Paris Fashion Week starts using NFTs

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jun 24, 2021

French fashion is expanding its presence in the virtual world. After staging virtual fashion weeks online, the Paris fashion weeks are now utilising non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unique digital assets that are impossible to duplicate and have caused quite a stir in the fashion world in the last few months. The French Fashion and Haute Couture Federation has in fact teamed up with digital certification consortium Arianee to launch a pilot project for the adoption of NFTs during its two key events of the summer. 

Paris Fashion Week Men for the Spring/Summer 2022, currently under way until June 27, and the Haute Couture week scheduled on July 5-8, are the first fashion weeks to feature NFTs. In a press release, Arianee said it is offering “to a limited number of journalists, photographers, influencers and buyers an NFT bearing a unique digital artwork, and incorporating functionalities that enable users to share it on social media and own an augmented-reality image.” A way to make the fashion world more conversant with the use of NFTs and digital wallets.

“Through these NFTs, all accredited members will access exclusive content and AR experiences including a digital artwork by iconic fashion illustrator Richard Haines, as well as a press accreditation for Paris Fashion Week,” said Arianee. Using blockchain technology, Arianee has specialised in the creation of digital passports for luxury and consumer goods products.

“This partnership is an opportunity for Arianee to open new horizons by co-creating a new form of NFT for one of the foremost fashion events in the world. As a French start-up and open-source consortium, we are hoping to contribute to strengthening the position of Paris not only as the capital of fashion but also as the capital of NFTs,” said Pierre Nicolas Hurstel, CEO and co-founder of Arianee, in a press release.

In the wake of the NFT boom in the art world, fashion has now started tapping this technology, which enables virtual products to be authenticated while maintaining an aura of exclusivity. In February, virtual brand RTFKT, launched in January 2020, sold in just seven minutes, for $3.1 million, 621 pairs of digital sneakers personalised by artist Fewocious.

A month later, Gucci followed suit, launching its first pair of digital sneakers, the Gucci Virtual 25, priced at approximately €13. The luxury label has started selling virtual articles on gaming platform Roblox, alongside Stella McCartney and Nike, and has also made a foray into the video game world itself, like Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Balenciaga and Hermès.

A few days ago, Tribute Brand, a digital-only Croatian techno-couture label, launched a collection of crypto-clothes traceable via NFTs (and also available in physical form) on British marketplace The Dematerialised, which recently also hosted the latest collection by The Fabricant, a Finnish label and virtual ready-to-wear pioneer.