Mapping the Net-a-Porter of NFT marketplaces

NFTs are all the rage. In just a few months, many fashion and beauty brands began issuing NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Nars Cosmetics.

Today, a large number of markets are competing to become the go-to choice for fashion and beauty marketers. Gucci worked with Christie’s on their art film, Louis Vuitton worked with Wenew on their NFT integrations, and Nars partnered with Truesy. “It seems like a new market is popping up every five minutes, but not in luxury – there are a lot of opportunities out there,” says Cathy Hackl, a metaverse consultant who advises luxury brands. It compares it to other industries, such as sports, which have dominant markets for DTV.

“It’s so fragmented right now. There are all these little marketplaces that sell art and maybe fashion, but there isn’t a house in the Metaverse, or a marketplace that lowered its flag and said, “ We are the place, ”she adds.

Jamie Burke, founder and CEO of Outlier Ventures, which invests in blockchain and metaverse companies, agrees. “There is no clear winner neither on NFT platforms in general nor on any specific vertical, be it art, fashion or beauty. It’s pretty much an open field. That said, a lot of venture capital is consolidating into a handful of somewhat more general platforms. “

Burke advises those developing an NFT fashion franchise to be “fairly agnostic” of the blockchain they rely on. “Most luxury fashion brands see the NFT environment as a new distribution channel. They want to be relevant to the Metaverse demographics and expand their brands in those environments, ”Burke said. “NFTs lend themselves very well to luxury items because they have provenance, they are persistent, they do not degrade, and they can be displayed in a native metaverse environment.”

However, while there are several established general NFT markets, the industry is aware of the same considerations that are relevant in e-commerce or department stores when evaluating partners, including careful curation and a sleek customer experience. . “If you go to [some] markets, it looks a lot more like a regular store, like a Macy’s or Walmart, ”says Hackl. “For luxury, these markets have to be beautiful – they have to reflect the world they are selling in. Whatever NFT Net-a-Porter is, it will need to have it visually for luxury brands to reach out to them.