FASHION'S FORAY INTO METAVERSE

ENTERING THE METAVERSE DOES NOT REQUIRE A RULE OF THUMB. THERE ARE MULTIPLE WAYS OF ENTERING SPACE, SUCH AS LAUNCHING NFTS, TIME CAPSULES, ESTABLISHING A VIRTUAL SPACE, AND RELEASING SKINS AND APPAREL FOR USERS.

- PAROMITA GUPTA

Is the world of luxury brands and fashion dying out? No, it is 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-Fungible Tokens (NFT) couture piece, was a brainchild of Dapper Labs, The Fabricant, and Johanna Jaskowska, which went on to fetch US$9,500 at its auction. What you read is just a small drop in an ocean called the metaverse. The metaverse is defined as an embodied internet experience.

FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE

Fashion brands and retail stores have acknowledged that entering the Web3 and metaverse is the most viable move for the industry, financially and non-financially. Interestingly, lux brands have taken a step towards grabbing the first-movers advantage in the space with players like Nike, Balenciaga, Jimmy Choo, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Louis, Nike, adidas, Prada, Balenciaga, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren entering the metaverse.

The metaverse is made up of several technologies and elements, two of them being NFTs and virtual stores. Non-Fungible Tokens are digital assets with unique identifiers which are used to certify and authenticate ownership. In simple terms, building an NFT makes the creator the sole recipient of earnings unless and until sold. Furthermore, NFT-based transactions reduce fraud and make it easy to trade. NFTs can be in any format, but most notable ones are music, art, sports, and fashion. Users, by purchasing apparel, will be able to style their avatars as per their liking. And this is the biggest reason as to why fashion NFTs and fashion-verse will boom in the coming time.

THE MARKET