The French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton (LV) just announced the release of the ‘VIA Treasure Trunk’ — an ultra-exclusive NFT collection priced at €39,000 Euro, or nearly $42,000 a piece.
The VIA Treasure Trunk NFTs are “phygital,” meaning they include physical and digital products. There are also “soulbound,” so they are linked directly to the purchaser and cannot be traded, sold, or gifted. Only a few hundred Treasure Trunks NFTs will be available to select customers.
After release, holders of the Treasure Trunk NFTs can purchase digital keys to unlock corresponding digital and physical products. Treasure Trunk NFTs also give holders access to future experiences, products, and Louis Vuitton’s Web3 community. The collection is being released by ‘VIA,’ a department of Louis Vuitton exploring novel technology like blockchain, the metaverse, and NFTs.
Here’s how it works.
Beginning June 8th, Louis Vuitton will open a site to invite interested customers to connect their crypto wallets and fill out some personal information. More information will be released on June 14th to perspective customers who pass the vetting process. Then on June 16th, select customers will be invited to purchase the VIA Treasure Trunk NFTs.
Shortly after, NFT holders will receive the chance to buy keys for access to more exclusive products from LV — making the NFTs a gateway for LV collectors. Some additional products will be customized to individual trunk owners, and all come with proof of authenticity and a record of ownership verified on the blockchain. Unlike the Treasure Trunk NFTs, owners can trade these items if they wish.
People interested in a Treasure Trunk NFTs must put their names on the waiting list until June 8th. The NFTs are only available to citizens of France, Canada, the UK, the US, Japan, Germany, and Australia. The trunks can be bought with either crypto or fiat.
Luxury & Exclusivity in Web3
The VIA Treasure Trunk NFTs are out of the price range of most casual NFT collectors. But the highly-exclusive drop from Louis Vuitton stays true to the brand’s image of luxury first. And Louis Vuitton isn’t the only brand that’s using Web3 to coordinate the sale of luxury products. Here are two of our most recent stories about luxury and exclusivity in Web3.
First, two months ago, Bugatti and Asprey teamed up for an NFT collection that featured 111 digital eggs inscribed on Bitcoin. But here’s the rub: the NFTs also came with a real-life egg that was made from either pave diamond, carbon fiber, or Asprey imperial jade. The phygital NFTs were priced between $20K and $200K, depending on the material.
Next, four months ago, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami collaborated with Hublot watchmakers for an exclusive collection of 13 physical watches paired to NFTs. The watches featured Murakami’s smiling flower motif and colorful rainbow gems. They were priced at about $54,000.
When NFTs are linked to physical products, they verify ownership and authenticity using the blockchain. This makes them useful to producers of exclusive, luxury products. We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see if Louis Vuitton’s high-priced NFT drop is a success. But considering the brand’s history and reputation, we doubt they’ll have a problem selling out a few hundred NFTs.
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