Balmain has created a Web3 hub, called Balmain Thread, to bring together its NFT projects on one platform and open access to exclusive products and experiences to members of the community.
The hub was built in partnership with minting platform MintNFT and energy-efficient public blockchain XRP Ledger. It will debut at Wednesday’s Balmain Festival, the third iteration of the brand’s Paris Fashion Week event, to an expected audience of 10,000 at Stade Jean Bouin. Those in attendance will be granted automatic access to the Balmain Thread as an extension of their ticket to the event.
Balmain has been an early and rapid adopter of NFTs among fashion brands. It was the first luxury house to introduce multiple NFTs, illustrating a commitment to the technology and offering it a relatively long history from which to weave a more cohesive strategy.
It started with a digital dress engulfed in flames for Vogue Singapore’s debut September issue in 2021. It soon followed that with a pair of NFT trainers linked to both a physical pair and utility in the form of access to VIP experiences. It recently added NFC tags to its Pokemon clothing line and launched an NFT collectible auction alongside its Balmain x Barbie capsule collection, also with MintNFT. Amidst a host of one-off fashion week NFT projects, this launch reflects a concerted effort on the part of Balmain to establish a centralised hub through which to create a throughline for its NFT drops by combining them in one place.
“My goal has always been to ensure that this house’s designs are timeless and tied together by a unifying thread,” Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing said in a statement. Using blockchain technology, the brand will be able to store information about its Web3 evolution on the decentralised network, establishing an on-chain record.
This is in keeping with an ongoing evolution of brand NFT and Web3 strategies. It’s now been at least a year since the early adopters have thrown a hat into the ring, so subsequent offerings have become more complex and more focused on utility and the long-term.
In May, CMO Txampi Diz introduced the concept of the dedicated metaverse destination as a play to bring fans closer to the French fashion house and bring multiple Web3 projects together in one place. He said that its Web3 efforts were not and would not be siloed from the rest of the business.
“It has to be coherent with the global strategy of the brand. It's useless to just launch NFTs to be part of the conversation — they have to be tied to a project.” He also emphasised their community-building capabilities, adding that it had already started exploring private events that were limited to token holders. “We like to say we have an audience and not only customers. We believe that luxury brands have also become media, and for us, NFTs are an interesting and powerful tool.”
Guests at Balmain Festival will be able to access the Balmain Thread in three ways. First, they were given the option to join upon receiving their tickets. Then, those viewing the live stream can follow links on Balmain.com, and those in attendance in person will be prompted to launch mobile photo experience app The Moment (powered by MintNFT) to transform a photograph they take at the festival into their own NFT. Future entrance will be granted at forthcoming yet-to-be-disclosed Balmain events.
Once members, holders will be privy to Balmain’s upcoming NFT drops, exclusive in-person events and digital experiences, and house collections.
A number of other fashion brands have begun inviting their communities to participate in the creation of NFTs. Adidas and Prada, for example, partnered on a project that minted a number of submitted fan works and compiled all submissions into a group art piece. Salvatore Ferragamo’s new Soho store invited visitors to design and mint their own NFT in person while emerging designer Kim Shui created a dress made from a composite of submitted images with plans to mint it as an NFT.
Brands are also developing their own metaverse destinations. Whereas brands like Gucci have turned to go-tos like Discord and Roblox, projects like YSL Beauty’s Arianee-powered token-gated virtual space opt for self-hosted Web3 spaces. This newfound direct access to consumers allows brands to cultivate and directly connect with their community in exciting ways, Arianee CEO Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel told Vogue Business last month.
“The Balmain Thread builds upon this house’s distinctive strategy of continually exploring pathways that might strengthen our ties with the incredibly engaged, diverse and global Balmain Army,” Diz said in a statement announcing the most recent news.Read more at: cheap formal dresses uk | prom dresses uk online
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