Fashion icon Prada has released a Timecapsule NFT Collection featuring gender-neutral physical products and a gifted non-fungible token, thereby feeding into the growing metaverse hype occurring among brands. The company launched an NFT platform, Prada Crypted, on its website that also serves as the brand’s new community server on Discord, where people can debate topics related to fashion, art, film, music and Web3.
Prada is collaborating with artist Cassius Hirst in “reimagining the classic Hawaiian shirt of the brand through new expressive forms, mixing the physical and digital worlds,” the fashion company says on its website. “This Linea Rossa garment is made of technical fabric and combines the historic code that ties Prada to the artistic world with its technological heritage in the development of cutting-edge fabrics. The back of the shirt is decorated with the print of a mask, which for Hirst is an emblem of unity and worn by the people in the Cass X Prada America’s Cup ad campaign.”
The Prada Timecapsule NFTs are being distributed on the Ethereum blockchain, and the distribution is being made possible via the NFT technology being developed by the Aura Blockchain Consortium. It includes a number of other high-end luxury brands, including Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Bulgari.
The luxury brand’s prior NFT projects serve as a foundation for this new endeavor.
Prada and Adidas Originals collaborated on a user-generated NFT initiative in January. The project featured artwork contributed by consumers as well as creators. Digital artist Zach Lieberman’s work was featured, and the range of footwear, apparel and accessories blends Prada’s luxury heritage with Adidas’s unparalleled sportswear lineage, Prada says.
A number of other businesses and companies, including Gap, GameStop and PacSun, have dabbled in the nebulous idea of the metaverse. Prada is one the latest to join this group. It is not yet known whether the experiments that businesses are conducting with the metaverse will be appealing to customers over the long run
Indeed, many customers are apparently unfamiliar with NFTs. Nearly half of all people in the United States (45 percent) had never heard of them, and 28 percent of Americans who are aware of non-fungible tokens do not have a complete understanding of what they are, according to a survey published by Forrester in October 2021.
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