CFDA enters Web3 and celebrates 60 years of first NFT launch
The industry association will also be hosting a virtual fashion exhibition starting on December 19.
CFDA is one of many major players in the fashion industry investing in virtual assets and experiences. / CFDA
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a trade association that, according to its website, has a membership of more than 500 fashion designers, released its first-ever NFT collection this morning. The association will also launch a “metaverse fashion exhibition” in The Sandbox next Monday.
Both campaigns are being developed in collaboration with blockchain platform Polygon Studios and are being launched to celebrate CFDA’s 60th anniversary.
“As part of CFDA’s commitment to innovation and … mission toward future growth of the fashion industry, this watershed moment will guide America’s design talent toward new technologies and virtual worlds that bridge culture and fashion and integrate designers and brands into the web3,” CFDA wrote in a statement on Dec. 1, when the twin promotions were originally announced.
The NFT collection, titled “Lighting the path of American fashion,” includes seven tokens that will be available for bidding today through Friday, June 16. December. Each token was developed by an iconic fashion brand or designer — including Coach, Michael Kors and Vivienne Tam — and opens the door to what the CFDA describes as “unique utility benefits that allow unprecedented access.” (Coach NFT, for example, comes with two tickets to a holiday event the brand is throwing at Rockefeller Center, as well as a Re(Loved) designer bag.)
Five of the NFTs have a starting price of $25,000. The other two start at $15,000. All proceeds will reportedly go to the CDFA Foundation, which the association (somewhat vaguely) says on its website “was created to raise funds for charity and industry activities.”
The CFDA will follow its NFT auction with the launch of “Fashioning the shades of American design” in The Sandbox – a popular blockchain-based mobile game – starting on December 19. Showcasing “60 looks from CFDA’s six decades,” the association writes that visitors to the virtual exhibition will be “invited to explore this retrospective celebrating the creativity of CFDA members past and present, which is organized into five themes: Illuminating a Fantasy , Illuminating Romance, Illuminating the Avant-Garde, Illuminating Understanding and Illuminating Soul.”
The CFDA isn’t the only major fashion industry that has been looking to plant its flag in the growing web3 space lately. Last month, for example, luxury fashion brand Lacoste announced that it is opening a virtual holiday store with VIP experiences available to those with an UNDW3 NFT, which the brand launched in June. Also in November, Parsons School of Design revealed it will offer a new program — developed in partnership with Roblox — aimed at educating students about virtual fashion starting in spring 2023.
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