Will NFTs Make or Break the Fashion Industry?

NFTs are trending at the moment in what appears to be a rapidly changing digital landscape. With an NFT selling at auction for $69 million at Christie’s last month, it is safe to say the crypto craze is well and truly upon us. But wait, what are NFTs and what does this mean all mean for the fashion industry?

Let’s start with the basics.

NFTs in Fashion

What is an NFT?

An NFT is a non-fungible token.

According to Investopedia, "Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be interchanged with other individual goods or assets of the same type." Money is a good example of a fungible asset, with $10 easily converted into two $5 bills.

Conversely, if assets are non-fungible, they are essentially not interchangeable. An example of a non-fungible asset is a diamond whose cut, colour and carat make it unique, placing it at a different value to other diamonds, making it non-interchangeable.

An NFT is a unit of data that exists on a digital ledger or blockchain. These units of data represent unique, non-fungible digital items or files, which include art, videos, animations, audio clips and fashion.

How do NFTs work?

Diamonds are often worth millions due to their one-of-a-kind nature, but how does this translate in the digital world where files can be easily duplicated.

Well, digital assets can now be "tokenised" or given a certificate of authenticity and ownership which is stored on a ledger or, in tech terms, "blockchain", which is supported by thousands of computers around the globe.

A Few Iconic NFT Examples

NFTs are game-changing in that they are quickly turning digital assets into coveted online collectables worth millions. Multiple NFTs have hit the headlines in the last year, leaving the less tech-savvy confounded as to why someone would pay millions for something that will never be in their physical possession. Here are just a few examples:

Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, auctioned off his first-ever tweet from 2006, which simply reads: “just setting up my twttr”. The tweet sold for a ground-breaking US $2.9 million.

Grimes, the wife of crypto-loving husband Elon Musk, has sold a reported $6 million worth of digital art as NFTs. Her top-selling piece is a video titled Death of the Olds, set to an original song by the young singer.

So How Will NFTs Impact the Fashion Industry?

Given that fashionistas are one of the few segments which will camp overnight to get their paws on limited-edition designer goods, it appears that there is potentially a significant NFT opportunity within the fashion industry.

Little has been observed in the industry so far, as brands are still navigating how best to capitalise on this burgeoning trend. Let’s take a look at how a few artists and brands have attempted to break into the world of digital fashion collectables.

Probably one of the biggest successes in this arena so far is the collaboration between RTFKT, a digital design studio that creates virtual sneakers and collectables, and 18-year-old digital artist Fewocious. The trio of specially designed sneakers was listed on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway in February and resulted in the equivalent of $3.1 million in sales with 621 digital pairs sold.

Another brand to jump on the NFT bandwagon is Jacob & Co, who are set to release the first-ever digital watch on the NFT platform ArtGrails. According to Forbes, "the NFT is a 10-15 second three-dimensional animation that shows the ten cryptocurrencies cycling through the flap system."

The auction is due to be held on the 4th of April, and you can bet the fashion world will be observing with keen interest.