Prada is the latest luxury fashion brand to launch NFTs as part of its Timecapsule initiative, launched in 2019.
Prada becomes the latest luxury fashion brand to debut its first solo NFTs on June 2, Thursday. The Italian brand follows in the footsteps of other high-end labels, Gucci, Lancôme, and Balenciaga.
The NFTs will be available for free to those who will purchase items from Prada’s Timecapsule initiative, which they launched in December 2019. The Timecapsule initiative has been dropping limited-edition physical products on Prada’s e-commerce site every first Thursday of every month since 2019.
In total, the Timecapsule initiative has had 30 drops, with Thursday’s drop being the 30th. Prada has also collaborated with other brands before for NFT drops. However, this is the first time the Italian luxury fashion brand is launching its own Ethereum NFTs simultaneous with the physical drop. The NFTs will be up for grabs for 24 hours upon purchasing a physical item.
More Details on the Drop
On Thursday, Prada’s Timecapsule initiative will be dropping shirts on Prada’s website, which will come with free NFTs. The NFTs, backed up on the Ethereum blockchain, are designed like pill capsules (as pictured above). A total of 100 shirts and 100 NFTs will be released, so it’s safe to assume the shirts will go on a first-come, first-served basis.
The shirts dropping on Thursday are button-down unisex shirts, available in black or white, designed by artist Cassius Hirst, son of NFT artist Damien Hirst. The shirts will feature Hirst’s trademark mask and brain scan designs, which apparently represent unity. Each NFT will have the drop’s serial number, plus an item number associated with each physical shirt.
Available Colors of the Physical Shirts Designed by Cassius Hirst for the Timecapsule NFT Drop | Image from Prada
Holders of the Prada NFTs will gain exclusive access to a slew of perks and experiences. Holders are encouraged to join Prada’s Discord server, “Prada Crypted,” which will be launching on Thursday, too.
Prada will use Aura Blockchain Consortium, a non-profit founded by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Prada, and Cartier, for this drop. Aura is using Quorum, an Ethereum-based enterprise blockchain service.
Bridging the Divide Between Physical and Digital
As mentioned earlier, this is Prada’s first time launching its own NFTs. However, it’s not the luxury brand’s maiden foray into the NFT space. It has previously collaborated with Adidas to launch Beeple-inspired NFTs.
And as intimated in the get-go, Prada isn’t the first luxury brand to experiment with “phygital” launches—NFT drops that bridge the divide between the physical and digital worlds by tying existing physical items with NFTs. The ties are usually in the form of an NFT with utility or a digital experience on a blockchain-based game.
Gucci was the first luxury brand to launch an NFT in the form of a four-minute video clip wherein they incorporated creative director Alessandro Michele’s runway presentation. It was dubbed “Aria” and was part of Gucci’s centenary Aria Collection celebration.
Most recently, Gucci launched “Gucci Town” on Roblox, where they offered games and virtual handbags to players in exchange for Robux (Roblox’s virtual currency). Gucci is so immersed in the Web3 ecosystem that it even formed the “Dream Big” team, whose focus is to experiment in the blockchain and crypto area to look for ways to turn those experiments into a sustainable revenue stream.
Another luxury brand, Balenciaga, recently launched an animated pixel game and NFT avatar for China’s 520 holiday (China’s version of Valentine’s Day). Also commemorating the same holiday is beauty brand Lancôme, which launched customized gift boxes with exclusive NFTs.
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