🕶 Metaproof Fashion

Gm fashionistas! This is Sophia from 🕶 Metaproof Fashion, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse & web3 are changing the fashion industry.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse fashion news every Tuesday!

💌 A quick thanks to our friends…

This edition is sponsored by the OG metaverse fashion peeps The Fabricant. They have been deep down the metaverse fashion rabbit hole since 2018 and are pioneers in every sense of the word. They are on a mission to change the fashion industry and are making great progress - check them out today!

📲 By the numbers

• The growing trend of NFT-based digital collectibles has caused the number of web3 wallets on 3D avatar social app IMVU to exceed 1 million in just 2 years. This is largely due to the interest from millennials and Gen Zs, who are particularly interested in virtual fashion, beauty, and streetwear items typically priced between $3 and $100 and tend to sell out in tens of thousands within just 7.5 minutes per release. (Source)

• With JP Morgan analysts estimating $54B spent annually on virtual goods and McKinsey predicting the metaverse could generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, the fastest-selling goods on IMVU include pop neon hair, idol fade hair, and streetwear blue sneakers. (Source)

• Digital fashion house Fabricant was the first to sell a digital garment on blockchain, which was sold for $9,500 (54 ETH). (Source)

📫 News & trends

👜 Yves Saint Laurent files its metaverse and NFT trademark applications

As of January 12, Yves Saint Laurent has filed trademark applications for its name and logo for use in the NFT and metaverse space. With the luxury house planning to offer virtual goods such as makeup, skincare, and face care preparations for use in the virtual world, the trademarks include the offering of downloadable multimedia files which contain artwork, text, audio, and video related to perfumery, toiletries, and cosmetics that will be authenticated by NFTs.

The trademark applications also mention an online retail store for Yves Saint Laurent that will feature virtual goods, as well as retail store services that will feature virtual goods.

This isn’t, however, the first time a high-end brand has filed trademarks for metaverse and NFT applications. Companies like Mercedes Benz and Rolex both filed trademarks for the metaverse and NFTs near the end of 2022, while celebrities like Kanye West and Christina Aguilera also filed NFT and metaverse-related trademarks.

🔥 Calvin Klein launches gaming experience with the perk of real-life discounts

Fashion powerhouse Calvin Klein, a subsidiary of PVH Corp. and sister brand of Tommy Hilfiger, has launched a new web3 initiative that combines gaming, augmented reality, and Ready Player Me avatars to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The initiative appears to be targeted toward consumers in Hong Kong, as the brand is giving away discount codes that can be used in-store and online. The experience includes three different games and the ability to view the avatar in AR, which are powered by metaverse 3D avatar creator Ready Player Me. This activation is also in line with the brand’s iconic #myCalvins campaigns, encouraging the community to post their avatars wearing Calvin Klein clothing to be potentially featured on its official website.

💰 Digital fashion startup Syky raises $9M and launches first NFT

Digital fashion startup Syky, founded by Ralph Lauren's former chief digital officer Alice Delahunt, has raised $9.5M in a funding round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's VC firm Seven Seven Six. The company is launching its first phase of business, an NFT drop that includes access to digital and physical events, curated fashion-tech reports, networking opportunities, future drops, and early notice of Syky's forthcoming releases. Syky is minting 987 Keystone NFTs and will be distributing them to leaders in fashion and web3. Additionally, it is reserving 50 Keystone NFTs for aspiring web3 fashion designers who can apply via the Syky website. According to Delahunt, they are looking for pure talent and a global footprint of emerging designers who are excited about being part of a community.

👗 Scandinavian brands Rotate and Remain put their first step in metaverse

In partnership with Ifland, the largest mobile service provider in South Korea, Scandinavian brands Rotate and Remain - spinoffs of the original 150-year-old Birger Christensen company - are now being marketed in the metaverse. Twenty unique digital designs created will be made available on the site for free while further designs will be published later this year. A trip to Seoul by the Danish Lifestyle & Design Cluster served as the inspiration for the collaboration, with the aim of shifting the Danish fashion sector toward a more sustainable circular economy. Despite the rise of digital fashion, Danish fashion houses have been slow to adapt despite sustainability goals shared with European digital fashion retailers such as Dress X and The Dematerialised. Dress X, the largest platform for AR fashion from brands other than Snap, debuted Dundas’s wares while The Dematerialised collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld and Rotate on new product launches.

💄 Buxom Cosmetics launches metaverse experience in Decentraland

Buxom Cosmetics has partnered with digital business transformation firm Publicis Sapient to launch Buxom PlumpVerse in the virtual world of Decentraland. Buxom PlumpVerse will be a three-floor virtual club experience featuring a plumping lip bar, dance area, DJ area, and virtual try-on store, where users can explore, interact, try on shades, and participate in gamified experiences. From January 17 through June 2023, users will have the opportunity to unlock rewards like discounts and free samples, collect limited-edition proof of attendance protocols (POAPs), virtually try on shades of Buxom's new Plump Shot Sheer Tints, and learn more about Buxom products and ingredients through gamified experiences, with the chance to win a year's worth of Buxom products to boot.

🌟 The Fabricant launches Wholeland: the ultimate digital fashion experience

Digital fashion house The Fabricant, known for its digital-only clothing and fashion craftsmanship, has launched WHOLELAND, touted as an immersive and exclusive digital fashion experience. The seven-chapter journey features digital couture, augmented reality wearables, co-creation, fashion shows, metaverse meet-ups, and airdrops, and can be accessed by minting one of The Fabricant's XXories AR facewear.

The XXories collection is a seven-piece collection of daring digital facewear, and anyone can apply to join the waitlist for a XXorie via The Fabricant's website. Founded in 2018, The Fabricant is out on a mission to redefine craftsmanship for the virtual space by building a sustainable and equitable fashion industry through its co-creation platform, and WHOLELAND aims to showcase this by putting “digital craftsmanship front and center” and fully expressing The Fabricant's “web3 punk aesthetic and attitude,” according to co-founder and CEO Kerry Murphy.

🥰 Experience the future of fashion: Yoona.ai launches revolutionary virtual platform The Berlin Metaverse

Berlin-based startup Yoona.ai held its event The Berlin Metaverse from January 16th to 20th. The phygital concept of Yoona.ai, which combines physical and digital elements to create an immersive shopping experience, was an event highlight that brought together experts in fashion, technology, and parties interested in discussing the future of fashion in relation to technology, digitization, and sustainability. They were able to interact with fashion brands, view immersive digital fashion showrooms and collections, and learn about the latest developments in the industry through case studies, panels, and talks.

💥 From AI stylist to the metaverse, this is how Dresos defines fashion in the age of technology

Fashion technology startup Dresos has developed a 3D body scanner that allows people to scan themselves and create a high-quality avatar with 3D clothes. The company's tech team is also creating a software solution that will be made available to online retailers, allowing people to scan themselves from the comfort of their own homes. Dresos targets bringing its 3D body scanners to malls, where customers can see their own avatars wearing exclusive collections. The company is also in talks of closing a pre-seed funding round, with the metaverse as a big opportunity toward its future growth. The Gulf region is a favorable environment for NFTs and luxury consumers expect their brands to be on the metaverse, also with a lot of customers with cryptocurrencies, said CEO Vladimir Radojevic.

🧐 The reason behind RTFKT’s decline?

The recent decline of the blockchain-enabled digital fashion business RTFKT underscores the risks of web2 brands focusing too soon on the general public rather than their core following, leading up to the commoditization of their brand. The success of web3 native businesses, in contrast, has come from embracing decentralization and the creative options it presents. The problem lies not just in the founders or the community, but also with web2 businesses' desire to re-platform their community rather than accept the “deplatformization and creative chaos” that web3 permits. This strategy may cause people to lose faith in the brand and result in its eventual demise, argued The Naked Collector on Twitter.

💎 Snitch is developing revolutionary NFT fashion accessories

Silicon Valley startup Snitch claims to have created the world's first NFT fashion accessories, bringing interactivity and sustainability to the market for young people. With the NFT market valued at $15.7B and 28.6 million wallets in 2021, Snitch said it has developed a way to allow collectors to display their online assets in real life. The Snitch NFT device is a physical necklace with a screen that can display clients' NFTs to others. With the goal to add utility to all existing NFTs and turn them into sustainable fashion accessories (alongside bridging the gap between the metaverse and traditional retail fashion), the startup is targeting Gen Z collectors, who make up 32% of the world's population and have a purchasing power of $360B per year. Due to the detail and intricacy involved in each device, Snitch is releasing a limited quantity of 500 necklaces for pre-order, according to its press release.

🤩 1Metaworld forms JV with FAME Universe to deliver immersive metaverse fashion experience

1MetaWorld, a platform aggregator, has partnered with Seoul-based FAME Universe to support fashion designers and digital creators in creating, launching, selling, and producing their own digital fashion NFTs in connection with physical garments and real-world experiences. The new joint venture, 1FAME, aims to use NFTs as unique tokens of authenticity and trusted tools for metaverse e-commerce and real-world experiences in the ongoing fight against counterfeiting in the industry. Leveraging 1MetaWorld's institutional-grade transaction platform and curated community lifestyle privileges, the venture’s Meta Studio will digitize designs into interactive digital fashion assets, which can be crowdfunded on the 1FAME Fashion Launchpad and then minted as NFTs to be worn on avatars in the metaverse or traded on the 1FAME Marketplace.

💖 LIGHTSUM and designer Weinsanto launch a metaverse fashion line

K-Pop group LIGHTSUM and fashion designer Victor Weinsanto have partnered with Brand New Vision (BNV) to launch M3TALOVE, a fashion-focused metaverse. This collaboration, first announced at Paris Fashion Week in September 2022, will feature eight virtual designs created by Weinsanto for LIGHTSUM, which will be sold as NFTs on the BNV marketplace. The 600-unit collection will have different tiers including super-rare and rare, each with their own perks and utilities including:

• LIGHTSUM Zoom call

• Glasses

• Interoperability, where all holders will also be able to wear their M3TALOVE outfit in both Decentraland and The Sandbox

• Exclusivity, where all holders will be able to enter BNV’s exclusive channel on Discord and claim free FA$H Cred that can be used across BNV’s ecosystem as loyalty points

• IRL events, namely an airdrop of 2 free ticket NFTs inviting the holder to BNV’s next physical event

• Behind-the-scenes items

🎀 Sneak peek: Digital Fashion Week London 2023

Digital Fashion Week NY and creative agency MAD Global have collaborated to create Digital Fashion Week, a two-day event combining physical and digital events to link fashion and technology during London Fashion Week in February 2023. The event will include panel discussions, presentations, a curated digital fashion show, and immersive experiences from top digital artists, and will provide a platform for designers to promote their products and services to a worldwide audience. The event will take place at Epic Games' Innovation Lab in Fitzrovia, London, which serves as a creative community center and houses real-time content development and virtual experiences. The event will involve a panel discussion featuring giants of digital fashion including Auroboros, XTENDED iDENTiTY, Franki Tabor and Costas Kazantzis from FIA, providing insights into how models will protect their identity in the future and a deep dive into how AI is fashion changing design.

💸 Finance buzz

• Syky, a digital fashion business launched by Ralph Lauren's former Chief Digital Officer Alice Delahunt, has secured $9.5M in a series A fundraising round, which represents an investment in Delahunt's vision for digital fashion at a time when many in the field are seeing reduced crypto funding. (Source)

• Platform aggregator 1MetaWorld entered into a joint venture agreement with Seoul-based FAME Universe to support fashion designers and digital creators to create, launch, sell, and produce their own digital fashion NFTs in connection with physical garments and real-world experiences. (Source)

• MEmob+, a data intelligence and mining platform with blockchain services in its portfolio, has partnered with Artifact Labs, a provider of 360-degree support for brands and creators in the metaverse. Together, the companies seek to serve the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region via projects under the Artifact Labs umbrella, such as the metaverse fashion house Ninzoou and the digital fine art platform Materia. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

--

All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse fashion news every Tuesday.