Tiffany, CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, Adidas & All You Need To Know About 2022 In Web3

CryptoPunk #3167 belonging to Tiffany’s Alexandre Arnault, reimagined as a diamond and rose gold … [+] pendant.

Twitter, Alexander Arnault

Intellectual Property

The fact that owners of assets like Yuga Labs’ CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club and the like also hold the IP rights means that they can commercialize said assets. This allowed Tiffany & Co to create bespoke jeweled NFTiff pendants for individual CryptoPunk owners to have their own Punks realized as bespoke physical pendants with additional NFTs which can be traded separately to the physical version. Following the announcement in July and the minting of the NFT versions, the visualizations for the pendants themselves began to arrive this month.

FYI the original price paid by owners was ETH30 (c. $50k) and the NFT versions alone are now trading on OpenSea for between ETH40 and ETH50. Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany & Co Executive Vice President of Product and Communications recently asked his Twitter followers if Tiffany & Co should work on another crypto project, hinting that a follow up is likely on the cards. Jeweled Bored Ape Yacht Club Tiffany pendant anyone?

PFP Wearables Get Real

In November, adidas Originals launched new digital product category Virtual Gear alongside a PFP dressing tool enabling it to be worn by PFP avatars from compatible partner collections — first up Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club. Although it’s previously been possible to ‘burn’ virtual clothing onto a PFP as a permanent addition, the real gamechanger is that the new tool will allow users to change their PFP’s outfits just as they can with those of regular avatars such as Ready Player Me.

Artist Royalties

This month, Warner Music Group partnered with digital fashion retailer DRESSX to provide a a platform for its artists to design their own virtual fashion lines across Instagram, Snapchat et al. IRL celebrity fashion collaborations are already a lucrative business and this year, the dial has already started to move into metaverse territory. Supermodel Kate Moss, formerly known for collaborating with Topshop, appeared as a guest avatar on Lucy Yeomans, interactive styling game Drest, joining forces with jewelry label Messika.

CRM & Anti Counterfeiting

If digital fashion leaves you cold, digital twins can do a lot more than simply clothe your avatar. Swiss foundation Origyn creates blockchain based digital certificates for luxury timepieces, photographing the watch at 360 degrees to generates its biometric passport. Warranties are also embedded into the certificate. Web3 plug-in Mintouge co-founded by a former Meta employee, enables brands to deliver customer service post sale, digitizing physical assets and communicating via a product’s digital twin stored in an associated app that’s custodial wallet meets social network meets private members club.

The Business Of Beauty

Just as digital fashion wearables have become more interoperable, the same is true of makeup. In June Clinique enabled digital makeup looks to be burned onto PFPs from the Non Fungible People community but fast forward to November when L’Oréal teamed up with cross game avatar platform Ready Player Me with Maybelline New York and L’Oréal Professional hair and makeup looks that can be switched up as easily as a digital T-shirt.

Marketing In The Metaverse

To celebrate the FIFA World Cup, official timekeeper Hublot built a stadium in the photorealistic Spatial metaverse with a media wall showcasing campaign visuals featuring friends and ambassadors like French international striker Kylian Mbappé. The activation shows how brand marketing campaigns can feature an additional metaverse dimension beyond that of traditional advertising.

Future Proof Fashion

Brands are preserving their physical heritage by introducing it to a new web3 native generation. During Metaverse Fashion Week in March Paco Rabanne exhibited 12 NFT dresses with profits used to buy back pieces from its own physical archive. Gucci’s recent pop-up in The Sandbox game featured activities such as restoring a vintage Gucci bag while the CFDA is currently hosting a 60th anniversary gaming exhibit, also in The Sandbox ,with looks from Dapper Dan to Marc Jacobs reimagined using The Sandbox’s voxelized language. Web3 vintage wearables brand MNTGE is recreating garments from adidas collaborator Sean Wotherspoon’s archive to be digitally customize by artists.

Let’s Get Physical

If web3 is to attain the $81.5 million market size projected for 2030, mass adoption is the name of the game which means onboarding the non digital native population. Enter initiatives like Paris’ NFT factory which launched in October with an NFT art exhibition and web3 training courses, and physical pop-ups like Printemps’ activation with DressX. Philipp Plein was an early adopter in April with a London flagship featuring an NFT art gallery and metaverse information center with tutorials in setting up a digital wallet and navigating the process of buying NFTs and digital fashion.

Mark your diaries for Metaverse Fashion Week 2 in March.