The next step in the Hermès v Metabirkins case

Today, vintage wearables brand Mntge is releasing its first physical clothing drop: Fruits & Veggies, a limited-edition collection of custom, tech-enabled vintage denim and graphic tees. It’s the first to drop on Mntge’s newly launched retail platform, which will be the port of call for all of the brand’s future drops.

The drop includes reworked vintage Levi’s that are NFC-chipped at the Levi’s tag, meaning owners can scan the tag with their phone to link a digital art token in their wallet. This serves as both authentication and proof of ownership. 

“The Mntge Market launch is just one of the vehicles we’re deploying to connect the dots between our physical everyday and blockchain,” co-founder Sean Wortherspoon said in the release. “For our first product drop, I hand-picked Levi’s vintage denim because they’re classic and have so much history and heritage — these pairs, in particular, because they have more wear and a deeper personality and characteristics you can see in their wear, natural distressing, fade and fit.”

Mntge pass NFT holders get first dibs (a five-and-a-half-hour headstart), and a discounted price ($200 instead of $250 for the public). It’s a nod to the ways in which Mntge is integrating Web3 technology and community-focused practices into the brand, without making this the sole focus or entry-point.

The company is working to bring blockchain tech to the vintage market in a way that doesn’t make the technology itself the focus — instead, it’s an organising tool. “Our focus is on creating a brand that is both timeless and cutting-edge, drawing inspiration from a range of vintage items to create new garments,” co-founder Nick Adler said. “While technology certainly plays a role in our products, it is just one of many tools we use to bring our vision to life.”

Snap is making its augmented reality try-on tech available in stores, via a new physical mirror that enables customers to visualise digital items on their reflections. This was among the many shopping-related updates shared at today’s Snap Partner Summit (SPS), the company’s annual developer conference. 

Nike trialled the mirror last autumn in New York, letting shoppers try on AR clothing and play games to unlock discounts. The brand later tried a version of the mirror specifically for footwear. A Men’s Wearhouse store is also testing the technology by enabling people to shop for prom and wedding pieces. It’s not the first company to introduce AR mirror tech (startup Zero10, among others, also offers this type of product), but it is the most high-profile to date. DressX also has an AR mirror which it’s displayed at multiple events in the past year. The mirror uses internally-developed hardware and Snap’s Camera Kit software — DressX is an early Snap SDK partner.

During the Summit, held in person in Los Angeles, Snap shared additional updates to its recently launched SaaS business, called AR Enterprise Services (ARES), whose “Shopping Suite” of AR tools can be integrated into brands’ websites and apps. This includes: AR try-on; 3D viewer for product visualisation; Fit Finder, which uses AI to offer size recommendations; Enterprise Manager, an infrastructure to manage and create AR assets; and Hands-on Integration Services, an in-house team to help with all things Shopping Suite.

The goal of ARES is to offer technology that helps to personalise the shopping experience, said Jill Popelka, head of AR Enterprise Solutions, during the morning keynote. “As we all know, the shopping experience today — whether online or in-store — presents a lot of options on the products we could buy. But, the question we're really asking is, ‘Is this right for me?’”

Snap also announced updates to its AI offerings, creator tools (including enhanced monetisation programmes and public stories for all adult Snapchatters) and AR capabilities for live music experiences. 

During the final night of Web3 conference NFT.NYC in New York, digital fashion startup Syky and Vogue Business hosted a private dinner at Lower Manhattan hotel Nine Orchard. The event celebrated the launch of the Syky Collective, a year-long incubator programme designed to foster the next generation of digital fashion design talent.

Fashion and technology leaders joined Syky Collective mentors, digital artists and community members for conversations about the intersection of fashion and technology through the lens of Web3. The evening began with a cocktail reception during which Syky founder and CEO Alice Delahunt, who is the former chief digital and content officer at Ralph Lauren, joined Vogue Business senior innovation editor Maghan McDowell for a fireside chat about Syky’s inaugural NFT, the Keystone, and the launch of the Collective, which will select an initial cohort of 10 designers to support throughout the year.

Syky Collective mentors in attendance included British Fashion Council CEO Caroline Rush, Vogue editorial creative director Mark Guiducci and Red DAO founding member Megan Kaspar, who will each coach chosen designers on business practices and more. Additional guests included Nicole Phelps, director of global Vogue Runway and Vogue Business; Pam Drucker Mann, Condé Nast’s global chief revenue officer and president; Bumble CMO Selby Drummond; World of Women COO Shannon Snow and executives from Ralph Lauren, Loewe, Shiseido Group, Tommy Hilfiger and The Estèe Lauder Companies. They were joined by leading digital fashion designers and artists including SamJ, Damara Inglês, Clare Maguire and Amber Park.

On day three of Metaverse Fashion Week, visits were lower than the beginning of the week — Adidas led with 968 visits, closely followed by Ben Bridge with 955 and Tommy Hilfiger saw 736, according to metaverse insights platform Geeiq. 

Time spent, on the other hand, was more in line with previous days. Ben Bridge took the lead with 12,341 minutes spent, thanks to the challenges and quests within its digital storefront experience. That users get free digital wearables upon completion of the quests is also of note. Tommy Hilfiger saw the second highest time spent at its multi-metaverse hub, with 10,789 minutes spent, followed by Adidas with 7,303 minutes.

As of day three, Tommy Hilfiger is in the lead for items sales, having sold 176 digital wearables for them a total of 5,015 Mana ($2919) — more than any other brand at MVFW. Balenciaga has sold 38 items throughout the week for a total of 988 Mana ($575). Free-to-claim wearables are also proving popular. Adidas Virtual Gear MVFW23 has been claimed 3,108 times out of a potential 5,000. Coach’s Tabby Swirl has been claimed 460 times (with 99,540 still left to be claimed). And DKNY’s Bucket Hat has been claimed 996 times, with only four left for grabs.

Adidas led engagement metrics for the second day of Metaverse Fashion Week, with 1,885 visits and 15,284 minutes spent in its virtual Decentraland space, according to data analysis from metaverse insights platform Geeiq. Adidas has now given away at least 2,500 of its red, bulbous Virtual Gear jackets, which visitors can claim for free as they explore the space. This is approximately double the amount of the first day, suggesting consistent claims. 

In terms of sales, Tommy Hilfiger is still seeing success with sales in its virtual experience, earning 855 Mana ($498) in revenue from sales of a Tommy Hilfiger x Vinnie Hager AOP Ski Mask and 720 Mana ($419) from sales of a digital sweater.

Californian jeweller Ben Bridge finished day two in third place for both visits and minutes spent, beat only by Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger. The brand’s space saw 781 visits and 10,609 minutes spent, due in part to a time-consuming easter egg hunt, which leads to a higher average time spent relative to the number of visitors (compared to Adidas). Visitors are challenged to complete a quiz and find five and two diamond rings. With each completion, players receive a digital wearable. Ben Bridge offers daily quests, so Geeiq analysts anticipate that strong engagement levels will continue for day three.

Yesterday, Metaverse Fashion Week kicked off its four-day fashion festival with experiences and digital goods from Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, DKNY and more. MVFW’s Decentraland experience saw 3,500 unique visitors throughout the day, according to analyses from metaverse insights platform Geeiq, with Adidas garnering the most visits for a branded experience (1,120 unique visitors) and Coach keeping users engaged the longest, with 12,647 total minutes spent. 

The Coach space, focused on the brand’s popular Tabby bag, invites users to complete a puzzle that takes time and brainpower to solve, encouraging dwell time. They are then rewarded with the option to try on the bag through augmented reality, through a partnership with AR platform Zero10. 

Item-wise, Tommy Hilfiger, which opened a space that links out to multiple other platforms (working with Emperia), was among the top sellers, providing three of the top five best-selling items for day one. The most successful was the TH knitted sweater, created in partnership with DressX, with 28 items sold at 20 Mana ($11.52) each. Adidas topped most successful branded digital wearable claimed with its free Virtual Gear jacket, claimed 1,262 times. DKNY’s bucket hat was second at 763 claims. Both Adidas and DKNY’s items were free to claim via the brands’ respective experiences within MVFW.

Correction: MVFW is a four-day event; due to an editing error, an earlier version said otherwise.

Brands now have access to Snap’s augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology via its new AR Enterprise Services (ARES), which can be integrated into their own websites and apps. 

The first solution to launch through ARES will be a “Shopping Suite” of AR tech that focuses on improving the retail experience, such as cart abandonment, low conversions and high product return rates.

It’s the first time Snap is offering AR and AI solutions as one enterprise suite, having made its AR try-on tools available to retailers to use in their own apps last year. Over the last two years, Snap has gone on an acquisition spree to build its AR and AI capabilities, buying companies including Fit Analytics, Vertebrae, and Forma, says Jill Popelka, head of AR enterprise services for Snap, who was recently hired to build out this arm of Snap.

“ARES is a natural next step for us because of our proven track record for performance and quality as well as ongoing innovation. Based on experience with our business and technology customers, we understand market requirements for value,” Popelka says.

Australian clothing brand Princess Polly, eyewear company Goodr and Gobi Cashmere have tested the Shopping Suite. Goodr, which implements AR try-on, has seen an 81 per cent increase in add-to-cart and a 67 per cent increase in conversions. Princess Polly uses the AR Image Try-On feature, and has seen a 24 per cent lower product return rate, according to Snap

The goal is to drive sales by improving the customer experience using AR and AI — and, down the line, to expand the offering beyond just shopping. “The combination of AR and AI will transform the way we shop over the next few years,” Popelka says. “We see a ton of opportunity for how our technology can be applied to other categories like education, entertainment, and travel.”

Shopify merchants can now integrate Try Your Best’s (TYB) on-chain loyalty and community management tools via a new Shopify app launching today. Founded by Outdoor Voices founder Tyler Haney, TYB provides blockchain-based loyalty rewards. Now, via TYB’s blockchain-based tech, merchants can reward brand fans for referring friends or posting about it on social media. In exchange, shoppers might receive discounts or brand gifts, and the brand helps foster community.

Powered by the Avalanche blockchain, the TYB Shopify app will enable brands and merchants to issue prompts and tasks to their digital collectible (NFT) holders. Customers can set up a TYB wallet within the Shopify app, and participating brand pages will invite users to connect their wallet to complete tasks for rewards. On top of typical consumer engagement, shoppers might be prompted to take part in a gamified challenge, or to engage in co-creation by voting on colourways or styles.

“We’ve focused on providing immediate tangible value to both brands and fans, with the opportunity to build direct and more valuable relationships overtime,” TYB founder Ty Haney says. Launching on Shopify means wide exposure, and for this, Haney wants to offer proper utility with familiar UXUI (user experience and interface). “We expect to onboard thousands of brands looking for a better business model (truly direct) than being structurally reliant on ad platforms today,” she says. “Blockchain is the underlying tech, but most don’t care or need to.”

The e-commerce platform provider is leaning into Web3-based tools. It began enabling merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments in 2020, and more recently, it added a number of tech providers who enable token-gating, meaning that people can connect their crypto wallets to enjoy personalised perks on brand websites. “Token-gating is the next frontier of loyalty and buyer engagement, and we're thrilled to see TYB, founded by a team that has built multiple brands themselves, come to life for merchants everywhere,” said Alex Danco, director of product at Shopify, in a statement.

It’s also embracing other forward-looking tech, having recently integrated ChatGPT functionality to enable merchants to more easily customise their storefronts with quick AI-generated product descriptions. 

On 15 March, Diesel and Web3 media company released the first of a planned series of four NFTs drops, called “Discovery”, which sold out in four hours and offered the downloadable audio track “Fashion” by DJ and producer HoneyLuv, and artwork Italian visual designer Nic Paranoia.

In this first release, 1,200 tracks were minted, generating almost $50,000 in revenue. An artist would need approximately 11,700,000 streams to earn an equivalent amount, according to the brand, as Spotify, for example, pays artists an average of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.

The partnership was announced in September 2022 and designed to be a series of NFTs tied to emerging musical artists. “By partnering with music NFT initiatives, we are excited to provide our community with a new and multisensory way to experience our brand,” says Stefano Rosso, CEO of Diesel parent OTB Group’s new experimental business unit “Brave Virtual Xperience”, or BVX. Rosso is also a board member of OTB Group, and the founder of Web3 and gamer-focused brand D-Cave.

The relative popularity of this musically inclined NFT release is a testament to the value of Web3 tech for both artist discovery and monetisation. “This partnership with Diesel is an important statement that music and fashion can forge meaningful collaborations in the Web3 environment,” says Sergio Mottola, co-founder and president of Public Pressure. “Despite some turbulent market conditions in this sector, we are demonstrating without question that real revenue streams for artists can be generated that would otherwise be unobtainable via current streaming models.”

Clinique is unveiling a new virtual store, The Clinique Lab, as it seeks to tap into its 50-year history in a way that appeals to younger consumers.

Modelled on its Clinique Lab beauty counter in Macy’s Herald Square, New York, the digital retail space, hosted on Clinique’s website, takes Clinique’s brand codes — such as its green colour palette — to the extreme, says Liz Nolan, SVP and global creative director. Surroundings are tinged with Clinique’s mint green, and its lab motifs manifest in large-scale, pastel-tinged beakers and test tubes.There are six environments, all of which serve a distinct purpose related to shopping, product education or brand history.

Clinique has always sought to tell stories around its ingredients, but there are limitations to product pages, and using TikTok or Instagram, says Nolan. The Clinique Lab offers an immersive, sensory experience, with sounds of bubbling formulae and waterfalls, that you can’t get elsewhere in Clinique’s online offerings. “It’s fun to walk through an aloe world, and really start to understand that product,” Nolan says. Walking through, the consumer is met with towering aloe plants, (purchasable) floating products and screen-high test tubes filled with ingredients such as Vitamin C and CL302 Complex. “Clinique is a dermatologist brand. We take great pride in the formulations of our products,” she adds.

The virtual retail space helps Clinique appear in step with modern times. The brand’s 50-year history can be a double-edged sword, Nolan says. “When you tell a consumer you’re 50 years old, you run the risk of that dating you.” She points to prestige fashion brands as a model approach: “Brands like Burberry and Louis Vuitton have managed to find ways to modernise their heritage in a really compelling way for a very young consumer. That’s the objective here.” By meshing Clinique’s history with forward-looking tech, Clinique is targeting a younger, Gen Z consumer. “For a generation that’s mashing up nostalgia into modern forms right now, it feels right for the moment,” says Nolan.

It’s part of Clinique’s wider rebrand, which is also in the works in its physical retail environments. The view is to meet its audience where they are — hence the metaverse appearance — while also onboarding new consumers. “I hope it introduces a new generation of people to our story,” says Nolan. As a brand that’s built a reputation on generational skincare passed on from mothers to daughters, the job will always be to bring in a younger consumer, she says. Virtual offerings are the next phase of doing so. It’s also why it’s a mobile-first metaverse experience; less typical of virtual stores, but geared towards a generation always with their phone in hand.

No stranger to the metaverse, Clinique was an early adopter of NFTs with its October 2021 ‘Meta Optimist’ drop. The following year, the beauty brand gifted Non-Fungible People holders virtual makeovers for their PFPs to promote more diverse representation in the metaverse. Though these were very different projects with different objectives, they provided audience insights that informed this next step — particularly the commerce integration. “Their response and engagement gave us the confidence to say, this is a space where consumers are saying ‘yes’, now we can push it further,” says Nolan. 

Artist Mason Rothschild has filed a memorandum in opposition to luxury brand Hermès’s move to block him from promoting and selling his Metabirkins NFTs.

On Tuesday 14 March, Rothschild (through his legal team) contended that Hermès’s request for an injunction is an attempt to smear Rothschild, that it goes beyond what is appropriate in a case of artistic expression, and that it would “substantially impair or destroy the property rights of bona fide, good-faith purchasers of Metabirkins artworks who are not parties to this case”. It also claims that Hermès made “false and misleading” statements during the initial trial in February.

The team also filed a proposal that if the New York court does not deny Hermès injunctive relief, that Rothschild place a disclaimer on any messaging related to his NFTs that “Metabirkins are artworks by Mason Rothschild and are not affiliated with or endorsed or sponsored by Hermès”. This would also be provided to all Metabirkins holders. 

Also on Tuesday, Rothschild filed a 48-page renewed motion for judgement as a matter of law or trial (a motion to have a verdict altered), which includes a rebuttal to Hermès’s claims. The motion claims errors were made on the part of both the court and Hermès. 

In the motion, Rothschild contends that the court’s jury instructions were structured “improperly”. It argues that this prejudiced the jury against Rothschild, to the point at which they concluded he had violated the law without considering his First Amendment defence. “The jury mishandled the First Amendment issue because this court’s instructions invited them to do so,” the motion argues, citing evidence from a jury note from the deliberation.

It also alleges that the court failed to implement the “Roger’s test,” which dictates that a trademark protection stands if the trademark has no artistic relevance to the underlying work, or if the work explicitly misleads as to the source or content of the work, instead instructing the jury that Rothschild could be held liable if they found he intended to confuse consumers. The motion makes the case that the “Roger’s test” was designed to decide cases early — and that this is not the court’s intent in this case.

Court’s intent aside, the motion contends that “even under the court’s erroneous instruction, no reasonable jury could have found that Mr Rothschild had the intent to confuse that is necessary to support liability” because “insufficient” evidence was supplied. 

“No reasonable jury could have found that Mr Rothschild’s use of the Metabirkins name or the fanciful images of fur-covered Birkin bags were explicitly misleading,” the motion claims. 

Rothschild argues that the court’s exclusion of Andy Warhol expert Blake Gopnik’s testimony further prejudiced Rothschild by withholding context from the jury about business art. Gopnick, it says, would have supported the Rothschild team’s argument that “both [intent to reference artistically and intent to confuse] can involve trading on a famous brand’s goodwill”. It also references Hermès’s cybersquatting claim, alleging that it is both unsupported by evidence and inconsistent with the First Amendment.

The court must consider these motions before they close the case. There is no deadline for the court to decide on Rothschild's motion.

Early digital fashion player DressX has closed a $15 million funding round, led by German investment firm Greenfield with participation from Slow Ventures, Warner Music, The Artemis Fund, Red DAO and more. This brings its total raised to at least $17 million.

It’s a major milestone, say founders Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova. “It’s a validation from the market that the vision of the fashion innovation that DressX brings is relevant and that the opportunity of the industry is massive,” Shapovalova says. 

DressX was founded in 2020, initially allowing people to pay to dress their images in digital fashion. It has since expanded into an app, which enables AR try-on and NFTs, and has partnered with the likes of Dundas and Farfetch. It was also named a finalist of the LVMH Innovation Award 2022 in the 3D/Virtual Product Experience & Metaverse category. The fresh funding comes amid a crypto “bear market” in which it has become more challenging to raise venture capital.

DressX plans to use the funds to scale the business — focusing on interoperability for its garments across platforms, which are already available in Decentraland and across the Ready Player Me network — and to improve the user experience on its app and NFT marketplace. To do so, it will bring more engineers on board, the founders say. They’re also working to release DressX.AI proprietary tech for fashion retailers and end consumers, which is currently in development. DressX will also boost community growth efforts and seek to partner with more social media and gaming platforms, building on collaborations with companies including Meta and Warner Music Group. There’s already a Snapchat partnership in the works. 

“Digital fashion is something we have become extremely excited about as a firm,” says Greenfield founding partner Jascha Samadi via a statement. Fashion as a vehicle for identity expression needs to translate to digital ownership, he says. Greenfield’s portfolio also includes digital fashion house The Fabricant and blockchain startup company Dapper Labs.

It’s a positive sign for the digital fashion landscape. “This round indicates that there is a strong belief in digital fashion and its potential as a future billion-dollar industry. We are noticing an increasing use of technology solutions by traditional fashion brands, [rooted in] the desire for more sustainable and ethical options for both consumption of fashion and its production,” says Shapovalova. She points also to the rise of virtual and augmented reality, where the founders see opportunities. 

Correction: Total raised figure updated to at least $17 million.

Meta is “winding down” its digital collectibles or NFT product offering less than a year after testing began in May 2022, the company’s head of fintech and commerce, Stephane Kasriel, announced on Monday via a Twitter thread. 

In August, Meta announced plans to roll out a feature across Instagram that lets users share their NFTs and connect their crypto wallets, starting with creators. In November, Instagram expanded the offering, introducing capabilities that allowed users to buy and sell NFTs on the platform. Now, Meta is backpedalling amid a recent downturn in the Web3 market and quietened enthusiasm for NFTs. (Instagram declined to offer additional commentary).

Kasriel said the decision had been taken to “focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses”, including monetisation opportunities for Instagram Reels – despite mixed consumer reactions to the increased priority given to video on the platform. Meta has been testing ads on Facebook Reels and plans to expand the capability to Instagram Reels later this year. Instagram’s new creator marketplace is another focus area. 

When contacted by Vogue Business, a creator who had participated in the digital collectibles launch had not been made aware of the shift, and it is unclear what will happen to existing NFTs that have been shared on the platform. 

“We learned a ton [from the NFT trial] that we’ll be able to apply to products we’re continuing to build to support creators, people, and businesses on our apps, both today and in the metaverse,” Kasriel wrote. He did not comment further on why Meta is shelving digital collectibles.

At tonight’s Academy Awards, Avatar: Way of Water actress Bailey Bass is wearing a biodegradable Zac Posen gown with a digital layer created by the Institute of Digital Fashion (IoDF), showing off the potential of tech and sustainability. In partnership with sustainable fashion players RCGD Global (Red Carpet Green Dress) and 3D fashion design software CLO Virtual Fashion, IoDF created a digital fashion garment in CLO that adds gravity-defying shape to the physical piece. It was designed as a collaboration with Zac Posen’s Tencel couture gown.

“For me this piece exudes minimalist glamour and highlights Bailey’s youth and natural beauty,” Posen said in a statement. “I wanted to create something that was enjoyable for her to wear and felt like second skin, allowing her to glide through the room with grace and ease.”

The partnership aims to open the conversation between the digital and physical realms of fashion, by dressing Bass in both garments that interact with one another; the digital augments and enhances the physical fashion. It uses the codes of Posen’s design to add digital flair, IoDF co-founder and CEO Leanne Elliott-Young says.

It also calls attention to the ways that digital enhancement is a sustainable method of creating more eye-catching fashion not possible in the solely-physical realm. “Our mission is to re-shape the preconceived notions of sustainability practices, and push that to the next level, we can reduce the carbon footprint of fashion, and also show the beauty that comes from combining art, fashion and technology,” Elliott-Young said in a statement. IoDF also worked with RCGD Global and Zac Posen to develop a sampling process that didn’t produce any physical waste. 

“Our digital couture garment that compliments Zac Posen’s custom couture gown experiments with ideas, shapes, and materiality that goes beyond physical possibilities,” Catty Taylor, IoDF co-founder and creative director, said in the release. “We wanted to illustrate how digital layering, such as this garment for Bass, can entirely diversify and inject new vitality into the wider conversations around the event, and highlight the importance of physical and digital fashion working together.”

It’s IoDF’s first Oscars appearance, but the fashion startup has graced red carpets in the past. At the 2021 British Fashion Awards, singer Kehlani and model Munroe Bergdorf wore digital designs created in partnership with the British Fashion Council that were later sold as NFTs. 

“Our activation for The Oscars 2023 with RGCD Global and CLO continues our legacy of IoDF bridging the digital together with the physical on the red carpet,” Elliott-Young said. “It's a moment where Web3 and sustainability align under the spotlight and for the masses, it’s integral that we bring these conversations on sustainability to the forefront.”

After years of advising fashion and beauty brands on the metaverse and Web3, Cathy Hackl, chief metaverse officer and co-founder of metaverse consultancy Journey, is launching her own luxury label, VerseLuxe. The project is an effort to show the possibilities of Web3 technologies, as the label’s necklaces and bracelets are connected to NFTs via an NFC chip.

Hackl calls it, “part label, part lab,” as VerseLuxe was founded to serve not only as a creative outlet, but as a test space for luxury innovation, from connected fashion to exploring future materials. Connected fashion has many names, but the premise — a physical item that is tied to a digital counterpart — has emerged as a key theme in fashion innovation, as it enables brands to maintain their core business while expanding into new product categories and technologies.

“As someone who's in trenches building day in and day out, I knew now was the perfect time to launch this project,” Hackl says. “Innovating during a market downturn is hard, but I think it's the ideal time to test assumptions, explore new processes, and create new innovative products that can prepare us for when the market eventually comes back.”

VerseLuxe’s first collection, Frillz, is a collaboration with jewellery designer Simone Faurschou, whose previous works are NFTs that are sold alongside blockchain-inspired physical pieces. The collection of 100 necklaces and 100 bracelets, which are made of resin, silver, gold and precious metals (20 pieces are made of 18k gold), start at $555 and come with a corresponding NFT. They are NFC-chipped using hardware-locked (HaLo) smart contract chips so that owners can scan the piece with their smartphone to view the blockchain-based authentication certificate. The physical piece also grants access to a community of 200 holders. 

Hackl is targeting a tech-forward customer who is interested in exploring the merger between the physical and the virtual. “I knew that partnering with Simone, another visionary woman in the space, would allow us to present a new and different product,” she says. “Something that many of the members of our community would find beauty in and would want to wear.” 

Faurschou says it took months to develop new ways for the NFC technology to be incorporated into physical jewellery pieces so that people could directly scan the physical pieces to show their NFT using any smartphone. 

“I thought it was time to launch my own label and partner with a strong female designer like Simone Faurschou to create something new, fresh and luxurious,” Hackl says. “I follow in the footsteps of Charli Cohen, Auroboros, Lukso, Institute of Digital Fashion and more, and wanted to add my own design perspective to the growing connected fashion vertical through the VerseLuxe label.”

“I've spent the last decade working in deep tech in everything from VR hardware, AR glasses and cloud computing,” Hackl says. “I knew I had to enter this evolving space and bring a different voice and perspective… to this new exploration of what luxury is and what luxury can become.”

Israeli designer Danit Peleg is debuting a five-piece 3D-printed collection supported by Nouns DAO at the NFT.Paris conference, which kicks off today (24 February). 

Nouns DAO, a community-owned brand and funding body, provided up to $140,000 to support the development of Peleg’s collection. It will be displayed physically and via augmented reality and holograms, which will interact with Nouns NFTs on a digital runway. “The experience will be one of stepping into the metaverse — a merger between the virtual and the physical,” says Peleg, who was early to the 3D printing space and is credited with creating the first 3D-printed fashion collection using home printers. 

The style, accessorising and colour palette of each design was inspired by five of Peleg’s favourite Noun NFTs, which are NFTs the DAO generates and auctions off once a day (the money from each sale goes to Nouns’s treasury, which currently totals $45 million). The DAO has produced 680 Noun NFTs to date. 

Peleg has been developing the materials used in the collection over the last two years. “These are special filaments that contain a specific formula that makes them softer and more flexible after 3D printing,” she explains. It’s also printed using multiple methods: “Polyjet allows printing in multiple colours and materials, multi-jet fusion allows for a velvet-like feel and FDM (fused deposition modelling) lets me use my own materials and experiment with creating more flexible textures,” she explains. Peleg sketched without the constraint of 3D printing in mind, digitally rendered and simulated the collection, and then determined how to make it physical.

Peleg received funding in three stages: $13,000 to create a concept and sketches; $48,000 for pattern-making, rendering, modelling and print testing; and a final $72,000 to print the collection and bring it to NFT.Paris. The most important detail when working with this type of community-driven DAO is to build trust, Peleg says. “Creating milestones and showing that I can deliver was key. I started small, delivered value and grew support from the community — and then got higher funding as trust was established.”

A DAO is a decentralised autonomous organisation; membership is typically NFT-based, and members are able to vote on what to do with the DAO’s funds. Red DAO is perhaps the most prominent fashion DAO, and Nyx just launched its Gorjs DAO, which is geared towards accelerating 3D makeup artists’ careers, providing them with access to capital and technology.

Nouns members saw her collection as very “Nounish,” Peleg says, given her emphasis on pushing the boundaries of creativity, technology and fashion. Peleg was drawn to the DAO because its projects are 100 per cent community-owned — it’s an “open-source CC0 [creative commons zero] brand”, meaning there are no copyrights; creators put their designs into the public domain. Nouns DAO has since funded other fashion projects, including a capsule collection with fashion and lifestyle brand Madhappy and a collection with Web3 streetwear company Dopamine.

Peleg’s 3D-printed Nouns pieces aren’t available for sale yet, but she’s received expressions of interest. She’s also considering doing an open edition (NFT drop with no supply limit) to sell NFTs representing the collection.