. Jason Rosenstein, CEO of Portion â an NFT marketplace built on Ethereum â told Cointelegraph that there are limitations in Decentraland due to low resolution and texture. âWe have to put this on the blockchain, so itâs super-low resolution, which is a huge constraint for brands. But, this is a problem for every metaverse ecosystem today,â he said.
Concerns aside, MVFW seems to have convinced many that the future of retail does indeed exist in the Metaverse. According to Banon, Boson Protocol is already working with many brands on creating a metaverse strategy:
âIn the next 12-18 months, brands will experiment and do pilots in the Metaverse. Some may fail, but in the next two years brands wonât get a pass. If you are a marketing or innovation director of a brand and donât have a metaverse strategy in place, you probably wonât have a job moving forward.â
While itâs difficult to predict the future, itâs worth mentioning that crypto investment giant Grayscale recently found the Metaverse to be a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity across advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware and developer/creator monetization. Moreover, designers who have already started exploring the Metaverse are currently shaping the ecosystem for others. For example, Hilfiger remarked during his panel that moving forward, it will be up to the Hilfiger community and consumers to determine what products they want to shop for:
âI think that in five years time, we are going to see digital and virtual stores that will change rapidly and not remain the same. We want to create stickiness. We want our community to come to Tommy Hilfiger and stay there as part of their lifestyle, so they are going to tell us what they want and need.â
Plein added that he currently has 100 stores worldwide, but he will soon be opening a pop-up shop in London where customers will also be able to purchase NFTs upon check out as wearables for avatars in the Metaverse. âThis is an upsell that will be available to our clients, which will also help bring the mainstream in,â he said. Banon added, âin a year or so, it will be unusual for brands not to offer digital wearables.âÂ
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