🕶 Metaproof Fashion 

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

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💌 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

• Metaverse fashion’s market share is anticipated to have an increase of $6.61B from 2021 to 2026, with a CAGR of 36.47%

• It’s expected to witness a year-on-year growth rate of 30.5% by end of 2022

• One growth driver is the increasing number of Gen Zs spending 8+ hours per day on their smartphones (Sources 1 | 2)

📫 News & trends

👚 Warner Music Group furthers metaverse push with digital fashion startup DressX

In its continuing aim of teaming up with startups in its metaverse aspirations, the music empire has inked a deal with DressX, which creates digital fashion wearables on and off the blockchain. 

The partnership lets Warner Music artists - including major stars like Lizzo, Madonna, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Red Hot Chili Peppers - create and license digital wearables as well as merchandise for fans, with 3D avatar wearables or AR virtual clothing on display on Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms. 

While the extent crypto and NFTs play into the deal remains unclear, the music label continues its bevy of web3 partnerships, teaming up with NFT marketplace OpenSea and cooking up plans to release music NFTs through the upcoming LGND platform on Polygon. 

Its web3 deals in 2022 are also noteworthy: baring plans for a metaverse concert venue and amusement park within Sandbox, as well as collaborating with web3 gaming firm Splinterlands to develop artist-themed blockchain games for fans. 

🕺 How MNTGE is bringing authentic vintage fashion into the metaverse

Digital fashion startup MNTGE, specializing in recreating metaverse wearables from real vintage clothing, launches its Ethereum NFT MNTGE Pass to offer access to sneaker designer Sean Wotherspoon’s upcoming drop and other benefits. Founded by entrepreneur and Snoop Dogg’s brand manager Nick Adler, MNTGE also seeks to build a fashion and streetwear community, providing first dibs to real vintage finds. A rare vintage apparel collector himself, Wotherspoon has designed for Nike, Adidas, and Porsche, and highlights MNTGE’s goal to bring “a level of detail and imagination” one wouldn’t expect in a web3 garment. 

🧸 Dolce & Gabbana taps collectible teddy bears with its latest NFT drop

D&G has teamed up with NFT collectible inBetweeners and UNXD for “The Drip Collection,” a three-tiered project launched on OpenSea December 13. The token series offers 2,000 digital bears designed by GianPiero D’Alesandro, each wearing one of 21 products from the D&G vault. Next year, NFT holders can redeem D&G garments matching their bear as well as a signed physical print. The launch highlights the ongoing trend of traditional fashion houses partnering with digital natives for “phygital” releases that expand their customer base online. 

💰 Web3 wearables are entering the metaverse with 'RSTLSS' founded by Charli Cohen 

Fashion influencer Charli Cohen has unveiled her fashion-meets-tech plans for a web3 wearable called rstlss.xyz. Combining blockchain and the metaverse to offer followers a secure, inclusive way to purchase metaverse fashion pieces, the platform is slated to enable brands, influencers, and artists to create and sell via an interactive experience. The London-based digital fashion label will offer gamified features such as Experience Points (XP), exchangeable for a wealth of rewards, as well as an “Evolution” system where a skill tree is implemented. 

🌍 RTFKT is building a new future

RTFKT Studios, a web3 fashion house pushing boundaries with everything from AR hoodies and digital sneakers to NFC chips and blockchain authentication, has made a name for itself in the nascent metaverse space. Co-founders Chris Le, Benoit Pagotto, and Steven “Zaptio” Vasilev sit down with Hypebeast Magazine to reveal their vision for web3 fashion, how being acquired by Nike altered their infrastructure, and how they disrupt this world as “misfits, nerds, and go-getters.”

😎 Council of Fashion Designers of America struts into web3 and celebrates 60 years with first-ever NFT launch

Trade association Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), which touts having over 500 fashion designer members, has released its first-ever NFT collection and is launching a metaverse fashion exhibition in Sandbox. Partnering with blockchain platform Polygon Studios for the campaigns, CFDA celebrates its 60th anniversary with these bold metaverse moves. Titled “Lighting the path of American fashion,” the NFT project comprises seven tokens available for bidding, each developed by an iconic designer like Coach and Vivienne Tam, and opens doors to “unique utility perks that allow unprecedented access” such as the Coach NFT coming with two tickets to a Rockefeller Center holiday event and a Re(Loved) designer purse. 

📷 Iconic fashion photographer Nick Knight launches new NFTs fusing fashion and metaverse

Renowned fashion photographer and director of fashion website SHOWstudio, Nick Knight, has launched new NFTs that will integrate fashion photography and the metaverse. Dubbed ikon-1, the NFT project has been in the works for two years and features a limited edition of 8,000 digital artworks. Knight, collaborating with model and Instagram star Jazzelle Zanaughtti, has also onboarded over 30 creatives to contribute to more than 200 traits, from makeup to fashion to hair and nails, attracting higher resale values for the NFTs. The 64-year-old fashion imagemaker has also teamed up with DressX to launch a metawardrobe allowing ikon-1 NFT holders to explore digital wearables for their avatars - one of which Knight is anticipated to come up with for himself in 2023. 

⌚ H. Moser & Cie. brings luxury timepieces to web3 with pioneering digital ecosystem

Luxury timepiece maker H. Moser & Cie. has bared an immersive luxury platform for customers. Partnering with Aura Consortium and Deloitte, the experience involves a dedicated app for watch authentication through blockchain, along with access to an exclusive Swiss chalet in the metaverse and NFTs. The project also has a physical counterpart: a limited-edition 50-piece release of the “Endeavour Centre Seconds Genesis” timepiece. The move is thought to be revealing of how timepiece houses are looking to move into web3 while maintaining the reputation of exclusivity known to its target market. 

🌇 What to expect: Second Metaverse Fashion Week

A second Metaverse Fashion Week is happening in Decentraland in spring 2023. While an official lineup is yet to be released, the first edition saw big names like D&G, Tommy Hilfiger, Selfridges, and Paco Rabanne thrill a 108,000-strong audience - a relatively low figure, but one that sees next-gen, more digitally minded designers connecting with traditional fashion brands that have dominated the scene for so long. 

₿ What's next for crypto and ecommerce

Blockchain technology is enabling crypto and making other digital currency payments possible. Could it be the next chapter for real-time payments, particularly for merchants seeking to increase cross-border commerce? Absolutely, according to Basant Singh of payments system firm ACI Worldwide, describing how blockchain in the ecommerce ecosystem - including for cross-border segments such as fashion and entertainment - can unlock new payment rails for millions of digital currency holders while driving revenue and new opportunities for merchants. 

🇮🇳 Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour introduces exclusive metaverse fashion campaign

The Fashion Design Council of India has reimagined Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour with its entry to the metaverse this year. Launching on Decentralad, the metaverse-exclusive fashion show rolled out on December 10, featuring the “This is not a T-shirt project” buoyed by 60 designers and homegrown fashion labels deconstructing the basic T-shirt; multiple interactive areas, gamified zones, and showcase areas; and try-on and wearable NFTs at the Designer and Trial Zone. The Fashion Tour’s foray in the metaverse is deemed an attempt to make fashion “more inclusive, accessible and futuristic.”

💻 Explainer: Let’s get 'phygital': combining the physical and digital in web3

Utility NFTs are designed to provide holders with additional value beyond the actual digital asset, appealing to individuals looking to engage with brands and participate in the project’s culture. This coming together of digital and real-world items has birthed the word “phygital,” which has led to top global brands such as Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tiffany & Co. creating unique offerings. See how this hip portmanteau speaks to fashion lovers seeking to inhabit both virtual and real worlds. 

💸 Finance buzz

• RSTLSS's The Key collection has sold out at a mint price of 0.069E or US$81,000 (3KEYs per wallet). While all 1000 KEYs have been minted out, it still has limited physical MASTER Tees, which are AR-enabled and verifiable on-chain via NFC. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

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