🥽 Virtual fashion shows and what they'll look like in the future

AND: Virgil Abloh's passing, Medcom Toy and Dime Holiday drops

Dec 3, 2021

Welcome to issue #050. With all the talk about metaverses, The Sandbox and Decentraland have brought a really important conversation to what fashion will look like offline and on.

Adidas partnering with Coinbase and The Sandbox should give you a good signal. Fashion is taking digital seriously. And from what I've seen, online wearables will be just as important to the fashion community as offline. Maybe even more (since Cathie Wood of ARK mentioned that the metaverse could be a multitrillion-dollar opportunity.) You could also say the pandemic has been the kindle to this fire.

I've dived myself into this trend a few months back - and became a part of a DAO that's taking this on, called MetaFactory. After the jump, I'll tell you where I think virtual shows and digital fashion is headed.

contents:

brand of the week
virtual and digital fashion shows
what’s in my closet
threads
what’s on the coffee table
aesthetically pleasing
upcoming product drops

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DEPUIS TOUJOURS

Greek-born to Egyptian parents, founder and designer Michael Henein spent the majority of his life traveling and moving around the world. His international upbringing and love affair for all things 60s-80s, are the driving forces behind Depuis Toujours' inspiration.

They work with the highest quality manufacturing partners to ensure a premium and consistent product that they stand behind. They’re proud to keep production stateside and support their local community. Their headwear-specialized manufacturing partner has been family-run since the 90s.

Check em' out →

ADIDAS PARTNERSHIP

Institutional adoption of crypto is growing. And after Adidas announced its partnership with Coinbase, it set the fashion industry on fire. This comes on the heels of Facebook's Meta announcement, among others. So the sneaker race has officially moved virtually. This means you'll start seeing Adidas building out a digital infrastructure to sell goods, shop, runway shows and completely change the way we view eCommerce. It's even put Nike in a fluster. They immediately had 4 filings to trademark "virtual goods" to hit Adidas back.

adidas Originals @adidasoriginals

adiVerse anyone? 🤔 What should we build, together in @TheSandboxGame? ⬇️

The Sandbox @TheSandboxGame

Hey @adidasoriginals, impossible is nothing in the Metaverse. What if we invite all of the original thinkers and do-ers to design our future together? https://t.co/xQrfAWHBky https://t.co/fTCaqf6fho

WEARABLES

An organization I joined, called MetaFactory presents an early and interesting view on how fashion will change. We focus on partnering with brands, to create real-life and online avatar wearables that they can flaunt in the real world and virtually.

Because it's a DAO, we use a governance token called $ROBOT where community members decide on token mechanics, reward schedules, partnerships, platform features, treasury use, and more. Creators receive $ROBOT based on the success of their product, buyers are rewarded with $ROBOT for their patronage, and the community earns $ROBOT by helping to curate the marketplace.

The best thing about this concept is that it's truly giving creators the same power as institutions. Giving those that didn't have to access the ability to fashion design and give themselves a front-row seat in an industry that's changing.

VIRTUAL SHOWS

Digital fashion shows won't be just live streams in the next few years. They will be fully immersive, and fashion houses will have to play the game to capture the attention of the next generation. You won't have to fly to Milan to go to a highly exclusive fashion week. You can just open your computer, jump into Sandbox and migrate over the adiVerse to see the next Adidas shoe drop or catwalk. Bye-bye Paris and New York fashion weeks and fashion events.

But will this stick? Will people be open to this change? That's left to be said. The details of what this will look like are super thin. But if you've seen the amount of money that has flowed on OpenSea for digital real estate over the last few weeks, you can bet that there's something here.

THE CONS

The issue here is that, is it really democratizing fashion? ETH gas fees are astronomical, and building this infrastructure is going to cost a pretty penny. Who do you think will have to brunt that? Us of course. Products you'll love will start doubling up to cater to offline and online wearables. So prices will increase, and availability could be thin. Which it's more important now than ever to mobilize the community with DAOs so they can take a stronghold on this before institutions do.

The question of sustainability is present too. We've heard how Bitcoin and mining have an effect on us environmentally. So building and creating this shit is extremely taxing on the environment. And the fight for climate change will get more difficult as these projects mature and grow.

THE FUTURE

Overall, I'm extremely excited about this if you couldn't tell. I hope I can continue to learn more every day and make sure y'all are armed with the best knowledge about the changing landscape in fashion. The future looks really bright but doesn't come without its challenges.

👔 Zip shirts → Brain Dead is a creative collective of like-minded individuals. With the brands, disruptive graphic approach, artists, and designers take their cues from post-punk, underground comics, skateboarding, and the spirit of subculture as a whole.

🧦 Socks → The functional accessories and designs of nozzle quiz® perfectly fuse with Taiwanese culture to offer, in extension, a clean-cut interpretation of Taiwanese streetwear.

🧤 Touch gloves → Founder Hirofumi Kiyonaga, the Nike co-founding line, F.C. Real Bristol is a sportswear-themed fashion brand founded in 1999.

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