Gucci, an Italian luxury fashion brand, has teamed up with Superplastic to launch an NFT collection aptly titled SuperGucci. The drop will take place in three stages with the first being available on February 1st on both Gucci’s digital Vault and Superplastic’s website.
The drop is similar to other luxury brands wading into non-fungible tokens and will incorporate a mix of digital NFTs and IRL items. In the case of the SuperGucci, participants who collect the NFTs will also receive a ceramic sculpture created by two major Superplastic artists, drawing inspiration from the Gucci collection.
“Each extremely limited and valuable NFT draws inspiration from Gucci’s signature patterns, icons, and symbols, reinterpreted through the lens of SUPERPLASTIC synthetic celebrities and artists, Janky & Guggimon,” a press release states.
The attachment of physical items to the NFTs is not surprising, given the tenor of the NFT discussion as of late. According to Kevin O’Leary, a shark on the popular TV show Shark Tank, NFT’s have the capacity of proving provenance and the ownership line in a collectible.
The parlaying of IRL items also grants real-world utility to the NFTs, a problem that critics of NFTs tout. Luxury brands are increasingly solving this problem, even more so than popular NFT generative art collections.
The artists for the project — named CryptoJanky and Guggimon — visited the Gucci Vault in preparation for creating the NFT series. The Vault, a virtual, concept store created by creative director Alessandro Michele, contains the history and future of Gucci, which may prove valuable during the creation of the NFTs and ceramic sculptures.
Neither Gucci nor Superplastic are rookies in the NFT game, having released popular collections including Gucci’s Aria NFT and Superplastic’s Janky Heist NFT drop.
While there is no word on what these NFTs will cost when they are dropped, the Superplastic website states that just 250 ceramic sculptures will be made. Likely, the drop is going to be extremely limited, and prices may be high.
Either way, Gucci’s new drop is certainly indicative of its willingness to take risks, even in a nascent, controversial industry.