NFT Use Cases: Fashion

“Luxury brands are coming to the NFT space,” says Laglasse, while smoking a cigarette on our Zoom call. Exhibit A: On Sept. 30, Dolce & Gabbana sold its inaugural nine-piece collection of NFTs, called “Collezione Genesi,” a surreal mix of high fashion and blockchain, for $5.6 million. The set included both physical items (like women’s dresses) and their digital companions as NFTs. Just two weeks earlier, at London Fashion Week, a new brand called Auroboros, which describes itself as “the first fashion house to merge science and technology with physical couture,” unveiled a line of digital apparel that you “wear” using augmented reality (AR). For perspective, this was not at a crypto conference. This happened at London Fashion Week. Or consider the collaboration between The Bored Ape Yacht Club and The Hundreds (high-end streetwear), which created merchandise for the community. “That sold out in hours,” said Shen. The fashion brands know an eager (and deep-pocketed) audience when they see one. “In 18 years, we’ve never seen anything like what’s happening on our website right now,” The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Hundreds gushed at the time. “Just wow.” Fashion wearables might just be scratching the surface. Shen imagines that NFTs could create new ways to monetize and invest in fashion. Take sneakers. “In order to flip a sneaker you have to take the physical inventory,” she said. “Imagine if you could increase the speed in which you can flip items.” Or maybe new financial instruments, fueled by NFTs, could allow people to invest in the fashion sector. “You can create financial products, like an index of the top-selling sneakers today,” said Shen, which could let you invest in a pool of the 100 hottest sneakers, for example, instead of tossing the dice on a single pair.