You put on your Balenciaga cap, fasten your Rolex Daytona and don your Louis Vuitton cross-body bag. But it's not In-Real-Life bling. It's all virtual gear, worn by your digital self, who's about to be teleported into the metaverse! Welcome to the new world of luxury, where avatars wear Burberry "skins" and carry Gucci handbags that are not leather totes but non-fungible tokens!
The biggest designer groups are grappling with how to approach the virtual and augmented reality of the metaverse. The new realm promises to help them capture lucrative sales and win over young fans. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Burberry Group Plc, Moncler SpA, Ralph Lauren Corp. and Kering's Gucci have all participated in gaming collaborations. Although not a luxury brand, Inditex SA's Zara is making its first foray into the metaverse through the Zepeto platform. Let's see who transforms their brand!
🔹GUCCI
The Italian fashion house's NFT experiment was launched in May 2021 when Gucci unveiled its first NFT-related product. Interestingly, it wasn't really about fashion for its centenary celebrations. It is a four-minute film, Aria, co-created by Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele and director Floria Sigismondi to accompany a runway show by the former.
As part of the "Proof of Sovereignty" sale organized by Lady PheOnix, a digital artist, the film sold for USD 25,000 by art auction house Christie's. All proceeds from the sale would go to UNICEF USA for COVID-19 vaccine initiatives. It's not the first time Gucci stepped into the metaverse. It had unveiled one of its first ranges of digital fashion products, and it wasn't even considered an NFT.
A Gucci bag in Roblox resold for 350,000 Robux or roughly $4,115. The same purse IRL costs $3,400.
🔹LV
Quite a unique crossover of fashion and gaming, French fashion house Louis Vuitton (LV) was celebrating its founder's 200th birth anniversary by launching a mobile game called LOUIS THE GAME on 4 August 2021.
It's not a regular mobile game. Embedded with 30 NFTs, the game chronicles the journey of the fashion house's mascot Vivienne. The wooden doll, bearing the flower monogram of the LV brand, completes several quests as it continues through the long Louis Vuitton history.
Made in collaboration with NFT artist Beeple, the art collage stood at an estimated $69.3 million. However, the NFTs used are only a part of the game's collection and are not open for public selling.
Also, the fashion house debuted in the gaming arena in 2019 with the launch of Endless Runner. Featuring retro 16-bit style gameplay was inspired by Virgil Abloh's FW19 Runway collection.
🔹NIKE X RTFKT
Sneaker enthusiasts can try on the new pieces from the Nike range, but they cannot be worn in real life. Entering the virtual NFT world, the sneaker giant acquired the digital sneaker brand RTKFT on 14 December 2021.
Established in 2020, RTKFT was co-founded by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev and is dedicated to blurring the lines between sports, gaming and sportswear. In early 2021, RTFKT teamed up with "Fewocious", a famous crypto artist, and sold around 600 pairs of shoes, fetching a whopping USD 3.1 million in under seven minutes.
RTKFT launched a virtual "try on" session of the sneakers on Snapchat, after which bidders could enter the digital auction. The winners were given the physical shoes, but the real coveted asset remains the digital ones.
Since RTKFT studios shared the news of joining the Nike Inc. family, its craze has increased exponentially. Many of their virtual shoes have strong resemblances and are inspired by Nike signatures like Air Jordan 1 and Air Force 1.
🔹BURBERRY
The British luxury fashion house collaborated with Mythical Games to launch its first NFT in the latter's game titled Blankos Block Party. If you are a passionate collector of toys in the real world, then be assured to be hooked on this virtual world full of vinyl toys called Blankos.
The multiplayer game allows players to buy and trade NFT toys and has several gaming modes and levels where they can enjoy completing various quests and challenges. Burberry's limited-edition and limited-quantity NFTs in this Mythical Games gaming arena are called Shark B, a shark figurine bearing the TB Summer logo.
The fashion house has also launched many NFT accessories that can be bought for Shark B and used on any other Blanko in this game.
According to an Esquire report, the game was included in the list of 'top 5 NFT MMO games to check in 2021'.
🔹BALENCIAGA X FORTNITE
The first fashion brand to partner with the online game Fortnite, Balenciaga, proposed to sell four signature items from its collection to serve as skin and accessories for avatars in the game.
The luxury fashion brand's creative director, Demna Gvasalia, always has something new to offer and this time, blurring the lines between physical and digital, Balenciaga's model has been made into a digital avatar called 'Doggo,' who wears Balenciaga outfits in the Fortnite arena.
Additionally, three other Fortnite avatars get a Balenciaga makeover - Banshee is seen in a tiger-striped bodysuit; Ramirez wears a sequined top paired with tattered jeans; while Knight gets Balenciaga armour boots with a hoodie and shorts.
Users who make these extravagant Balenciaga purchases on Fortnite can submit photos of their avatars to be included on billboards of the game's town square, as well as enter a Balenciaga store to perform a custom dance. In real life, people can walk up to the Madison Square Balenciaga store and shop the Fortnite x Balenciaga collection.
As you can see, not only people but also brands are striving to enter the digital reality. Do you already have a luxury NFT in mind?