Are Major Fashion Players Finally Joining the NFT Game?

Being fashionably late. It’s a term that describes the nonchalance and confidence of coming late to a fashion party or show, yet it could also be considered the perfect analogy for the way the high fashion industry embraces technology. Like e-com and social media before, major fashion houses and heritage retailers are often the last to realise the benefits of accepting change and pushing the conversation forward through new digital solutions. So it’s not a shock that it’s taken a while for those aspects of the industry to adopt NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as tools for growth and expansion and not just think of it as a momentary gimmick. However, it seems like we’re finally seeing a shift.

One of the most radical moments of fashion getting into the blockchain game came in April when Prada Group, LVMH and Cartier (which is part of the Richemont group) co-signed the creation of Aura Blockchain Consortium as the “single global blockchain solution open to all luxury brands worldwide to provide consumers with additional transparency and traceability.” This was the fashion equivalent of Avengers – big powers teaming up together to make even bigger moves. They made this decision in the hopes of creating a virtual world that houses highly detailed information on the luxury products and their life cycle. The potential for Aura Blockchain Consortium to expand into the NFT pool seems next to obvious. 

A fashion house that’s become synonymous with Gen-Z spirit thanks to its nostalgic yet forward-thinking approach to tech, Gucci has been continually growing its digital presence. In an interview with Vogue Business about their strategy with the gaming universe, their EVP of brand and customer engagement Robert Triefu ‘announced it was something that will “materialise quite soon”’. And we can definitely imagine Gucci being one of the first old-school labels to create a collection that is strictly sold as NFTs.