NFTs have gotten a bad reputation thanks to the NFT bubble in 2021, but they could see a comeback in the metaverse fashion industry. Avatars in virtual worlds need clothing items to stand out, and NFTs can offer scarce and unique wearables that users may not regret buying. Luxury fashion brands are already interested in using NFTs and the metaverse to showcase, sell and archive their products. Many advocates already believe that fashion is the next big thing for NFTs.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are a special type of blockchain token that represent ownership over a unique thing (usually digital). However, they are most notoriously known for “expensive JPEGs” that people paid far too much for. NFTs generally derive their value from a combination of scarcity, utility and aesthetics, although hype often plays a bigger role (until it doesn’t). For scarcity, NFTs are never degraded and can never be modified, and their supply is secured by the blockchain smart contract that created them. For utility, NFTs can provide access to private communities, exclusive content, profit-sharing schemes, file download links, and other value-added benefits. For aesthetics, artists can often create NFTs of their art and sell them as unique pieces (or create collections of similar but unique pieces), which can include photos, music, video and 3D objects.OpenSea is the most popular NFT exchange on Ethereum, offering just about every type NFT currently existing Game/Metaverse elements often combine all three qualities.
As CoinTelegraph discusses, every metaverse user will need clothing for their avatar. Because NFTs do not degrade or wear down, and because their authenticity is easily verified, there is at least some investment value in scarce luxury brands of metaverse wearables. With the ability to not only collect rare brands, but also carry them in virtual worlds without fear of damage and potentially enjoy extended benefits of ownership, metaverse items have a unique value proposition for their owners. Metaverse fashion is already here, as Decentraland, one of the first true metaverses to exist, held its first Metaverse Fashion Week in May of this year, featuring many luxury brands, as CoinTelegraph covered. While Decentraland’s graphics are far from ideal, the event provided a taste of what future metaverse fashion shows might look like.
Avatar Wearables are more useful than expensive JPEGs
NFTs that provide wearable metaverse items are still a small market, but one that has attracted the attention of luxury brands and fashion designers worldwide. Unlike collectible JPEGs, metaverse NFTs provide some value to their owners, as wearables offer a combination of scarcity, utility, and aesthetics to their owners, while the JPEG collections that fueled the NFT bubble in 2021 provide very little benefit that is convincing to most people. to pay money for. Metaverse wearables also gives 3D artists the ability to create their own wearables and sell them on NFT exchanges (hopefully at reasonable prices).
Assume that NFTs are ever going to blow into another hype-driven bubble. If so, it can focus on metaverse items that provide more tangible benefit to their owners, and metaverse fashion ticks that box. While many other subsectors can take off, such as drivable vehicles or virtual pets, the common denominators for all metaverse users are avatars and wearable avatars. With the ability to own virtual garments with guaranteed scarcity, verifiable authenticity and perfect durability, NFT fashion is likely to take a large role in the future of the metaverse.
Sources: CoinTelegraph 1, Decentraland, CoinTelegraph 2
