The Germany fashion brand Hugo Boss is launching a new Web3 project that ties non-fungible tokens to physical pieces of clothing. The brand is adding NFC tags to a myriad of baseball hats and hoodies, allowing customers to create NFT “digital twins” from their items and dress up their avatars in the metaverse.
After purchasing the tagged caps and hoodies, customers can scan the tag with their phone, and they’ll gain access to the digital wearables. Hugo Boss is collaborating with avatar-creator platform ‘Ready Player Me’ for the launch. Users can use the platform to take a selfie and transform it into a full-body 3D avatar — which they can dress with Hugo’s digital baseball caps and hoodies.
The hoodie and cap are first available to Hugo x ImaginaryOne NFT holders.
This isn’t Hugo Boss’s first foray into Web3. In November 2022, the brand collaborated with the virtual world metaverse character provider Imaginary Ones for its first NFT collection titled “Embrace Your Emotions.” It consisted of 1,001 emotionally themed 3D avatars paired with physical T-shirts.
Ready Player Me is a cross-game avatar platform that launched in 2014. It lets users create their own metaverse-ready avatars through selfies. The company aims to become the leading avatar-creation company and has partnered with over 3,000 gaming and app companies to employ its avatars across different metaverses.
NFC tags link physical objects to non-fungible tokens, and they are becoming more popular in fashion. Recently, Nike used NFC tags to launch a hoodie with its digital fashion brand RTFKT.
Web3 Fashion Is a Growing Phenomenon
For Hugo Boss fans and holders of its NFT collection, the new digital wearables linked to IRL caps and hoodies is exciting news. But Hugo Boss is far from the only fashion brand that’s been investing in Web3 technologies. At Rarity Sniper, we write about Web3 fashion all the time. Here are some of the top stories.
First, last week, adidas announced the third and final phase of its ‘Into the Metaverse’ project with the launch of a dynamic NFT collection called ALTS. The NFTs will evolve based on decisions and engagement with a storyline, and at the of Chapter 3 a unique PFP NFT will be revealed.
Next, from March 28th to 31st, Decentraland hosted its second annual Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW). The event saw brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY, and Coach showcasing digital wearables and NFT clothing.
Finally, three months ago, the Web3 luxury fashion company Syky raised $9.5 million in a Series A founding found led by Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six. Syky believes the future of fashion is digital and that the next 10 years will see the traditional fashion industry disrupted by Web technologies.
NFT technology and the metaverse can help fashion brands create new revenue streams with digital products, discover new audiences, and (as with Hugo Boss’s launch) tie physical products to their digital counterparts. The myriad of possibilities has turned most of the fashion world bullish on Web3. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll keep our ears to the ground and report back for any new developments in the story.
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