What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Easy, right? You can stop reading now! Oh, but only if it was that simple…
Essentially, non-fungible means non-replaceable. Each token (T) is completely unique. Any digital content can be converted to an NFT. In this process, known as ‘minting’, a unique signature is assigned to the digital content. The nature of the digital content could really be anything at all, such as a song, a tweet, a video, artwork, a text posted on a website – anything! So, any creator of digital content could potentially make an NFT from their work.
By attaching a unique signature to the file, it becomes one of a kind, and therefore is non-replaceable (i.e. non-fungible). To better understand exactly what non-fungible means, let’s compare it to something that is fungible.
If you order a pair of Jordan’s from a shop, you don’t really care which pair you receive out of the hundreds of pairs that are stocked in the shop. So long as they are the colour, size and style you ordered, you will be happy. Now, imagine Nike put the shoes that Michael Jordan himself wore in his last ever basketball game (and he’s even signed them!) up for auction. There can only ever be one pair of these shoes in existence and you, as a potential buyer, want that specific pair of trainers. It has a unique quality attached to it and cannot be replicated.
NFTs basically work in the same way. But rather than assigning a unique signature to a physical asset (like a pair of shoes), a unique signature is assigned to a piece of digital content. It’s important to note that, when someone has bought an NFT, they technically become the owner of the digital content. They are then free to sell it on specific NFT marketplaces (in exchange for cryptocurrency – usually Ethereum) or store it in their digital wallet. This is the same as the signed Jordan’s example – you could re-sell the shoes, or you could keep them at home and add it to your personal collection.
Why are NFTs such a big deal now?
There have been some pretty crazy stories this year surrounding the purchase of NFTs. For example:
- In February: the Nyan Cat meme was turned into an NFT and sold for $600,000.
- In March: Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey auctioned off his first Tweet as an NFT for $2.5m.
- In March, a purely digital piece of artwork titled ‘First 5000 Days’ by an artist called Beeple sold for $69.3m. This subsequently made Beeple the top three most valuable living artists
Crazy! As mentioned above, in purchasing these NFTs the buyer becomes the technical owner of the meme/tweet/artwork. However, just because you buy an NFT it doesn’t mean that you own the reproductive or copyrights. To draw on the Jordans analogy again, just because you bought the signed Jordan’s, it doesn’t mean you can sue anybody that decided to create a knock-off version. Only Nike, the original creators of the shoe, could do so.
With this in mind, NFT sceptics say that it is ridiculous to try and claim ownership of something that can be infinitely reproduced on the internet. After all, we can all access Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, the Nyan Cat meme, or Beeple’s artwork on the internet without having to pay anything at all — let alone $2.5 million. If I wanted to, I could easily send it to friends or display it on my laptop screen as if I own it. So why would I spend all that money on the NFT? Critics claim that all you are really buying with an NFT is the right to brag about the fact that you own the NFT, and that it serves as more of a status symbol or a flex than anything.
However, I believe this is somewhat short-sighted because is this really any different to physical artwork? Hundreds of thousands of copies of the Mona Lisa have probably been created since the original (if not more). But ultimately, there can only ever be one, original Mona Lisa painting – it is unique. And some people will pay a lot of money for this so that they can say they have the original rather than a replica. NFTs are the same. In this sense, buying an NFT is the equivalent of buying a rare collectable item with you being the only owner in the world. So, it’s each to their own, right? Plus, in most cases where the NFT is sold at such a high price, the proceeds are donated to charity (as we’ll see below).
It’s worth mentioning that NFTs utilise blockchain technology. We need not get bogged down in the specific details of exactly how blockchain works. The main thing to know is that it keeps a public, unalterable record across its network of who owns what NFT at any given time. So, if you buy an NFT, you have the proof to back up that you really do own it.
So far, we’ve spoken about NFTs in a general sense and had a look at some of the most famous examples. But I promised that in this article we would explore how they relate to the fashion industry. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Fashion NFT examples:
Historically, fashion has been slow to adopt new technologies, such as e-commerce. But this time around, brands seem to be moving faster and are eager to jump on the NFT train. Let’s take a look at some examples within the industry:
- 2019: The first fashion NFT (called The Iridescence Dress) was created and sold by a Dutch startup called The Fabricant. It was sold at auction for $9500. There was no physical dress associated with the purchase, but the owner was able to have the dress digitally fitted so that they could be seen wearing it in their photos.
- April 2021: Kate Moss collaborated with art collective MITFNT on a digital artwork – three videos that show the supermodel at the wheel of her car, walking in the woods, and asleep in bed. They were sold for $13,000 (£11,312). Proceeds were donated to the Gurls Talk foundation – a charity that supports mental health among women.
- June 2021: Launched in honour of the Italian brand’s 100-year anniversary, Gucci released their first NFT called “Aria”, a three-channel video playing on a loop, inspired by its autumn/winter 2021 collection. It sold in an online auction for $20,000. Again, proceeds were given to a charitable cause – UNICEF USA – to support its COVAX program, an initiative that aims to make COVID-19 vaccines available across the globe.
- May 2021: Gucci collaborated with Roblox (an online multiplayer game) to create a digital replica of the former’s Dionysus bag that could be bought and used within the game. It was initially sold in-game for a mere 475 Robux (around $5) but due to only being available for an hour a day on two days, the price hiking began immediately. One player managed to re-sell this digital bag to another player for around $4,115, making it more expensive than the real-life version (despite the fact that the bag can only be used in the game).
- Burberry designed a suite of limited-edition and limited-quantity NFT characters and accessories for Blankos Block Party (another online multiplayer game). Players could buy the Burberry character, ‘Sharky B’, for $300 (which was limited to 750 units) and they could then be upgraded and sold to other players within the game. Again, they don’t have any use outside of the game, so they’re more like in-game collectables. Still, the characters and accessories sold out in a flash, for a total of nearly $400,000.
- Dolce & Gabbana debuted their first NFT collection, titled ‘Collezione Genesi’, which included a total of 9 items – 4 of which were digital-only items, including the ‘Impossible Tiara’ (more on this later). In addition, buyers were offered an exclusive VIP experience that was only available by first purchasing the NFT. The package included
- 1-year access to Dolce & Gabbana couture events in Italy
- Private tour of Dolce & Gabbana atelier in Milan1
- 2-week digital exhibition of The Impossible Tiara in Dolce & Gabbana flagship store in Milan with collector’s name
- 2-week digital exhibition of The Impossible Tiara in any Dolce & Gabbana store anywhere in the world with the collector’s name
The future of NFTs in fashion:
So, we’ve looked at some of the most notable NFT cases with the fashion industry. But ultimately, NFTs in the fashion space are still relatively crude and in their infancy. There is, I believe, a lot more extremely exciting things to come for fashion NFTs.
1. You can produce clothes that aren’t physically possible to make in real life:
- Amber Jae Slooten, a co-founder of The Fabricant (who, if you recall, made the first fashion NFT), says that the really fun part of NFTs is in going beyond the physical. Without being constrained by physical laws, designers can create all kinds of digital couture looks that could never exist in real life. For example, The Fabricant partnered with shoe brand Buffalo London to make a digital-only version of the brand’s signature sneakers, emblazoned with flames.
- Dolce and Gabbana’s NFT collection also takes advantage of the freedom that creation in the digital space provides. They say that what makes the Impossible Tiara (one of the digital-only items of the collection) “impossible” is the fact that it is simply not possible to find the featured gems anywhere on earth.
2. Can be worn across multiple digital platforms:
- As it stands, fashion NFTs are currently more comparable to pieces of art or collectables than they are to fashion as you can’t really use them outside of specific contexts or platforms. For example, in the case of the Burberry x Blankos Block Party NFT – you can only wear it in the game. But imagine a future where these clothes – including those that cannot physically be produced in real life – can be worn across a potentially infinite number of different digital platforms.
- Neuno, a start-up based in Sydney, is currently working with five luxury fashion houses on launching NFTs.CEO Natalie Johnson states: “We want to be the universal 3D wardrobe that plugs into everything,” she says, explaining in detail how it might work. “For example, imagine if somebody bought the iconic J Lo Versace dress on our site. We are working with a social media platform that specialises in filters so the owner will be able to post a photo of themselves ‘wearing’ the dress, and we’re also working with one of Asia’s biggest games, so they’ll also be able to dress their gaming avatar in the dress. The buyer only needs to buy the NFT once and they’ll be able to use it in multiple different ways.”
3. Potential to be more gender and body-inclusive:
- Some people may love a brand’s designs, but maybe they don’t make clothes in their particular size. So, it’srather unlikely that they’ll buy it. Even me, I see so many clothes on eBay that I would love to buy for the design – but it’s just not in my size! But, if a piece of clothing can be digitally altered to fit you perfectly (as with the Iridescence dress), then more people can buy and wear their favourite designs. This also benefits the fashion designer, as the number of customers they can potentially sell to will dramatically increase and they won’t be held back by silly things like a lack of stock.
4. Better for the environment:
- I’ve previously discussed the negative impact that the fashion industry (particularly fast fashion) has on the planet *link here*. One of the main problems is how quickly people buy clothes and throw them away. It’s estimated that the average item of clothing is worn just 14 times before being discarded, where they will likely end up in a landfill. But when you’re bored with your digital clothes, there is no need to throw them away! After all, they don’t exactly take up much space in your home wardrobe.
- NFT critics have fairly pointed out that minting NFTs requires sky-rocketing energy consumption in the real world, which is damaging to the environment. However, these concerns are expected to dissipate in the coming month as Ethereum is in the process of transitioning to a new mechanism that will use at least 99.95% less energy than the current model and dramatically lower carbon emissions. This makes fashion NFTs a real step towards a more sustainable digital fashion future.
