The Rise of Fashion NFT: Embracing Digital Ownership in the Fashion Industry

Luxury items and non-fungible tokens are similar in that they both can be seen as symbols of wealth and status. With that, it is not surprising that fashion NFT has quickly become a new buzzword.

Now the fashion and luxury industry is one of the prevailing NFT use cases, along with gaming, collectibles, sports, and digital arts.

OpenGeeksLab is excited about non-fungible tokens and is always eager to help customers become game-changers with powerful NFT projects.

Today we will explore how non-fungible tokens can change the fashion industry and how your organization can benefit from the latest fashion NFT trends.

So what is fashion NFT and why should you care? How can non-fungible tokens change the fashion industry? All this and much more we will discuss in this article.

Fashion NFT: All You Need to Know

You are probably familiar with the concept of a non-fungible token as a cryptographic asset that cannot be copied, replaced, or subdivided. But what about fashion NFTs?

A combination of NFTs and fashion can take different forms. Here we should mention virtual garments to wear within a virtual environment, digital content to interact with, and even digital copies of physical creations.

Below you can see the first NFT in fashion The first-ever digital dress created by Dutch startup The Fabricant was sold for $9,500.

Image source: Techpacker

Since then, many prominent fashion brands, including Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada, have stepped into the NFT game with NFT fashion collections.

Recent data from The Vogue Business Index further illustrates the wide adoption of NFTs in luxury fashion. Thus, according to their data for winter 2021, 17% of luxury brands have been working on digital fashion NFTs. Beingcrypto states that this figure increased significantly in 2022 since more and more brands have shown interest in this new medium.

To understand what makes NFT in fashion industry so popular, let’s explore how non-fungible tokens reshape this domain.

How NFT Technology Transforms the Fashion Industry Landscape

Let’s take a look at four major ways non-fungible tokens change how people consume fashion products.

NFTs Address Overproduction Issues

Each stage of the garment manufacturing process – from material sourcing and pattern making to quality control and delivery – takes an enormous amount of resources. Given the fact that many items are left unsold, we face waste and overproduction issues that lead to ecological disasters.

NFTs in fashion became an innovative way to reduce waste and improve sustainability. Thus, B The Change referring to DressX states that the production of fashion NFTs saves 3,300 liters of water per item and emits 97% less C02 than the production of physical apparel.

Brands can optimize their carbon footprint by using less energy-intensive blockchains, such as Polygon or Tezos.

Apart from that, fashion brands can reduce natural resource usage by creating digital twins of physical products. These copies can be further used for digital fashion campaigns and testing phases instead of real clothing items.

A Fashion NFT Satisfies the Growing Need for Ownership and Authenticity

Fashion items have always been subject to endless counterfeits, resulting in heavy losses for buyers and sellers of original fashion products. The launch of non-fungible tokens successfully addresses this issue by providing a certificate of authenticity for each separate item.

This way, the launch of digital fashion collections benefits both brands fighting counterfeits and replications and consumers who become confident in their purchased products.

NFTs Facilitate Committed Consumption

NFTs in fashion serve other purposes than making people buy luxury items from a fashion brand. They are all about making the world a better place, not serving a company. And we have some great examples of household names thriving to produce a positive impact with NFT projects.

Thus, Adidas collaborated with Prada to launch an NFT collection of 300 Polygone-minted items. The sales revenue was equally divided between the participants and Slow Factory. This climate innovation hub deals with environmental justice and social equity crises.

Another brilliant example of combining an NFT and fashion is shown by Gucci. The brand launched a video NFT called Proof of Sovereignty: A Curated NFT Sale by Lady PheOnix. The short film was sold at Christie’s for $250,000.

The money was donated to Unicef USA to support Covax, an initiative promoting globally easy access to anti-covid vaccines. This way, Gucci established its reputation as a committed brand.

The Launch of Fashion NFTs Solves the Overconsumption Issue

Non-fungible tokens reshape fashion by encouraging customers to consume luxury products in a new eco-friendly way.

Levi’s® is an example of a brand that successfully embraced this challenge with an outstanding NFT campaign. It was launched to promote the limited 501® Original collection made from recycled denim and organic cotton.

The brand held a contest to offer consumers 10 items from this unique fashion NFT collection. According to its rules, shoppers should visit one of 107 Levi’s stores in France and scan a QR code with a specific web app. The ten winners get a unique Levi’s 501 NFT, a digital copy of a physical item. Their owners can count on the free jeans repair until 2127.

By repairing old jeans instead of buying another pair, consumers can significantly reduce consumption.

Why Should Fashion Brands Invest in Metaverse Fashion?

So what’s all the fashion NFT fuss about? To answer this question, let’s discuss what benefits NFT digital fashion brings retailers.

Saving on Models

Generally, the promotion of fashion items costs as much money as their production, if not more.

When a fashion brand creates digital clothes, there is no need to involve human models because of the intangible nature of a fashion NFT. As a result, brands can save on models by showcasing their products online via fashion exhibitions in the metaverse.

Unparalleled Customer Experiences

The launch of fashion NFTs is a good way to offer your customers a unique experience. By making NFT fashion shows for clients to promote your luxury items, you can reward them for their loyalty and establish an even stronger connection between customers and your brand.

Ownership Exclusivity

Probably one of the most weighty advantages of non-fungible tokens is their sense of exclusivity. Apart from enabling consumers to purchase luxury items online, they provide users with a unique experience supported by a certificate confirming that the person is the only owner of the given NFT. This exclusivity is especially valued in the fashion industry.

Longevity for Fashion Brands

A user who bought a collectible will hardly sell it since the item was purchased solely for collecting. The same rule applies to non-fungible tokens. People buy them as collectibles to keep them for years. This way, by storing NFT clothes, consumers allow brands to live digitally as long as their fashion NFT exists.

As a result, fashion brands get the desired longevity that cannot be achieved through seasonal releases of tangible items.

Scarcity Makes NFTs More Valuable

Remember the rule of thumb: the more unique and rare a fashion non-fungible token is, the more value it brings to NFT collectors and NFT fashion consumers. Therefore, by ensuring the scarcity of the limited launch of an NFT collection, fashion brands make these digital items even more desirable and precious.

Creative Flexibility

NFT technology allows brands to implement the craziest ideas their minds conjure up. Creating a fashion NFT does not require them to obey the law of physics and material sourcing to prepare their fashion business for the metaverse.

Owing to such freedom of creativity, fashion leaders can impress consumers with all kinds of nifty and sophisticated NFT designs.

To sum up, all fashion brands, wanting to expand their business opportunities should give NFTs for fashion a try. It would be a good idea to hire a designer to create an NFT that will showcase the uniqueness of your brand.

Challenges Associated With NFT Implementation

It is worth noting that despite the multiple benefits of an NFT for fashion, the investment in metaverse fashion is associated with particular challenges, namely:

• Poor interoperability. A standard agreement or mechanism regulating the usage of wearable NFTs across multiple platforms has yet to be developed.
• Lack of regulations. Legal frameworks for non-fungible tokens have not been created yet. This lack of legal documentation can lead to dubious situations when independent artists use well-known items or logos to create non-fungible tokens without getting the prior consent of the Copyright owner first.
• High cost. The successful implementation of non-fungible tokens requires significant investment from fashion brands in terms of equipment or workforce. For this reason,  launching NFT projects can be too expensive for smaller companies.
• Lack of involvement. Since a non-fungible token is still a very young concept, very few people understand what all the fuss is about. Recent data show that most of the population in such developed countries as Germany (82.6%) and the UK (78.8%) don’t know what NFTs are. This lack of knowledge makes NFT technology available only to the tech-savvy minority.

Top 5 Most Famous Cases of NFT Implementation by Fashion Brands

Each fashion brand creates its unique ways to unleash the potential of metaverse fashion. Today, we would like to highlight the most exciting and remarkable NFT fashion projects launched by world-known industry leaders.

Louis Vuitton

This fashion giant not just invested in developing NFTs but established the whole by launching a mobile game called Louis the game.

Meet Vivienne. She is the game protagonist traveling through six different worlds to gather two hundred candles. This way, the brand decided to commemorate the anniversary of Louis Vuitton.

Image source: Google Play

Louis the game has thirty collectibles that can only be found in the game. Ten of them were designed by Beeple, a digital artist whose work was sold at Christie’s for $69 million.

Dolce&Gabbana

Collezione Genesi is a collection of nine items: four physical apparel items and five NFT costumes. It was designed by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabanna exclusively for the curated fashion NFT marketplace UNXD and presented in Venice.

Image source: UNXD

The collection was sold for a fantastic $6 million.

Burberry

The brand set out on the NFT journey by collaborating with Mythical games, a next-generation game technology company.  Burberry created a unique NFT collection for their flagship game called Blankos Block party. Its protagonists Blancos are digital vinyl toys made with the help of blockchain technology.

Gaming NFT created by Burberry is a shark called Sharky B. Plates can buy, upgrade, or sell it via the game’s marketplace. Moreover, players can train the shark to obtain certain skills to establish the toy’s rarity and uniqueness.

750 Burberry NFTs were sold out within 30 seconds of their launch. And the price of $1,000 minimum for a single item makes Burberry one of the greatest NFT fashion brands.

Jimmy Choo

This prominent luxury brand collaborated with an American artist and graphic designer, Eric Haze, to launch their own NFT collection. It was auctioned off on October 20, 2021. The auction’s highest bidder got an exclusive pair of NFT sneakers that were hand-painted by Haze.

The money was donated to the Jimmy Choo Foundation to support Women International, a charity organization helping war-affected women to rebuild their lives.

Image source: Jimmy Choo

As you can see, Jimmy Choo is another brilliant example of a fashion brand that launched an NFT collection to support noble initiatives.

The Karl Lagerfeld brand

The launch of a collection of fashion NFT items was dedicated to commemorating the birthday of the legendary designer. The collection consists of 777 digital figurines of Karl Lagerfeld. Each item has a price tag of € 77 (seven is a lucky number for the genius designer).

NFTs have been sold on the fashion digital platform The Dematerialized. The owners of the digital figurines can change the designers’ outfits using NFT apparel from the subsequent drops.

A year after the collection’s release, the brand is preparing to launch the fourth edition of the collection, but this time with some real-life experience. Seven buyers of digital Kart were invited to a real-life cocktail party.

We hope that these examples from the prominent fashion brands will inspire you to create your own metaverse fashion project.

Latest Fashion NFT and Luxury Trends

Below, you can see some of the prominent metaverse fashion trends to watch out for.

Creative Promotional Strategies

A vibrant ecosystem offered by non-fungible tokens appeals greatly to customers. For this reason, NFTs have become a valuable marketing asset fashion leaders can use to increase brand visibility and drive more sales.

Therefore, the sooner a company implements NFT technology in its marketing, the more benefits it will get in the long run.

Customer Support and Management

Fashion brands use non-fungible tokens to establish long-lasting consumer relationships. When users purchase a non-fungible token from a certain brand, they become a part of an exclusive community with its benefits and perks.

This way, launching non-fungible tokens becomes an excellent way to onboard new consumers and retain the existing ones. It also provides new modes of communication with customers.

For example, by using their NFTs, users can redeem physical clothing items or get a sneak peek at upcoming launches.

Community Building

Being aware that 60% of people choose greener alternatives, fashion brands are constantly seeking new ways of serving their environmentally conscious consumers.

Digital fashion successfully meets this challenge by bringing together climate-conscious people in an active and vibrant community.

Thus, H&M invented a recycling system called “Loop” to reduce textile waste. Later, the brand reached out to the video gaming world to raise awareness of the need for more sustainable fashion. H&M enabled the players of the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” game to recycle outfits worn by their avatars.

​​How to Create a Fashion NFT

If you came up with the idea of launching a fashion NFT but do not know where to start, do not worry. We’ve got you covered. Our step-by-step guide will tell you how to create successful digital art clothes.

Step 1. Choose the type of fashion NFT you want to create

First, decide which fashion item you want to turn into a non-fungible token. You can mint a customized pair of shoes, a piece of clothing, or accessories.

Step 2. Create a physical version of your non-fungible token

After choosing your NFT item, you should design it for a specific number limit. Remember that the limited quality makes the items valued the most. As a result, such unique non-fungible tokens have the greatest potential to be sold first.

Step 3. Select the blockchain technology and set up a digital wallet

Your next step is to define which blockchain technology you want to use. Luckily you have many solutions to choose from: Ethereum, Polkadot, Tezos, Cosmos, and Binar Smart Chain, to name a few.

Since you will be minting or paying gas fees with cryptocurrency, you will require a digital wallet. The most popular NFT wallets are Math Wallet, AlphaWallet, Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, and Trust Wallet.

As soon as you set up your digital wallet, don’t forget to buy some cryptocurrency. Most platforms accept Ether, a native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform.

Step 4. Create a digital version of your non-fungible token

Take several photos of your fashion item on a model or mannequin. Edit your images with the help of Photoshop to make them more eye-catching and establish uniqueness. Remove humans. Ensure the visibility of an installed NFT chip or label.

You can tag actual apparel items, shoes, or accessories with the help of the WragTag tool. This service also allows registering images and data to create a non-fungible token.

Consumers can digitally collect and trade NFT items tagged with real fashion products with other users on the blockchain platform.

Step 5. Introduce your NFTs to consumers

You will need a website or web app and social accounts on Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter to promote your fashion NFTs. Communication with potential customers will help establish trust and allow more people to engage with your NFT brand.

Step 6. Collaborate with other brands

The successful launch of NFT projects relies heavily on collaboration with other brands. The more you collaborate, the more value you bring to your consumers.

For example, the collaboration between Nike and RTFKT drew much attention to the non-fungible token concept and brought a lot of money to both parties.

Step 7. Choose a Fashion NFT Marketplace

Another important thing you should consider is the NFT marketplace platform where you will publish your non-fungible tokens. There are many popular platforms, such as OpenSea, Rariable, Larva, and SuperRare.

We recommend starting with OpenSea. It is the largest NFT marketplace, allowing you to mint your NFTs and become a successful seller.

After choosing the NFT marketplace, you should link it to your digital wallet. If you do not know how to start, use detailed instructions from your NFT platform. For example, here, you will learn how to upload your digital file.

Step 8. Define your monetization strategy and establish the sale process

Here we come to the last but not least step, which is choosing the most suitable monetization strategy. There are two popular options: to set a timed auction or sell your NFTs for a fixed price.

Also, you may set an unlimited auction without any time restraints and decide for yourself when you want it to finish.

Don’t make it too low when setting an appropriate price for your non-fungible tokens. Otherwise, you will lose money on the sales.

Explore the Potential of Fashion NFT with OpenGeeksLab

Recently the usage of NFTs in fashion has become a hot topic. Many global fashion leaders hopped on this trend by launching NFT collections and collaborating with renowned digital artists. But the NFT industry is still too young, and non-fungible tokens are available only to the tech-savvy minority.

Only time will tell whether this trend continues further, but for now, it is too prominent to be ignored.

If you are eager to implement NFT technology and need a reliable software development company, feel free to contact us. OpenGeeksLab will investigate your project idea and provide you with the most suitable solutions to bring it into reality.