The marriage between fashion and crypto is coming to an end, with major brands making a renewed push into the industry. Balmain and Burberry are the latest fashion houses to explore the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
British luxury fashion house Burberry is entering a deal with Mythical Games’ Blanco’s Block Party to create its own Metaverse world. The new partnership will add more characters and in-game items to Blanco’s Block Party.
Luxury brands join the NFT craze
Last year, Burberry collaborated with Mythical Games to release the Burberry-branded Sharky Bee character and related accessories. This year, the fashion giant is planning the release of a character who looks like a unicorn named Minnie Bee. As per reports, the character will be decorated with Burberry’s signature and will have accessories like a boom box and a gold horseshoe.
Burberry Metaverse takes the form of a floating virtual oasis and is set to go live on June 22. Previous holders of Burberry’s in-game merchandise will have access to rare items, including free digital bucket hats already earmarked for holders of Sharky Bee, a Burberry character introduced in 2021.
“We’re on a learning curve, so there’s a lot of value in how we learn to connect with the community and new creators and how that relationship develops,” said Burberry chief executive Rachel Waller. “There’s a huge amount in terms of what we measure in terms of what we’re learning. That’s where the partnership becomes really important to us.”
Jamie Jackson, co-founder of Mythical Games, lauded the partnership, saying it will help the luxury brand gain new customers. “We know that our consumers, especially younger consumers, are highly interested in this space anyway,” Jackson said.
Balmain is far behind with its NFTs
French luxury powerhouse, Balmain, is embracing NFTs in collaboration with Jeff Cole to create the artwork for the new Balmain Unicorn sneaker. The NFT will be used as part of a marketing campaign for the sneakers. These designs will make their debut at the NFT.NYC convention at Balmain’s Madison Avenue boutique.
Sneaker designer Olivier Rousteing expressed his delight at Cole’s NFTs. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the final artwork. Jeff clearly understood that the spirit of our new unicorn has much more to do with the mythical creature’s elusive beauty and rare strength than any literal interpretation of its size,” said Rousteing Told.
Gucci expanded its partnership with Roblox and unveiled plans to collaborate with Sandbox as it tries to gain a foothold in the cryptoverse. Balenciaga and TAG Heuer join an exclusive list of fashion brands that have started accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in their outlets.
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