Are NFTs the future of the fashion & watch industry?

Text: Alba Guerini Molin

The hype is real? NFT, non fungible token, has been the thing of the year in the art world. Now both fashion houses and watch manufacturers are jumping on the trend with block chain technology to create both digital fashion and watches. The question everyone is asking themselves is, however, whether this is just a temporary hype and bubble or whether NFTs are about to revolutionize the way we look at art, fashion and perhaps even watches? Eqotime's fashion writer Alba Guerini Molin has taken a look at the latest within NFT in the fashion and watch industry.

Very simply put, NFTs are unique virtual products that consumers can buy the ownership rights to and even resell. Even though it can be sold several times over, everyone can see exactly who first created the product. By using block chain technology, a specific type of certificate is generated that verifies both the ownership and the authenticity.

The phenomenon of virtual products has existed for quite a long time within the gaming world. There it has long been possible to buy digital items that can be used in the game. With the continued growing virtual trade, the fashion industry has also entered this completely digital world.

Dolce & Gabbana first out

The first to successfully sell virtual garments for large sums of money was the luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana. They have invested heavily in exclusive digital clothing, so-called "NFT fashion." Earlier this year Dolce & Gabbana had their annual spectacular fashion show in Venice, however the styling was a little different than what it usually is at similar haute coutureshows. Something that was the first clue that something was going on. Shortly after the show the fashion house arranged a digital auction with nine similar garments in virtual format – "Collezione Genesi NFT." Despite some criticism the collection aroused great interest and in total the nine products (which thus cannot be worn in real life) were sold for an unimaginable 60 million Swedish kronor.

Not just anything can of course be sold for these enormous sums. But thanks to the fact that these unique digital products can always be traced to the original creator, through a type of block chain, the products possess a special value that cannot be manipulated.

The phenomenon of virtual fashion is not entirely new. Other fashion houses have previously created and sold relatively cheap clothes "gamers" have been able to dress their avatars in. This has however not generated particularly large revenues, something Dolce & Gabbana thus became the first to do.

The fashion house has made an enormous investment in these luxurious digital fashion products. Products aimed at a wealthy fashion-interested audience with a great interest in technology and the virtual world. This is in many ways a completely new target group. A new group of customers that many within the fashion world have been waiting for. After Dolce & Gabbana's success with virtual garments that raked in multi-million amounts, several fashion houses have of course followed suit. Among others, brands such as Jimmy Choo, Burberry and Balenciaga, have launched NFT garments.

The future of the fashion industry?

The question is, however, whether this is the future of the fashion industry? There is of course some criticism directed at the phenomenon. The main criticism is quite obvious. When you buy garments that only exist virtually, you are actually buying garments that don't exist. At the same time several see this as a solution to the fashion industry's sustainability problem. Digital fashion products don't generate any emissions. Others argue that we spend most of our waking time online anyway. So why should we then buy and throw away textiles when instead we can use these nft garments in the digital world?

The fashion houses can make an enormous profit since digital garments are both cheap to "manufacture" and to market. At the same time they are sold, at least right now, for outrageous sums of money. At the same time real haute couture garments have an enormous value and vintage garments can be resold for significantly more than what they were bought for. The obvious question is how the value of these digital products will develop. If it will even remain?

Is the market ready for an NFT watch?

Now that the fashion world has entered this virtual world, it becomes interesting to see if more industries do so. Today there are apps that make it possible for potential customers to virtually try on different watches to see if they fit. It is also possible to buy virtual dials for your Apple-watch. An industry that has grown enormously in recent years.

How the watch industry will act on this hype will be exciting to see. And some have already gotten started. Among the first were Hublot and Jacob & Co where the latter in April this year auctioned off an NFT watch in the virtual world. The watch was a 3D animation inspired by Jacob & Co's Epic SF24 travel watch and was sold for approximately 100 000 USD. So far, however, none of the larger watch brands have launched an NFT watch. But considering how well it works for the fashion houses, this is perhaps just a matter of time? Will your next watch be a virtual one?