Web3's NYFW Takeover, Hermès Signals Metaverse Entry & Why China's Designers Are Hot On NFTs

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09.21.22

This week, we bring you a short-and-sweet version of all the latest metaverse happenings across the worlds of fashion and luxury — from fashion month embracing the virtual landscape to interactive retail gearing up to take over the Chinaverse once again, just in time for the Double 11 Shopping Festival.

THE BIG STORY
The top story from Jing Meta this week.

Vivienne Tam Looks To Fashion’s Metaversal Future At NYFW With Bored Ape, Cryptopunks, And Mahjong Designs

With so many houses — from Gucci and Jimmy Choo to Balenciaga — entering the online space with NFT activations, what opportunities might smaller, independent concerns like Vivienne Tam see? Well, there’s the promise of things to come, new target audiences, and ownership transparency.

Read the full story on Jing Daily here.

OUT THIS WEEK
Jing Meta's top Web3 digital fashion drops to add to your calendar.

Please send your NFT launches and news to: NFT@jingdaily.com.

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT
This week, Jing Meta speaks to George Yashin, founder and CEO of AR fashion platform ZERO10, about the company’s latest cross-dimensional pop-up store, how ZERO10 is becoming a force for good in the metaverse, and the challenges in Web3 that many independent designers face as the industry goes digital.

How did the idea of ZERO10's cross-boundary retail store come about? What are you hoping to achieve with the project?

The idea of creating the offline space with digital-only clothing came up around two years ago while working on ZERO10’s concept. Since the start, it was crucial to link digital fashion with reality to show users that the future is already here and it’s all around us, being a part of our everyday lives.

ZERO10 x Crosby Studios pop-up store is our imagination of retail’s future. For this concept, we realized the most radical ideas without fear of making mistakes as this format didn’t exist before and we had to invent it from scratch. This project is aimed at drawing the audience and brand’s attention to our unique technology and inspiring the community and fashion industry to explore AR possibilities.

What has the response from your community been like since the news about ZERO10's concept store came out?

We got a huge response with many questions from the fashion community. We can see that fresh, bold, and cutting-edge ideas are relevant to our audience and the fashion industry, and our idea succeeded. Together with Crosby Studios, we’ve been working on this project for nine months and have been living and breathing this idea the whole time. Now we are happy to see how the pop-up guests are getting inspired by it too. We always try to listen to our community and I think we will gain a lot of insight even before this project is finished.

What do you think some of the barriers of access to AR/Web3 are for creatives, and how is ZERO10 trying to tackle them?

We can see that creators are keen to see their designs not only in 3D but in AR too. For now, only Snap and ZERO10 have this capability and are able to provide AR clothing try-on technology. Our work with the community and the ultimate focus on high-quality clothing try-on experiences in real time means designers are interested in our platform to present their items, sell them, and create content with them. We are a small company and it’s easier to connect with us and share ideas or feedback, as well as try to listen to what our community is saying and improve our product. Thanks to our community and their demand for AR, we decided to start working on the ZERO10 Open Platform — the next bigger chapter of the Open Call competition — and continue opening up AR capabilities for all creators.

Who makes up the ZERO10 team?

ZERO10’s success secret is our unique team and we are extremely proud to talk about it. One of our main advantages is the combination of experience coming from a variety of fields, tech, fashion, and product development, and of course, sharing a common goal. We are a part of a very challenging and fast-growing industry where wide experience and market understanding are musts to achieve great results. All our team members are true professionals, believing in what they are doing. We are very lucky to find all these people and unite them under one company.

What is your vision for the future of digital fashion and retail?

I think we all will be witnessing it very soon. I am not a person imposing my views, but I can say where we are heading to: an Open Platform. It will completely change the fashion industry with the energy brought by emerging talented and young creators who don’t depend on big companies and corporations' rules. Also, I truly believe that the AR experience integrated into retail will change fashion consumer behavior.

What’s next for ZERO10? Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?

Very soon we will be taking our first steps towards launching the ZERO10 Open Platform, test how our technologies can help fashion businesses and retail through upcoming pilot projects, and upgrade our technology to secure the title as the leading company providing AR clothing try-on experience in the world.

Read more on ZERO10’s latest pop-up on Jing Daily here.

ON OUR RADAR
The latest digital project catching Jing Meta's attention this week.

The Institute of Digital Fashion is using its platform to spread the message of sustainability this London Fashion Week. The company’s latest project will explore how to bring Web3 to mainstream attention, while also advocating for larger social issues such as the global impact of the fashion industry.

Throughout LFW, IoDF will construct a series of physical access points, where visitors can find recycled metal tokens embossed with QR codes scattered throughout the city; scan QR-coded billboards; and even meet the IoDF founders Leanne Elliott Young and Cat Taylor themselves, who will also hand out the tokens.

The access points will open up entry to a dedicated LFW NFT drop titled “IoDF 001.” Users will also be able to access an IoDF “allowlist,” which will grant exclusive access to future IoDF projects outside of LFW. The project aims to bring mass audiences closer to the metaverse than ever before by bridging the gap between online and offline spaces.

DIGITAL COLLECTIBLE OF THE WEEK
Jing Meta explores its favourite digital collectible from the Chinaverse this week.

At the "Jake · Heaven and Earth" jacket category show held in Beijing on September 11, which is part of China International Fashion Week, K-Boxing (Jinba Mens Clothing) released its own IP digital characters, Jin H and Ba H, as well as their exclusive space-inspired metaverse called "Jinxiang Space" for the first time. The two virtual entities are inspired by the "Three Generations" of Jin Hung, with one linking to the present and the other to the future, and mark the beginning of the brand’s exploration of new interactions with its consumers. The "Esmeng Space'' is set to integrate the Chinese menswear brand’s expression and clothing aesthetics with future technology, and will be the virtual home of Jin H and Ba H. Over the course of the China International Fashion Week event, the concept of digital fashion was utilized by a number of brands as a means of expressing identity and personality in a more visually impactful and innovative way.

CHINA'S LATEST METAVERSE MOVES
The latest virtual developments taking the Chinaverse by storm.

Chinese digital collectibles platform Shucang.cn 数藏中国 and metaverse platform Real World have entered the world of virtual real estate, after jointly launching the “Moth Orchid Mansion" 蝴蝶兰庄园. The first batch of 300 "residents" — those who already hold the corresponding collectibles — will also be gifted a VR set that allows them to explore the interior of the mansion. Owners of the estate can interact with items within the space, as well as display their collectibles and invite other owners to tour their residence. Each estate is completely private unless its owner permits others to enter. Will the digital mansion elevate the value of collectibles and leverage the virtual real estate market in China?

All social listening data is sourced from social listening tool Digimind.

NEW YORK – LONDON – SHANGHAI