Prada, the famous Italian luxury fashion designer has debuted its very first solo NFTs on Thursday, which will be available for people to purchase for 24 hours alongside the buying of a physical item.
The NFT will be among the brand’s ongoing Timecapsule initiative which was originally launched in December 2019. The initiative drops limited-edition physical products on Prada’s e-commerce site on the first Thursday of every month.
Thursday saw every shirt dropping on luxury fashion designer website coming with a free NFT that’s designed like a pill capsule and backed up on the Ethereum blockchain. In total, there will be 100 shirts and NFTs.
The black or white button-down unisex shirts are designed by artist Cassius Hirst, son of renowned artist Damien Hirst. The corresponding NFT will also refer to the drop’s serial number as well as an item number that’s associated with each physical shirt.
The NFTs will grant owners exclusive access to perks and experiences which will also be showcased on Prada’s newly launched Discord server “Prada Crypted.”
A non-profit named Aura Blockchain Consortium which was founded by LVMH, Cartier and Prada, is behind the luxury fashion designer’s NFT drop. Aura uses an Ethereum-based enterprise blockchain service known as Quorum.
A bigger physical trend among luxury brands
Although Prada is newest fashion brand to launch NFTs, this isn’t its first move into the NFT space. The luxury fashion designer partnered with Adidas earlier this year to launch a Beeple-inspired NFT.
Several luxury fashion brands have also been experimenting with phygital launches recently, and it ties existing items with an NFT plus utility or a digital experience on a blockchain game.
On the other hand, data compiled by Vogue Business revealed that Lancôme, a beauty brand has recently announced the launch of its customized gift boxes with exclusive NFTs for China’s 520 holiday.
Similarly, Balenciaga also recently launched an animated pixel game and NFT avatar for the same holiday, which is normally celebrated with festivals in real life, but COVID outbreaks in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing have left people and brands to gather online.
Gucci, the first of the luxury brands to introduce an NFT, most recently launched a “Gucci Town” on Roblox, offering games and virtual handbags to players in exchange for Robux, the virtual currency on Roblox that can be purchased with a credit card.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
