Category: Fashion

Categories
Australia Crypto News Fashion NFTs

Aussie VC Bets $9 Million on NFT Fashion App “Ordre” for Virtual Showrooms

Woman in red waving beautiful dress with flying fabric over artistic sky background

Ordre, a global online wholesale fashion technology company operating out of Australia’s Byron Bay, has raised US$9 million to expand its fashion services. The funding will also accelerate the development of its blockchain-based authentication platform and non-fungible token (NFT) technology.

Morgans Leads Funding Round

The Series B funding round was led by an Australian financial consulting services firm, Morgans Financial Ltd, according to the report. This marks Ordre’s third fundraise since its inception in 2015. So far, it has reportedly raised up to US$30 million.  

Using the new fund, Ordre intends to relaunch Ordre.com, which is the company’s multibrand virtual showroom platform that grew by 325 percent over the past year. It also plans to use the fund in expanding “Ordre Virtual“, a new custom/white label virtual showroom platform. 

Authentication and NFT Technology for the Fashion Industry

More interestingly, the new funds will help speed up the development of Ordre’s authentication platform and NFT technology for the fashion industry. Dubbed “Authentique”, the blockchain-based authentication platform will help create a “digital fingerprint“ for fashion products to help combat counterfeit.

The platform will also enable the digitisation of product ownership, which can be transferred or transacted in the form of NFTs. 

Authentique is perhaps our most exciting venture to date: visual recognition technology, which creates digital fingerprints of products. You can scan a product with your phone and instantly verify if it’s the real thing and once you own it, you can transfer digital ownership of that product through an NFT to your [crypto] wallet.

Ordre founder Simon Lock

Fashion NFTs Are So Hot Right Now

NFTs are becoming very popular in the fashion industry. During Crypto Fashion Week in February, lots of digital artworks were issued as NFTs, which play out as glimpses of future ideas in the fashion space. Fashion NFTs are continually rising in popularity, as reported earlier this year by Crypto News Australia .

Categories
Crypto News Fashion NFTs

Two New NFT Marketplaces To Launch in Asia As The Craze Continues

Two new NFT platforms are set to launch in Asia to provide marketplaces for digital fashion, art, music, collectables and more. The platforms, based in Singapore and Hong Kong are poised to be launched during Q3 2021.

  1. NFT Trading Platform by Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange.
  2. Luxury NFT Platform by Media Publishares and VIDY.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s coming.

Hong Kong’s One-Stop NFT shop

According to an announcement from Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange they are launching a NFT trading platform which is going to act as a “one-stop” NFT shop alongside the exchange, since there are no robust ones in Hong Kong’s current market.

HKD.com provides artists with an online platform for the artworks publishing, promotion, trading and payment, with many product categories, including digital art, encrypted collections of animation, music and movies etc. Trading platform, users can trade through public offer or bidding, and carry out token trading and exchange; while artists can also publish their own digital artworks through the trading platform.

Hopefully, the platform will not only help local artists earn more money from their talents but also develop the art market in the region,

Kelvin Yeung, founder and CEO of HKD.com

Singapore’s Luxury NFT Platform

According to a press release from ACN Newswire, Media Publishares in partnership with VIDY are creating a homage to arts and culture by fabricating a 360-degree navigable virtual environment that will showcase digital fashion, art, music and design.

By creating an NFT platform, which essentially acts as a virtual marketplace between creatives and users, it allows us to provide a unique shoppable platform coupled with content for the community in the form of education, interaction and entertainment.

Michael von Schlippe, president of Media Publishares

The platform is looking to cater to the tech savvy audience that wishes to acquire luxury items and for creators to experiment in the virtual world. The main features of the platform will allow minting, trading, and auctioning NFTs through a tokenised system.

We are confident we will create the finest platform that will boost the NFT world by allowing seamless participation from the traditional fashion, art and music communities.

Matthew Lim, founder of VIDY

More Platforms, More Participation?

Having these platforms up and running will enable various individuals to participate in the NFT economy. Not only helping artists profit directly from their work but also encouraging up-and-coming artists to practise with the virtual mediums and add to the annals of digital art.

Categories
Fashion

Digital Fashion NFTs Are Hot Right Now, Let’s Take a Look At Some

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have propelled the world of fashion into the future as the worlds of digital art and blockchain technology collide.

Over the past few months, we have seen NFTs popping up across many industries such as gaming, music, arts and now, fashion. We even saw some inspiring designs from the Crypto Fashion Week just last month.

The fashion NFTs vary from virtual fashion that can be worn online to artists uploading and selling their designs on blockchain marketplaces. When it comes to digital couture, the sky is quite literally the limit.

So, let’s take a look at what’s hot right now in the world of crypto fashion.

Feast Your Eyes On These Digital Fashion NFTs

Meet Lucas Guzman, a 3D artist working in VR, AR and Crypto Art, bringing digital-only fashion into your home. What do you think? Does his design take your fancy for the virtual world?

While The Dematerialised is still in Beta phase, their site has been designed intentionally to be a 3D world. Shoppers can quite literally view the item in their own environment through the use of AR.

Check out their first ever digital wearable designed by @daikontsar

Sit back and watch the runway take off with this awe-inspiring virtual fashion show from @elizaveta.fdv.

Helllllo virtual sneakers! RTFKT Studio’s latest sale, which finished last Saturday, is a collaboration with the crypto-artist known as FEWOCiOUS, an 18-year old with a rapidly rising profile in the digital space. The two collaborated on a series of virtual sneakers, accompanied by digital merch in the form of a ‘Drip’, and a ‘Charm’.

The sneakers raised $3.1 Million USD in just seven minutes!

Welcome to the world of NFT wearable virtual fashion in this online marketplace called Rarible. It’s the first community owned marketplace where you can create, sell or collect digital items with blockchain. Have a browse and send your mind spinning.

Fashion NFTs for Sale on Rarible

Where To Next?

It’s no secret that the NFT Fashion space is booming, and we’ve recently see the worlds first cryptocurrency for fashion, as we watch the new internet quite literally being built around us. Creativity has been unleashed and we can only watch this space for what’s to come.

Categories
Crypto News Fashion

Crypto Fashion Week Gives Us A Glimpse Into The Future Of Style

The first Crypto Fashion Week was held from 22 to 26 February 2021 and offered us a taste of digital fashion’s creative future. The show presented worlds of fashion, as digital art and blockchain technology intersected.

The week-long celebration of on-chain digital fashion gathered an exciting collection of world artists, designers and tech experts to showcase their talents in a futuristic way.

What Is Crypto Fashion Week?

Crypto Fashion Week brought ideas to reality with its inspiring virtual runway that showcased amazing ideas that are way ahead of their time.

From developing virtual sneakers for more sustainable consumption to artists uploading and selling designs on blockchain marketplaces, the event demonstrated the infinite possibilities of digital couture – both online and offline.

There’s no denying that crypto fashion is on the rise, interconnecting technology with design. According to Lady Phe0nix, co-founder of crypto art consultancy Universe Contemporary and co-organizer of Crypto Fashion Week.

These are the visionary people and companies moving the culture forward, and this is a rare chance to gather them together in the same place and time to get a glance at their hottest projects and to celebrate digital fashion in all of its exciting forms.

What Is Digital Fashion?

Digital fashion items aren’t just for the shows – they are being purchased and worn virtually. Who says fashion is limited to tangible or physical materials? The crypto world as eliminated all boundaries, intertwining design and technology to an extent never before seen.

From changing dress colours to shifting background landscapes, or gravity defying flows of a skirt, digital fashion is about exploring the limits of creative expression. Co-Founder of The Dematerialised, Karina Nobbs, explains:

Digital Fashion is a computer generated representation of a garment or an accessory. It can be experienced across physical and digital touchpoints and traded as an asset. It can be worn on an avatar or tracked and layered on a real body.

CFW Highlights

Technology was well and truly embraced for the event with sessions hosted on a variety of different platforms, including Clubhouse, Twitch, YouTube and in the Metaverse – a boundless territory of interactivity that has been described as the new internet.

The featured artists, designers, and companies participating in Crypto Fashion Week are the most influential and accomplished in the growing field of digital fashion, including:

  • Maghan McDowell, innovation editor or Vogue Business and fashion-tech journalist.
  • Natalia Modenova, founder of DressX, the first fashion brand featuring digital collections and 3D designers.
  • Kesh, a visual artist, designer and musician, who has collaborated with high-end brands such as Mochino, American Apparel and SKIMS.
  • Amber Jae Slooten, The Fabricant.
  • DNA Block
  • Master of Shapes
  • Meta Factory

Workshops were also offered, featuring LUKSO, FTFKT, The Fabricant, The Dematerialised and Newlife.Ai., as they shared how they have embraced digital fashion.

Future Fashion

Watch this space. According to CFW, this booming industry is “expected to be worth millions in the short term”.

Categories
Charity Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Fashion

Australia’s First Cryptocurrency For Fashion

Fashion house Australian Brands Alliance (ABA) will soon launch SwapPay – a fintech start-up offering fashions’ first cryptocurrency in Australia.

ABA currently sells nine of their clothing brands on online shopping powerhouse, The Iconic. Founder Paul Elsibai plans to encourage their Millennial customers to return unwanted items by offering ‘virtual coins’ to spend on one of these in-house brands.

Reducing Fashion Waste

According to Mr Eisbai, the aim of the initiative is to fix the post-purchase waste problem. On average, Australians buy 27kg of textiles each year, while 23kg are sent into landfill. Paul Eisbai says:

As a clothing manufacturer we have a responsibility to think about the life of the clothes we make. While we’re comfortable that our customers will get a long life from our clothing, we want to assist them if they tire of them or need a change.

How Does SwapPay Work?

SwapPay will accept clothing in good condition and offer a virtual coin of varying value for the items. Postage will be at the customer’s expense.

Brands themselves are able to assign the value of the coin. A coin at one brand may be worth $20, while for another it is $10.

The items will then be donated on to charitable organisations, or recycled and made into new garments. SwapPay is not the first business to offer this service. The Iconic, for example, already offers free postage for unwanted clothing, which is then donated to the Salvation army.

SwapPay is the first to offer digital currency in return.

The Future Of SwapPay

At the moment, SwapPay will only be offered with Australian Brand Alliance’s businesses.

The hope is that in time it will be offered up to other retailers both inside and outside the fashion world. It is still very much a work in progress with decisions to be made on how it will turn a profit. Paul Esibai says:

SwapPay is a communications platform, so we may charge retailers a fee for marketing through the platform. We are still ironing these things out. But one thing we will not do is make a profit from the returned clothing – that is all to be donated.

Stay Tuned

Want to learn more? Watch this space. Sign up with SwapPay to stay in the loop with what’s to come.