Much has been written about the ‘merging’ of physical and digital under the auspices of ‘Unified Commerce’. At the same time, we’re all in the Metaverse, aka Web3. Are they mutually exclusive? A recent Fast Company article looks at the future of fashion in Web3 and begins to fill in some voids.

If Web1 is about “reading” and Web2 is about “reading and writing,” Web3 is about “reading, writing, and owning,” said Farfetch founder and CEO José Neves. said. According to Neves, fashion is a very human endeavour, one that is at the core of who we are as individuals. Fashion allows us to apply different ‘masks’ based on how we feel, who we want to be, or what we want to portray on a given day. I see it as enhancing the human interaction between curators, creators and the fashion level, not replacing the human connection.”

Neves continues. “For me, the definition of applying Web3 to fashion is applying the principles of user control, user ownership, and decentralized architecture to his case of fashion use.” This technology enables innovation. Even if that means you and your avatar wearing the exact same outfit and becoming a “digital twin”, expanding brand loyalty across the metaverse. Hopefully it’s for the better.

betta metamol

That article goes back to an April interview I did with two metaverse change agents, Michael Zakkour and Alan Smithson. Billed as a 100-floor, 100-million-square-foot cyberspace “metamall”. The team shared the belief that “retail could drive much of what we call the Metaverse.”

Alan and Michael further believe their early adopters will be the mainstream market of women aged 20-45 with iPhones, rather than “brotypes” with headset-wearing cryptocurrency wallets. They work with fashion houses to sell their merchandise in malls, work with in-house creative agencies for various brands, and “build out” in his MetaVRse studio, which Smithson founded with his wife Julie. I am promoting it. Their secret sauce is the fact that, unlike other similar tools, their engine can be deployed across multiple operating systems, browsers, and devices with little to no code. Virtually anyone can be a creator.

“TheMall is a combination of e-commerce and pure experience. Brands see it as marketing, branding and experiential play,” says Michael Zuckor. “Brands can do anything: pure experiences, NFTs, commerce and experience combinations. (Like me) I firmly believe that the future of retail is “immersive commerce,” where online and in-store blend seamlessly and are the essence of unified commerce. No one uses the word “omnichannel” in front of Michael.

Type “tokenomics”

If you want to visit TheMall and trade, then naturally you have to trade in cryptocurrencies. Cryptoassets have fascinated the entire world with some promise of economic opportunities, but they lack substance. You can see and touch the US dollar, but not cryptocurrencies. However, cryptocurrencies are recognized as fungible assets and form the basis of “tokennomics”, a mashup of “tokens” and “economics”.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique because they do not share the same value. NFTs are a recent trend and there is a lot of interest in tokennomics, especially with the high profile NFT auctions. Tokenization of assets such as real estate, artwork, photographs, and collectibles by NFTs has sparked a new wave of digital ownership and also demonstrated the potential of tokens.

Is it art?

Art has been at the forefront of cultural change for thousands of years. So it’s no surprise that the artist and her NFTs have a symbiotic relationship. Many relatively unknown talents have entered his NFT art, and today some of the most respected artists and illustrators have expanded beyond traditional media into digital art and his NFT tokens. doing.

I recently interviewed GODA co-founder Sean Neff, who Forbes called a “brand whisperer.” GODA describes itself as “a trusted and curated source for major contemporary artists seeking to explore digital as a new medium”. Neff is a serial entrepreneur and has been a founder, investor and advisor to some of the world’s top brands. These include Neff, Sunbum, Moon, Beachhouse Group, Robinhood and Target.
target
Sony, Sandbox, Outlier Ventures, and more.

GODA also leads consumer, art, music, NFT and fashion celebrities. Among them are names such as Pharrell Williams, Nina Chanel Abney, Todd James. Many of GODA’s artists have built up a significant following and reputation in the “analog” art world before entering the world of digital art and his NFTs. As a trusted partner, GODA respects the artist’s art values ​​and provides a seamless and impactful drop.

take a brand stand

As Sean said at the beginning of the interview, the world of NFT art is a crazy new space. Barriers to entry are very low and, unlike analog art, there are no middlemen or gatekeepers, so it has a strong following. As a result, especially in the last year, many artists, illustrators and graphic designers have jumped into the pool.

Besides the low barriers to entry, the “tokenomics” behind the transaction are very attractive. The artist who created the original effectively retains ownership of the original artwork, even though it was created for a limited number of his NFTs “alive” in the Web3 metaverse.

On the selling side of the equation, it takes considerably more than artistic creation and NFT ‘casting’ to attract attention, let alone for a piece to achieve lasting value.According to Shaun Neff , 99% of people who put their work out there don’t hit anyone’s radar, let alone the “whales” and big collectors who rule the world of digital art collecting.

In the true spirit of a seasoned brander, Shaun said artists must move beyond their creative genius and engage in highly strategic and calculated undertakings designed to build buzz. I’m here. That’s where GODA comes in.

todd’s party

Todd James is an internationally renowned artist who began his art career as a teenager in New York City in the early 1980s, adding his own graffiti to the subway system. August 30^th This year Todd created a new collection of 1,533 NFT images with the help of GODA. Mint Pass holders paid out .333 ETH (worth $527) on September 1st^st And there were 24 hours. A window to enter his raffle with pre-mints to win his new collection. He has over 20,000 people signed up for his NFT, which has become available in limited numbers.Todd James’ “ART PARTY” opens on September 6th^th 9am PT/12pm Central.

By 3pm CST that day, 804 owners had purchased 546. The “lowest price” was ETH .46 (approximately $724.00) for item #545 and ETH 666 (approximately $1,047,904) for #280. The majority of those moments were running in the mid-single digits ($7,000-$10,000).

As a modest collector of contemporary art, I appreciated Todd James’ satirical, often political, and very pop/street art aesthetic. I can’t help but think of mid-century artists like Oldenburg. At the time, it was a big deal for these pop art icons to issue new print editions of, say, a dozen images. may have become available. By comparison, Todd James’s 1,500+ images are one-of-a-kind, each with its own digital “fingerprint.” Certainly, Warhol would have been impressed.

artist pension

Another great benefit for artists is that once an NFT is traded on the secondary market, they can earn a portion of it and subsequent sales. And since all transactions occur in the metaverse, there is no doubt about the authenticity or provenance of the images. talking about pensions.

Another GODA artist who recently stepped into the world of NFTs is renowned African-American contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney. Her NFT collection “Super Cool World”, her first on the GODA NFT platform, consists of hundreds of characters designed by Nina, reflecting her “enthusiastic collage-like approach to visual media”. It consisted of her 5,080 NFTs delivered.Casting began on July 14th^th 60,000 raffle submissions were made public if you won the allowed list raffle. Mint Pass holders were guaranteed a buying opportunity.

Nina is most concerned with keeping collector’s fans in her family. So, in order to reward loyalty and cut back on secondary market deals, she decided that her owners would “incentivize Nina’s exclusive merchandise, collaborative product releases, airdrops, events, participation in exhibitions, surprise raffles. Alluded to gaining access to the “raffle”.

Sea change or wait-and-see?

What does all this mean for the ‘established arts community’, not to mention filling the space above the fireplace? According to Shaun Neff, future NFT collectors will buy enlarged digital screens And we can expect to decorate the walls of our homes with ever-changing NFTs. No doubt it will be controlled by your smartphone or smart home. And of course, Todd James and Nina Abney’s NFTs will be proudly displayed on the walls of his manor in the Metaverse for avatars to enjoy.