NFT wearables are bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds

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With the increasing adoption of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) around the globe, owning wearable NFTs or 'digital items' has become one's most prized digital possession. Apart from virtual fashion wearables, now wearing one's NFTs—physically has attracted a significant number of users. NFTs are taking physical forms, and NFT community members are opting to wear Apple Watches, with their favorite NFTs as their screensavers. Moreover, displaying rare physical NFTs has become a source of proving one's financial status in both real and metaworlds. 

Several brands are banking on this trend to launch phygital NFT offerings in partnership with blockchain platforms. Digital fashion, which is predicted to become a US$68 billion market by 2030, has attracted several brands, such as Adidas, Nike, and GAP, to join Metaverse with digital merchandise, such as wearable NFTs. For instance,

• In June 2022, Berlin-based start-up, Brandverse announced the creation and launch of their first wearable, Z3NA, a collection created as part of the Brandverse ecosystem. The collection will contain 2500 NFT watches living on the Ethereum blockchain. These watches, which will be of high quality and compatible with various 3D avatar collections, will qualify Brandverse as a Web3 brand.

Brandverse also stated that it would be using its proprietary 3D modeling process to create these digital watches. Interestingly, the brand is implementing its procedural 3D design to adapt these digital wearables to any digital avatar in the Metaverse at scale. This will help the brand gain the go-to-market capability as more 'metaworlds' come online. Therefore, through this launch, the platform will narrow the gap between the physical and Metaverse. This innovative launch will enable Brandverse to revolutionize the concept of blockchain technology, digital wearables, and NFT culture.

• In July 2022, American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer GAP announced to collaborate with French NFT brand, Dogami to launch NFT wearables in the market. These NFT wearables are Digital GAP brand sweatshirts exclusively for the DOGAMÍ avatars, encouraging users to express their virtual pet's unique style and unique fashion. 

These virtual apparels will be available in a three-item pack with eight different types of accessories, and each accessory will be available in eight colors and four levels of rarity (Rare, Epic, Legendary and Artifact). Initially, these NFTs will be provided exclusively to Gap Threads NFT holders for 24 hours and later opened to the general public. Notably, both the GAP Threads marketplace and Dogami are built on Tezos, an energy-efficient blockchain with very low energy consumption.

Petaverse, which brings NFT Lovers, Pet Parents and Gamers into a world of gaming, saw significant popularity along with Metaverse over the last four quarters. Therefore, popular brands, such as GAP, dived into this new vertical of NFT, embracing creativity and innovation and joining both the physical and digital worlds.

• In February 2022, another apparel brand, Wrangler, launched NFT Wearables, which is the first NFT drop that intends to narrow the physical and digital worlds. This NFT collection was conceived and choreographed by musician Leon Bridges, a rare denim dress worn by the singer in an album. Wrangler partnered with LTD.INC, to use the latter's NFC application and scanning technology to launch 75 digital NFTs, encompassing a rare denim dress made exclusively for Leon Bridges.

The highest bidder of the NFT collection will receive an innovative dress packed in a retro-futuristic suitcase with unique content created by Bridges, together with an ultra-rare Decentraland Wearable physical denim jumpsuit.

• In April 2022, another digital fashion business, Brand New Vision (BNV), launched an in-house fashion wearables NFT collection, a collection of 1,000 digital eyewear NFTs. Notably, the first drop of these 1,000 digital eyewear NFTs called "The Gs" will offer the user a range of utility and exclusive access to BNV's digital fashion ecosystem. This launch came after the brand's fundraising of US$4 million led by Animoca Brands.
• In July 2022, Swiss luxury watchmaker, Franck Muller, announced to launch of a collection of digital wearables and physical watches on the Binance NFT marketplace, a partnership that will bring these NFTs to life. 

Mystery by Franck Muller is a reward-packed, exclusive NFT Mystery Box collection, which providers the holders of these NFTs to access rewards ranging from physical Franck Muller timepieces to Apple Watch faces, metaverse wearable NFT watches, access to special private events etc. Notably, these NFTs come in different editions—Normal (N), Rare (R), Super Rare (SR), and Super Super Rare (SSR).

• Tafi, a developer of avatars and 3D content, partnered with Coca-Cola to launch branded virtual wearables (NFTs), which include a 'wearable' jacket for avatars in the Decentraland metaverse. Notably, the unique NFTs are contained in a "Coca-Cola Friendship Box" with a bubble jacket, a sound visualizer, and a friendship card inspired by the collectible trading cards launched by Coca-Cola in the 1940s. 

In the Metaverse, these wearable NFTs are used for accessorizing avatars and thus have attracted a significant number of users. Consequently, NFT fashion found its way into the Metaverse, with popular brands entering the space with unique NFTs. Therefore, PayNXT360 projects digital fashion in the form of wearable NFTs to see substantial growth parallel to Metaverse and other entities in blockchain technology over the long run.

To know more and gain a deeper understanding of the global NFT market, click here.