Inside the Digital Fashion Explosion With DressX

If we’re in a bear market, digital trend didn’t get the memo.

Main luxurious trend homes like Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Valentino have all made vital strikes within the fast-growing area over the previous yr. In the meantime, a brand new era of digitally-native manufacturers helps hoist the torch for the burgeoning motion, which is poised to proceed increasing its affect throughout the $1.7 trillion trend trade.

Based in 2018 by Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, DressX is a number one digital trend retailer that has partnered with likes of Bershka, H&M, Rebecca Minkoff, and DUNDAS, and lately raised a $15 million sequence A spherical led by Greenfield with participation from Sluggish Ventures, Warner Music, Crimson DAO, The Artemis Fund, and extra.

In a forward-looking nft now podcast interview, the DressX co-founders dive into why trend’s elite are getting into Web3, what luxurious manufacturers are doing proper and fallacious within the area, and the way forward for metaverse adoption and digital id.

Matt Medved: Digital trend has a ton of potential to drive mainstream Web3 adoption. How did you two discover your manner into this area?

Daria Shapovalova: The primary of August is when the corporate turns three years previous. We come from a trend background. I used to be a journalist. I had my TV present in trend. I interviewed all of the designers, celebrities, and many individuals from the trade. 

I used to be touring to all the style weeks. Paris at all times felt like a second house as a result of trend week occurs right here each quarter. Then I began trend work in Ukraine. We’re each from Ukraine, so it turned the biggest one in Jap Europe. And we already began to work collectively. Natalia was the chief working officer of Style Week. In 2013, we began a showroom in Paris the place we offered the garments of latest designers to the biggest shops worldwide. It was bodily trend. 

So, we knew rather a lot in regards to the trade earlier than getting into area. I began my profession in trend once I was 17. And that’s why we got here with like a bit of data of how the trade is constructed and who’s creating it. We knew some individuals within the conventional trend trade, which gave us a little bit little bit of leverage and connections. 

Six years in the past, I relocated to San Francisco and did my MBA there as a result of the large thought was what could possibly be performed for the style trade is to maneuver it into the longer term and assist it scale within the new area, which is certainly tech. And that’s precisely how, three years in the past, DressX was born. 

What’s the imaginative and prescient for DressX?

Natalia Modenova: DressX is the meta closet. It’s your wardrobe of digital-only trend, AR appears to be like, and wearable NFTs, in addition to your avatar skins. And this can be a go-to vacation spot to start out your journey into digital trend and to actually change your outfit on your digital presence within the metaverse, social media, 3D social media, and gaming surroundings. So we will name it alternative ways, however mainly, that’s your wardrobe on your on-line presence.

Who’s buying digital trend? What do you suppose the evolution of that client base will appear like sooner or later?

Daria: Hundreds of thousands of individuals. As a result of we offered already over one million gadgets on numerous platforms, together with DressX and different Web2 and Web3 platforms. It’s essential to say that as of now as a result of we actually want to accumulate this behavior of customers having digital wardrobes. It’s essential to be current in each Web2 and Web3 environments. 

So, we undoubtedly work rather a lot with Web3 corporations, however DressX is a model. It’s additionally current in Roblox, for instance, which isn’t blockchain powered, as of now. However for us, it’s actually essential to face completely different audiences as a result of answering your query, who’s shopping for digital trend in Roblox, it’s the era of eight to fifteen years previous and so they’re already appearing as traders as a result of it’s a chance to buy restricted gadgets. 

Clearly, the DressX NFT market is a really completely different viewers. We imagine within the adoption of digital trend, and we undoubtedly imagine that right here it makes whole sense when it’s powered by blockchain, when the provenance is there, and when the gadgets could be resold. However in an effort to purchase the habits of each particular person proudly owning digital wardrobes when it comes to the bodily wardrobes, we have to face completely different generations from completely different environments and form of create collectively and educate them. 

What had been among the most important releases or moments that helped transfer the needle ahead to determine DressX?

Natalia: That’s a very good query. I believe the entire begin of DressX as a platform was undoubtedly this second as a result of for us, from day one, it was essential to have a wearable side to digital trend even when it existed in stunning renders and inspirational photographs. We wished to actually give a chance to start out sporting digital trend in numerous codecs. 

And the primary one was dressing up for social media. Then we expanded into the second use case of augmented actuality trend and creating your appears to be like in real-time. And for movies, it coincided with a time when all of the social media had been form of pushed by video codecs like TikTok and Reels. And naturally, enlargement into the avatar trend via Roblox, which is a large platform and an enormous retailer.

In fact, the large launch of the Meta avatar retailer was additionally a milestone. They made lots of noise introducing the entire idea of the metaverse to their wider viewers after they renamed the corporate. And after they launched the avatar retailer with three manufacturers — Balenciaga, Prada, and Tom Brown — it was an enormous validation that the style and digital worlds are coinciding. And DressX was the primary ever digital-only model to be launched on the platform and now has the biggest variety of gadgets within the avatar retailer. 

And naturally the launch of our nft.dressx.com platform the place each single merchandise, each single NFT has a wearable utility. 

What are some examples of trend manufacturers which have entered the area and actually performed it proper? 

Daria: I believe Tommy Hilfiger did an important job by being current and doing lots of completely different actions in numerous environments. That’s actually a very good transfer. We all know just a few manufacturers will enter this new area, however we will’t speak about that now. However that can be good and one thing to observe. 

However Gucci, after all, they had been doing an important job. And every thing that they did, ranging from Gucci Vault, that was extra on-line commerce, however that’s already so targeted on digital and the brand new era and the way they took it into the area with NFTs. That was wonderful. 

Clearly, Dolce & Gabbana did an important job. They know tips on how to do high fashion and did an important high fashion NFT sale. It was an enormous push within the trade and it was an essential second.

Once we discuss in regards to the metaverse, what does that imply to you? How are you each personally and professionally getting ready for it?

Daria: Truthfully, we expect the metaverse already exists, even in social media. Once we publish footage of ourselves on Instagram, let’s say, and after we’re current on social media every day, it’s form of a pre-metaverse. We’re already a digital model of ourselves. 

Once we go to Instagram or another social media, we publish our footage, it’s form of a little bit bit completely different from who we’re in actuality. And that’s precisely like part of the metaverse that already touches everybody. 

And the chance that, for instance, Snapchat or Instagram or TikTok give us, that we will grow to be celebrities or we will create our avatars and gown them and seem there as our digital selves. It’s the precursor of that metaverse that we envision as being a completely completely different actuality the place we will reside and exist. Sure, it’s nonetheless not there, however the first signal of this future world we will already use every day.

We perceive it received’t be in-built in the future. However that’s what’s so nice about humanity. We generally take into consideration one thing long-term and perceive it’s not right here, however let’s put together for this future. Let’s construct it collectively. The extra individuals construct it, the sooner this future will come. 

What excites you most about the way forward for digital trend?

Natalia: I believe it’s the brand new varieties it might take concerning inventive expression. As a result of undoubtedly, within the core of each trend model, the inventive director, their inventive imaginative and prescient, and the inventive individuals with new instruments will certainly deliver some outcomes that aren’t predictable, that can’t be AI Midjourney generated. It’s only a new device for creativity, which is wonderful. 

And naturally, it’s this new digital financial system that reveals that it’s rising as a result of it has an enormous potential. So, similar to the financial system has been shifting from actual industries into the service industries into the digital trade. I believe the digital financial system can be very fascinating and new and that’s what excites me rather a lot.

Daria: What excites me is the billions of digital gadgets we’ll promote as DressX. That excites me most of all. 

This interview transcript has been edited for concision and readability.

For the complete and uncut interview, hearken to our podcast episode with DressX.