Over the last few years, the fashion industry has been transcending into the metaverse. Whether it’s virtual collections or avatar influencers, the use of digital fashion is becoming far less of a gimmick and more of an indication of fashion’s impending future. 

This is largely due to the ongoing success of NFTs (non-fungible-token), which are designed to be unique and special to the owner. Ordinarily, these NFTs come in the form of art pieces, music videos or even original GIFs, but, for the last couple of years, the fashion industry has found itself integrated into the heart of it all.

Today, there are a variety of fashion experts who predict that the industry is going to become far more associated with crypto than was previously thought. But how is this the case, and what does the future really hold for the blossoming intersection of fashion and crypto?

The Blockchain Is The New Design Studio

While designers of clothes and fashion instruments are traditionally held up in a physical design studio, today the blockchain has taken the form of both the studio and the retailer, with the ability to use new technology to create fashion and then sell it on the blockchain as an NFT.  

Obviously, these digital clothes cannot be worn in reality, but ‌can rather be used to dress online. The virtual world Decentraland, for instance, allows users to make and sell their clothing for avatars to wear on the site, with some designers making as much as $20,000 in only three weeks. 

Likewise, the crypto community has even hosted an online fashion week. This took place in the midst of 2021, involving an online schedule which was filled with exhibitions, workshops and conversations across the metaverse. It brought together a community of technologists and designers, and it included a talk from the transhuman AI-powered Kuki. 

The idea was to spread the authentication of digital fashion and its ability to create an impact in the oncoming Web3 world we are heading towards. There are still critics, but this fashion week proved there is an overwhelming interest in the concept. While the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum (both of whom are leaders within the cryptocurrency landscape) is set to rise to new heights over the next few years, so too is the interest in the crypto market, meaning there are going to be far more people investing into the digital fashion industry.

What Is The Point Of Digital Fashion?

Of course, there are some who might scratch their heads at the very concept of digital fashion. After all, why would someone pay so much for clothing that they cannot actually wear? According to Lady Phoenix, who is a progenitor of NFT culture, the rise of the digital fashion industry directly results from both the pandemic and social media. 

Many followers of fashion are not dressing to go out and parade as much as they used to. Nowadays, the impact of fashion is being felt through “likes” on a social media platform, which has similarly led to fashion lovers wanting to purchase clothes for their online avatars, rather than for themselves. In her words, if someone is wearing something to show off on social media then “ it may as well be something digital because the environments are digital environments”. 

As well as this, digital fashion can eliminate production, manufacturing and landfill costs, whilst also providing more opportunity for expression, accessibility and validity for the creator, as the history of creation will be recorded onto the blockchain.

What Does The Future Hold?

As mentioned previously, the incoming phase of Web3 will undoubtedly create a world which is reliant on a decentralised, inclusive internet. In this way, many traditional methods of economics and creation, whether it’s banking or fashion, will ultimately be integrated into the metaverse. 

The fashion industry has long been an innovative and intuitive sector, and the last few years have only further proved that. In a way, creators and designers have managed to hop onto the train before it has left the station. With blockchain technologies becoming far more efficient, sustainable and secure, it is only going to become more popular for designers wanting to create a name for themselves. 

For those who are still ultimately invested in physical fashion, this is not necessarily bad news either. The more the fashion industry takes a hold of crypto’s future, the more money and attention is being placed on fashion itself, which will only help it ‌grow and flourish over the next few decades. In terms of what the future looks like, it is hard to pinpoint anything specific, especially in a constantly evolving metaverse which is only just finding itself. If we have had any clues so far, however, it's fair to say that it is going to be dressed to impress.