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Crypto fashion: would you buy clothes that don’t exist?

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Crypto fashion: would you buy clothes that don’t exist?

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This video talks about Hironto Kai and how he designs virtual clothes which he sells in a virtual world. They can be bought and sold on the blockchain as a form of an NFT. This video fits well into my article as I'm explaining how people can buy NFT's.

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Crypto fashion: would you buy clothes that don’t exist?

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People will collect anything. Baseball cards, stamps, Pez dispensers - somewhere, somebody probably has 10,000 of them. Some collectibles, like rare books or works of art, are valuable in large part because of their intrinsic worth or beauty. But whether the object is a Picasso or a Babe Ruth rookie card, it is generally true that the rarer the item, the more expensive it is likely to be.

Digital media defies scarcity, as anyone who has ever copied and pasted a file knows. The teenage years of the internet were spent in a push and pull between ownership and sharing, RIAA vs. Napster. The erosion of scarcity created by digital media provoked some interesting attempts to reestablish it, such as when the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan recorded an album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin , and created just a single physical copy. It sold in 2015 for .

New technology has shifted the balance yet again, allowing creators to establish the same scarcity for digital files as for physical objects by making them uniquely identifiable. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs, or "niftys") are pieces of digital media with essentially a permanent, non-transferable sticky note attached by whoever creates, or "mints" it. Anybody with a digital platform - which these days is almost everybody - can mint one, authenticate it themselves, and cash in.

Instead of trading jerseys after games (discouraged due to COVID), NBA players now trade NFTs of highlight-reel clips, called Kings of Leon in the form of NFTs, with higher tiers offering exclusive album art and even front row seats to concerts. , earned its creator $580,000 in February. A collage of 13 years of online posts by a sold in March for $69,300,000.

"NFT mania" raises all sorts of discussions about the meaning of art and the value of virtual "objects." But perhaps the most important thing about NFTs is their uniquely harmful environmental footprint.

And we've barely begun to talk about it. But we need to. Because while NFTs might seem like a fad now, allowing them to become established as the standard for ownership of digital artwork and collectibles could create a massive source of energy consumption for years to come.

In February, the French artist Joanie Lemercier was moved to of several works after discovering just how substantial the environmental costs were. "My release of 6 CryptoArt works," Lemercier wrote on his website, "consumed in 10 seconds more electricity than [my] entire studio over the past 2 years."

Without delving too deeply into the inner workings of blockchain , at its core it's essentially a database system that allows for secure transactions on the Internet. What powers this technology is a very long, complex and public ledger of transactions. A wide network of computers is constantly at work, checking to make sure the chain stays the same and that the only additions are authorized new blocks of data.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin use blockchain to keep track of who owns coins and allow people to buy and sell them. Spending a bitcoin requires confirming the whole chain, which is relatively straightforward for a computer. Creating, or "mining," a bitcoin out of thin air requires many advanced computers working fiendishly hard to quickly solve unimaginably hard math problems. It's difficult and energy-intensive - on purpose.

NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain, the second most popular after Bitcoin. One analysis found the energy footprint of the average transaction on this network is roughly 35 kWh - about the same as powering a refrigerator for a month. But NFT transactions also involve minting, bidding, selling and transferring a digital token. All these actions are costly, adding up to an average of 369 kWh - over 10 times as much energy. One researcher calculated that a certain artist selling two pieces of artwork used over 175 MWh, creating the greenhouse gas emissions of 21 years of a U.S. household's electricity use.

The energy cost of an NFT depends on the number of transactions rather than its selling price. An NFT sold for $1 million has a considerably lower impact than 100 NFTs that sell for $15 each. But as more artists join growing marketplaces, the low-cost, high-volume strategy is gaining popularity, which could lead to devastating environmental consequences. The danger is that NFTs become the key to a new market of digital collectables, thereby resulting in an inexcusable amount of wasted energy.

It's common to think of the digital world's energy use as negligible compared to real-world physical processes, like manufacturing and agriculture. Many people new to NFTs take this outlook, and they're not to blame: How could moving around bits and bytes compare to trains and tractors? But the open secret behind crypto is that it's powered by inefficiency. All that energy use is what makes the whole blockchain secure, why the sticky note confirming authenticity stays stuck to the NFT.

Blockchain isn't fundamentally doomed: There are ways of chaining blocks together using trusted stakeholders instead of brute force work, which would . If crypto enthusiasts manage to band together and pull off a switch to , it would change the conversation - but like most breakthroughs, it's always just a few years away. And the growing NFT trend is exacting growing climate costs right now.

One immediate step would be for online NFT exchanges to be transparent about the total carbon emissions associated with each sale. This would depend on voluntary compliance, but the public could put pressure on brands creating NFTs and marketplaces selling them to be forthright with the emissions created by each one. This wouldn't make NFTs any less environmentally damaging in and of themselves, but at least it would enable people to judge the value of digital art while knowing the costs.

21 years of household energy use calculated based on EPA GHG equivalency of energy use; figure via Joanie Lemercier on Twitter.

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NFTs: The hot new fad with a massive environmental cost

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People will collect anything. Baseball cards, stamps, Pez dispensers - somewhere, somebody probably has 10,000 of them. Some collectibles, like rare books or works of art, are valuable in large part because of their intrinsic worth or beauty.

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How much does the Virtual Influencer Lil Miquela make?

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How much does the Virtual Influencer Lil Miquela make?

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The team’s analysis indicates that Lil Miquela earns around £6,550 per sponsored post on her Instagram account.

This means the robot could potentially earn a whopping £8,960,000 per year.

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A new report by OnBuy has revealed the astonishing amount of money these 'virtual influencers' can make on Instagram

While social media was once just seen as a hobby, it's now a lucrative career for many influencers around the world.

Now, it seems that even robots are trying their hands at social media, with many raking in huge amounts of money.

A new report by OnBuy has revealed just how much money these 'virtual influencers' can make on Instagram.

OnBuy explained: "'Virtual influencers' - also known as robot or CGI influencers - are on the rise. They're fictional computer generated 'people' who have the realistic characteristics, features, and personalities of humans.

"They are becoming a real force to be reckoned with in the influencer marketing industry, taking social media by storm. And with more and more emerging on Instagram every week, and brands queuing up to work with them, could this be the end for human influencers?"

Using Influencer Marketing Hub's Sponsored Post Money Calculator, OnBuy predicts that the highest-paid robot influencer is Lil Miquela, who boasts an impressive 2.5 million followers.

The team's analysis indicates that Lil Miquela earns around £6,550 per sponsored post on her Instagram account.

This means the robot could potentially earn a whopping £8,960,000 per year.

Coming in behind Lil Miquela is Noonoouri, a virtual influencer created by graphic designer Joerg Zuber.

Amazingly, Noonoouri has already worked with several big names, including Dior and Kim Kardashian.

With 362,000 followers, OnBuy estimates that the influencer earns around £1,382 per sponsored post, and could rake in over £2 million a year.

OnBuy added: "Japanese virtual influencer, Imma, claims third place. Interested in Japanese culture, film and art, her kawaii posts reach 237,000 Instagram users and could earn her an impressive half a million per year (£498,303.44) - 13 times more than the average UK salary - and £908 per post!"

Other notable robot influencers include Bermuda Is Bae (estimated to earn £440,182/year), Shudu (estimated to earn £96,000/year) and Ami Yamato (estimated to earn £53,000/year).

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Meet the robot influencers who are earning up to £9 million a year on Instagram

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A new report by OnBuy has revealed the astonishing amount of money these 'virtual influencers' can make on Instagram While social media was once just seen as a hobby, it's now a lucrative career for many influencers around the world.

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The only thing we'd wanted to do was ensure that artists could make some money and have control over their work. Back in May 2014, I was paired up with the artist Kevin McCoy at Seven on Seven, an annual event in New York City designed to spark new ideas by connecting technologists and artists. I wasn't sure which one I was supposed to be; McCoy and his wife, Jennifer, were already renowned for their collaborative digital art, and he was better at coding than I was.

At the time, I was working as a consultant to auction houses and media companies-a role that had me obsessively thinking about the provenance, ownership, distribution, and control of artworks. Seven on Seven was modeled after tech-industry hackathons, in which people stay up all night to create a working prototype that they then show to an audience. This was around the peak of Tumblr culture, when a raucous, wildly inspiring community of millions of artists and fans was sharing images and videos completely devoid of attribution, compensation, or context. As it turned out, some of the McCoys' works were among those being widely "reblogged" by Tumblr users. And Kevin had been thinking a lot about the potential of the then-nascent blockchain-essentially an indelible ledger of digital transactions-to offer artists a way to support and protect their creations.

By the wee hours of the night, McCoy and I had hacked together a first version of a blockchain-backed means of asserting ownership over an original digital work. Exhausted and a little loopy, we gave our creation an ironic name: monetized graphics. Our first live demonstration was at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, where the mere phrase monetized graphics prompted knowing laughter from an audience wary of corporate-sounding intrusions into the creative arts. McCoy used a blockchain called Namecoin to register a video clip that his wife had previously made, and I bought it with the four bucks in my wallet.

We didn't patent the basic idea, but for a few years McCoy tried to popularize it, with limited success. Our first demo might just have been ahead of its time. The system of verifiably unique digital artworks that we demonstrated that day in 2014 is now making headlines in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, and it's the basis of a billion-dollar market. Head-spinning prices are now being paid for artworks that, just a few months ago, would have been mere curiosities. Last week, Kevin Roose, a technology writer for The New York Times, offered a digital image of his column for sale in a charity auction, and a pseudonymous buyer paid the equivalent of $560,000 in cryptocurrency for it. McCoy has just put up for sale the very first NFT we created while building our system. Capturing an animation called Quantum, it could go for $7 million or more, Axios reports.

I have no financial stake in that sale. The only NFT I own is the one I bought for $4, and I have no plans to sell it. I certainly didn't predict the current NFT mania, and until recently had written off our project as a footnote in internet history.

The idea behind NFTs was, and is, profound. Technology should be enabling artists to exercise control over their work, to more easily sell it, to more strongly protect against others appropriating it without permission. By devising the technology specifically for artistic use, McCoy and I hoped we might prevent it from becoming yet another method of exploiting creative professionals. But nothing went the way it was supposed to. Our dream of empowering artists hasn't yet come true, but it has yielded a lot of commercially exploitable hype.

If you liked an artwork, would you pay more for it just because someone included its name in a spreadsheet? I probably wouldn't. But once you leave aside the technical details of NFTs, putting artworks on the blockchain is like listing them in an auction catalog. It adds a measure of certainty about the work being considered. By default, copies of a digital image or video are perfect replicas-indistinguishable from the original down to its bits and bytes. Being able to separate an artist's initial creation from mere copies confers power, and in 2014 it was genuinely new.

But the NFT prototype we created in a one-night hackathon had some shortcomings. You couldn't store the actual digital artwork in a blockchain; because of technical limits, records in most blockchains are too small to hold an entire image. Many people suggested that rather than trying to shoehorn the whole artwork into the blockchain, one could just include the web address of an image, or perhaps a mathematical compression of the work, and use it to reference the artwork elsewhere.

We took that shortcut because we were running out of time. Seven years later, all of today's popular NFT platforms still use the same shortcut. This means that when someone buys an NFT, they're not buying the actual digital artwork; they're buying a link to it. And worse, they're buying a link that, in many cases, lives on the website of a new start-up that's likely to fail within a few years. Decades from now, how will anyone verify whether the linked artwork is the original?

All common NFT platforms today share some of these weaknesses. They still depend on one company staying in business to verify your art. They still depend on the old-fashioned pre-blockchain internet, where an artwork would suddenly vanish if someone forgot to renew a domain name. "Right now NFTs are built on an absolute house of cards constructed by the people selling them," the software engineer Jonty Wareing recently wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, most of the start-ups and platforms used to sell NFTs today are no more innovative than any random website selling posters. Many of the works being sold as NFTs aren't digital artworks at all; they're just digital pictures of works created in conventional media.

But the situation gets worse. Over the past decade, the blockchain has become a refuge for people who need another place to rest their assets. For global tycoons, it's just an alternative to parking their money in some real estate they would never visit. They can leave money in blockchain-based cryptocurrencies instead, which appreciate in value as long as people buy up bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and the like faster than the overall supply increases. Within the tech industry, a second group of investors hopes to use blockchains to build new apps, in areas such as social media or e-commerce, that bypass Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and other tech giants. Instead of giving a cut of their revenue to the App Store, for example, these investors want to build new lines of business in which they can keep the whole pie for themselves.

One major challenge is that the blockchain has, at present, approximately zero uses for the typical consumer. Theoretical uses abound, but no ordinary person is choosing a blockchain-based technology over its traditional counterpart. More than a decade after blockchains first caught tech geeks' eye, not a single smartphone app that you use with friends or co-workers relies on that technology. By contrast, when the web was the same age that bitcoin is today, it had half a billion users around the world.

There's only one exception to the lack of interest in blockchain apps today: apps for trading cryptocurrencies themselves. What results is an almost hermetically sealed economy, whose currencies exist only to be traded and become derivatives of themselves. If you squint, it looks like an absurd art project.

After a decade of whiplash-inducing changes in valuation, billions of dollars are now invested in cryptocurrencies, and the people who have made those bets can't cash in their chips anywhere. They can't buy real estate with cryptocurrency. They can't buy yachts with it. So the only rich-person hobby they can partake in with their cryptowealth is buying art. And in this art market, no one is obligated to have any taste or judgment about art itself. If NFT prices suddenly plunge, these investors will try buying polo horses or Davos tickets with cryptocurrencies instead. Think of a kid who's spent the day playing Skee-Ball and now has a whole lot of tickets to spend. Every toy looks enticing. NFTs have become just such a plaything.

The most common criticism of NFTs is that they're wildly environmentally irresponsible. Each transaction or recording of an artwork requires more and more computing power to complete. More computing power means more resources consumed. Many enthusiasts today will respond that "clean" or "green" NFTs are already starting to circulate. But the blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiasts of the past decade have shown that environmental responsibility is less than an afterthought. No evidence suggests that cryptotraders will make more money by embracing green NFTs.

Since the day he and I first teamed up to work on the technology, Kevin McCoy has been the authority on NFTs for me. He is more responsible for the concept than any other person, and he told me recently that he believes green NFTs will succeed. I want to believe him.

But I also look at the history of other gold rushes. People usually choose short-term profit over long-term responsibility. Although I absolutely see lots of artists who care deeply about the impact of their work, I don't see broad support from the cryptorich for abandoning the devastatingly destructive tech that brought them this far. I'm convinced by the artist and coder Everest Pipkin, whose comprehensive overview of the environmental and ethical pitfalls bears this straightforward headline: "HERE IS THE ARTICLE YOU CAN SEND TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY SAY 'BUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WITH CRYPTOART WILL BE SOLVED SOON, RIGHT?"

In the meantime, the current NFT market is drawing an extraordinary range of grifters and spammers. People are creating NFTs of artists' works without asking permission or even letting the artists know. Today, I run a platform that helps people create apps. Typically, the most popular apps are prosaic-messaging systems for work, or tools for building a website. For the entire first week of March, our most popular offering each day was a Twitter app that let people block lists of users en masse. The app skyrocketed in popularity because artists were using it to block NFT spammers from hijacking their works and monetizing them as NFTs without permission.

Mainstream brands see their own opportunity to capitalize on the hype. Companies selling toilet paper, potato chips, and light beer are tailgating on NFTs' newfound popularity to offer incomprehensible blockchain-themed promotions on social media.

I don't want to let go of the optimistic ideal behind NFTs. McCoy still believes that blockchain technologies can help artists sustain their work. But in my work as a technologist, my optimism has been dashed many times by opportunists who rushed in after a technology took off. In the early days of digital music, the advent of MP3s and new distribution systems was supposed to allow artists to sell directly to fans. In the early days of social media, companies made blogging technologies with the promise that writers would be able to communicate directly with their readers. This pattern played out in industry after industry.

But these changes left creators at the mercy of companies far more powerful, far more ruthless, and far less accountable than the record labels and publishers they'd disrupted. Musicians and writers gained direct access to their audiences, but its cost was a precarity that few could have imagined before their field was disrupted. Artists were the original gig economy.

Our initial NFT demo in 2014 was so well received that McCoy and I were invited to present the tech again a week or two later-this time at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, one of the technology industry's highest-profile conferences. The crowd was a mix of tech geeks and corporate types, all eager to spot the next hot start-up or popular smartphone app. McCoy and I gave a slightly more polished demo of how our proto-NFTs could help artists. Just like at the art museum, we made fun of our own phrase, monetized graphics. This time, nobody in the audience laughed. In the tech world, monetizing innovations is no joke. It's how the industry operates, and this crowd was all business.

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indelible ledger of digital transactions

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The only thing we'd wanted to do was ensure that artists could make some money and have control over their work. Back in May 2014, I was paired up with the artist Kevin McCoy at Seven on Seven, an annual event in New York City designed to spark new ideas by connecting technologists and artists.

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Digital fashion has already infiltrated gaming culture

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Digital fashion has already infiltrated gaming culture

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"Digital clothes, made from pixels instead of textiles, are gaining popularity.
Experts predict the market for “skins” in video games will hit $50 billion USD by 2026.
"(Ball, 2021)

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More than 180 million Snapchatters engage with AR each day. That’s over 75% of Snapchatters using Snapchat AR each day.

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Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard

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Snapchat remains one of the most popular social media platforms in the world - and it can be a great tool for businesses looking to connect with their audiences in fun and engaging ways.

If your brand is planning to use Snapchat for business, be sure to incorporate Snapchat stats into your social media plan. Tracking essential Snapchat user stats, familiarizing yourself with the most up-to-date Snapchat business statistics, and learning interesting facts about the social media platform can take your social media marketing strategy to the next level.

Numbers speak louder than words, though. Here are all the statistics you need to tell if Snapchat marketing is the right move for your business in 2023 and beyond.

General Snapchat statistics

As of Q4 2021, Snapchat had 319 million daily users. Just a year earlier, the numbers came in at 265 million. It's a significant increase, and one that has remained steady year over year since the platform's inception. That sort of growth means the base of customers a business can attract on the platform is also always growing.

Snapchat's number of monthly active users is significantly higher than the daily count. In January 2022, 557 million people used Snapchat on a monthly basis, which made it the 12th most popular social media platform in the world.

3. More marketers are interested in Snapchat for business than in previous years

According to Hootsuite's own research, search demand for keywords related to Snapchat for business has been growing year over year. This means that more people are googling phrases like:

Snapchat ads (+49.5% YoY)

Snapchat ads manager (+241% YoY)

Snapchat business (+174% YoY)

Snapchat business manager (+120% YoY)

So, even though Snapchat isn't exactly new to the social media marketing game, it's clearly benefiting from the short-form video content craze pioneered by TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Snapchat user statistics

92 million of Snapchat's daily users are located in North America. This makes the app a great tool for any business looking to make an impression in that region. The next largest demographic is in Europe, which has a reach of 78 million.

Snapchat's user base is still on the young side. Nearly 20% of the video messaging app's users are between the ages of 18 and 24. Only 6.1% of male users and 11% of female users are older than 35. If your social media strategy is geared towards a Gen Z and young millennial audience, Snapchat is a great place to reach them.

All of Snapchat's users have accounts on other social media platforms. The app's audience has the most overlap with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp. Few Snapchat users also use Reddit and LinkedIn.

Snapchat usage statistics

Time spent in the app per day has increased since 2021 when it was reported at 27 minutes - even as more competitors emerged (looking at you, TikTok). And while 30 minutes a day might not seem like a lot, it's only 3 minutes less than people spend on the current leader of the pack, Facebook.

The number of Snapchat users + the time they spend on the platform = opportunity for marketers!

AR functions are a major part of daily Snapchat usage. In an overview for investors, Snapchat claimed that over 200 million (or 63%) of the platform's daily active users engage with augmented reality (AR) features, like filters, every day. A business that can incorporate AR into its strategy is going to have a head start on engaging users on Snapchat.

Learn how to create your own Snapchat lenses and filters in our beginner-friendly guide to Snapchat marketing.

Snapchat features tons of fun games for users, like Bitmoji Party. These games, called Snap Games, consistently attract about 30 million users every month. In total, they've reached over 200 million users.

Why does this matter to brands? Businesses advertising on the platform can select Snap Games as a placement for 6-second unskippable ads.

Snapchat for business statistics

When you have a user base as large as Snapchat's, the total spending power is going to add up. These days, Snapchat users hold a whopping $4.4 trillion in global spending power. $1.9 of this is concentrated in North America alone.

Lots of successful businesses have used Snapchat as a marketing and advertising platform and seen great ROI as a result. Snapchat lists travel app Hopper, hot sauce brand Truff, and clothing consignment app Depop among its most spectacular success stories.

Hopper's example is particularly inspiring. The airline booking app used location radius targeting for their ads and designed dedicated creative assets for each radius's advertising audience (so, for example, Snapchatters in New York only saw flight deals relating to flights leaving from New York).

According to the case study, "By introducing radius targeting to its strategy, Hopper was also able to cut its cost per install in half, and confidently scale its investment in Snapchat by 5x."

Snapchat advertising statistics

At the end of the day, numbers don't lie. Snapchat's annual advertising revenue has grown every year since 2016. In 2021, the platform generated $2.62 billion in advertising revenue. That growth shows no sign of slowing down. It's clear that more and more brands are recognizing Snapchat's advertising potential.
Source: Statista
As previously noted, Gen Z and young millennials make up a significant portion of Snapchat's user base. There's a stereotype that Gen Z-ers have short attention spans, and Snapchat's data doesn't exactly disprove that. Statistics show that they spend less time than older generations looking at content on Snapchat - however, their recall (specifically in relation to advertising) is higher than that of other age groups.

Gen Z users display a 59% advertising recall after engaging with an advertisement for two seconds or less. It's a big impression made with very little time. With such an impressionable audience, Snapchat ads are set up for success.

There's an option to view Snapchat photos and videos on mute, but statistics show that it's not how most users engage with the app. 64% of users view ads on Snapchat with the sound on. Whether you're including a catchy theme song or customer testimonies, it's an important thing to keep in mind when planning your social media strategy.

At 126 million eligible users, India leads the global Snapchat ad reach ranking. However, if we look at what percentage of a country's population (over the age of 13) can be reached via Snapchat advertising, Saudi Arabia leads the chart at 72.2%.

As of 2022, 54.4% of Snapchat's advertising audience identify as women and 44.6% identify as male.

An interesting gender statistic comes in the 18-24 year old bracket, though. Women outnumber men in every age bracket except for this one. Men and women ages 18 to 24 are tied at 19.5% of the total user makeup in this demographic.

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16 Snapchat Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2023

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Snapchat remains one of the most popular social media platforms in the world - and it can be a great tool for businesses looking to connect with their audiences in fun and engaging ways. If your brand is planning to use Snapchat for business, be sure to incorporate Snapchat stats into your social media plan.

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" found that the production of their digital garments emits 97% less CO2 than physical garment. They also found that a digital garment, on average, saves 3300 liters of water per item."(Pitcher, 2021)

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What Digital Clothes Could Mean For The Environment

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Could clothing become entirely digital? If so, would this be a win for the sustainable fashion movement?

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Nfts affect on the environment, use energy and produce co2.

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Nfts affect on the environment, use energy and produce co2.

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The soaring popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has drawn multi-million dollar trades and celebrity attention. But in addition to generating buzzy headlines, it's also creating an unintentional byproduct that's keeping environmentalists up at night: massive energy consumption adding to the overall carbon footprint created by cryptocurrencies, Ethereum in particular.

NFTs are Ethereum-based tokens that are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Platforms that sell NFTs typically need buyers to use Ethereum to make their purchases. It is claimed, the digital token already uses about as much electricity as the entire country of Libya. Greater demand and more NFT transactions indicate profit-making opportunities for the miners which could then lead to increased emissions. The underlying argument is NFTs could significantly drive up the value of Ethereum, thus incentivizing more intense, and considerably energy-hungry, mining for profit, thereby multiplying the number of machines miners use. And more machines often means more pollution.

NFTs: The Next Big Thing

NFTs are touted to be the new frontier in the high-growth crypto investment space. Considered as the digital equivalent of collectibles these tokens have already hoovered up millions of dollars worth of investments in a variety of NFTs and NFT-related products. As their mass appeal grows and trading momentum accelerates, it is feared NFTs' environmental impact could be considerably damaging. Against the backdrop of the current discussions involving climate change and sustainability, the wider adoption of NFTs makes the issue of the energy consumption of blockchain technology, and carbon emissions resulting from it, more real and relevant.

NFTs and the Environment

According to the Digiconomist website, a single Ethereum transaction consumes more than 70.32 kWh, enough to power 1 U.S. household for 2.5 days. This is equivalent to a carbon footprint of around 34 Kg of carbon dioxide (CO2). Compared with traditional sources of consumption, this carbon footprint is equivalent to watching more than 5,700 hours of YouTube video or over 76,000 credit card transactions. Ethereum consumes more energy per year than all of Denmark and has a carbon footprint the size caused by Lithuania, according to the site.

"With electricity consumption of cryptocurrencies being more than several countries, the rush towards NFTs has further increased this issue," says Devesh Mamtani an NFT expert at Century Financial in the UAE. "This is very concerning."

The major reason is transactions in the Ethereum blockchain, he says. The increase in NFT users has exacerbated the problem. "NFTs' computation requirements are notably higher due to various stages involved including minting, bidding, selling and transferring process," he says, noting the energy cost of minting an NFT on Ethereum is 332kWh.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies are secured by a mechanism called proof of work (PoW), which is an energy-intensive mining process. This means these blockchains are energy-intensive by design, says Johannes Sedlmeir, a research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology in Germany.

One of the reasons there is "considerable energy consumption for these blockchains is that there are many nodes that all redundantly compute the same transactions," says Sedlmeir, who co-authored a report on theenergy consumption of blockchain technology. "To incentivize miners spending energy and money, they are sometimes rewarded with newly created (or mined) cryptocurrency units (block reward) and transaction fees for their computations."

The higher the price of the cryptocurrency, the higher the incentive to participate in the computations, which in turn become more complicated and require more energy, he argues. The NFT market growth and the resultant surge in energy consumption are even more unsettling when you consider Sedlmeir's claim that "the energy consumption of Bitcoin increased by three to four times and of Ethereum by about 10 times in the last year. "In the long run the energy consumption would converge towards the upper bound," he says.

While the issue of NFT-related emissions is virtually overshadowed by the dazzle of wealth generation, it comes at a time when environmentalists and climate experts have been sounding the alarm about the unprecedented rise in temperature, sea level, species extinction, severe weather events and other hallmarks of global warming.

Time to Act is Now

The NFT market is in its infancy and the data on the ecological cost specific to NFTs is scarce. In December last year, artist Memo Akten created a website (which has since been taken down) and analyzed 18,000 NFTs. He found that the average NFT has a carbon footprint of around 211 kg of CO2 equivalent. "That's the same as an EU resident's electric power consumption for more than a month or driving 1,000km, or a flight from London to Rome," says Switzerland-based Sascha Gianella, art advisor and the founder of We, The Muse, a visual artist professional support platform.

Notably, this does not include the energy consumption used in the creation of the work, its storage, or the website it's hosted on.

As fast-growing as the NFT market is, there is also growing pressure from artists and green-minded collectors for transparency, for platforms to commit to lower-carbon systems and to offset emissions. "From an art world perspective, it would be great to see crypto art and NFT platforms publicly and transparently address sustainability issues and commit to subsidizing the ecological footprint and donating to carbon credits," says Gianella, who is currently writing a paper on the subject.

A good way to tackle the environmental impact of NFTs is to secure "a commitment from collectors, developers, artists and investors to explore and move to more sustainable alternatives other than the Ethereum blockchain. "If there were to be a way forward, it would be to create a system where the mining process can be somehow tracked back to a company that makes its energy consumption transparent," asserts Gianella.

Proof-of-Stake is the Way

It is true that many cryptocurrencies are at the moment based on proof of work (PoW) or mining, and are not using energy very effectively, but this will change, assures UK-based Viktor Prokopenya, fintech investor and founder of trading platform capital.com and currency.com

"One hundred years ago, people made the first car, which had very big carbon emissions," he argues. "That did not mean we stopped creating cars - we improved the technology and [today] society has zero-emissions cars, and we are moving towards a world where all cars will be clean."

Cryptocurrencies, a young technology still, are evolving in much the same way. "We are moving from 'proof of work' to 'proof of stake' technology," says Prokopenya, calling it "the Tesla of cryptocurrency," in terms of emissions.

He assures it will not take humans a hundred years to develop clean technology, as it did with the automobile. "It will probably take five years," he adds.

Prokopenya points to other areas of modern technology to prove there's always room for improvement when it comes to energy efficiency. "Machine learning and AI also consume lots of energy, but this does not mean they are bad," he asserts, adding that zero-emission technology is just a few years away.

"The ideas are already there, and this problem will disappear in five years," he contends.

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The soaring popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has drawn multi-million dollar trades and celebrity attention. But in addition to generating buzzy headlines, it's also creating an unintentional byproduct that's keeping environmentalists up at night: massive energy consumption adding to the overall carbon footprint created by cryptocurrencies, Ethereum in particular.

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These are obviously fake looking

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Shoe brand Buffalo London has teamed up with digital fashion house The Fabricant to create a flaming virtual trainer that can only be "worn" in images for social media.

The design, dubbed the Classic BurningFor, is based on a 3D scan of the brand's Classic Low platform shoes, first popularised by the Spice Girls in the 90s.

Now in 2021, it's been updated for the age of the internet using CGI animation software to create a digital version lapped in blue or red flames.

Beyond being Buffalo London's debut digital-only product, the company claims this also marks the first time that an established brand has made a virtual wearable available for purchase on its website alongside its regular, physical products.

Last year, with the coronavirus pandemic limiting occasions to wear real clothes, interest in digital fashion skyrocketed and a slew of big-name brands created computer-generated versions of their garments.

However, these were generally made to be worn by gaming avatars and could be bought within the games themselves, as with the bright orange, branded backpacks and bucket hats that Gucci designed for The Sims 4 and the looks that Marc Jacobs and Valentino released on Animal Crossing.

Virtual fashion will allow people to "go completely crazy" online says Amber Jae Slooten of The Fabricant

The Classic BurningFor on the other hand is available via Buffalo London's own website, much like a real product, as well as through Dress-X - a multi-brand e-commerce retailer dedicated exclusively to digital fashion.

Shoppers simply supply a photo of themselves, in which they would like to wear the shoes, and Dress-X uses 3D software to "digitally dress" them and tailor the "fit" of the shoes to the chosen picture, which the owner can then share on their social media channels

"You could call it a sort of 3D photoshop, but it's way more complex as it takes the environment, lighting and all kinds of effects into account," The Fabricant co-founder Amber Jae Slooten told Dezeen.

"Unfortunately, the technology is not there yet for people to wear it in multiple images. However, we do think that this also makes people think about what image they use and more conscious about creating the image itself."

Only 100 pairs of the virtual trainers will be sold, at around €25 for a still image and double that for a moving video, in which the flames flicker and dance around the wearer's ankles.

Using fire as if it were a fabric shows off the nearly limitless possibilities of digital fashion as well as hoping to speak to the wider cultural zeitgeist.

"The idea was to create a concept that would acknowledge the hard times we're living in with this pandemic, but that also expresses optimism. Mythologically-speaking and in reality, fire is a force for transformation and has always been a symbol of rebirth," Slooten said.

"We thought that by using a material that resonated with people, but which could never exist in real life, we could create a sense of exploration and wonder that allows us to transcend our day-to-day reality."

"It is meant to be a conversation piece, not a fleeting image," she added.

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world. It is responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions - totalling more than all international air travel and maritime shipping combined - as well as guzzling up enough water a year to sustain five million people and producing 20 per of all wastewater worldwide.

And yet, almost three-fifths of all the clothing produced in the process ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year.

Slooten argues that digital fashion offers an alternative to this, which promotes individual experimentation and expression through clothes without the cost to the planet.

"We hope that slowly, brands will realise that a digital-only product is faster, more sustainable, cheaper and also more accessible. Imagine shipping a shoe halfway across the world to be worn, while you're also able to instantly download it and wear it wherever you like, whether on your digital avatar or your picture," she explained.

"In the future, we hope people will be able to wear digital items over their bodies using augmented and mixed reality technologies with lenses or glasses. It won't be long before we all walk around in virtual outfits that can change with the click of a button - like a face filter for your body."

Balenciaga's Afterworld video game takes players to a secret rave in the forest

Slooten founded The Fabricant alongside Kerry Murphy in 2018 and was the Amsterdam Fashion Institute's first-ever students to graduate with an entirely digital collection.

In a live panel discussion hosted by Dezeen as part of London Craft Week last year, she predicted that self-expression in the physical world will become more subdued due to environmental concerns associated with clothing production, but that virtual fashion will step in to fill the gap.

"Within the digital world, we can go completely crazy," she argued. "We can wear a dress made of water or have lights everywhere and change your textile according to your mood."

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Buffalo London sets iconic platform trainers ablaze for first digital-only product release

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Shoe brand Buffalo London has teamed up with digital fashion house The Fabricant to create a flaming virtual trainer that can only be "worn" in images for social media. The design, dubbed the Classic BurningFor, is based on a 3D scan of the brand's Classic Low platform shoes, first popularised by the Spice Girls in the 90s.

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1 in 3 Brits say that there clothing is old after 1 or 2 wears. This has resulted in people buying rapidly and then selling on platforms like Depop.

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"Let's just say, wearing an outfit more than once is seen as a fashion crime," says presenter Sukaina Benzakour. The 24-year-old is not alone in her opinion. Perhaps surprisingly, since sustainability seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue right now, one in three young British women consider clothes to be 'old' after just one or two wears. Research carried out for Barnardo's earlier this year revealed that Brits were set to spend £2.7 billion on 50 million summer outfits that would be worn only once - on holiday or at events such as festivals and weddings.

"I only wear clothes once because usually if I have bought an outfit and gone out in it then I would've most definitely taken a picture in it," Benzakour says. "I don't like to be seen in the same outfit [twice]. I guess that's shallow of me?"

Rachel* agrees. She sells her clothes on Depop after just one wear, stating in her bio: "I love all of these clothes but I hate wearing things more than once." When asked why she hates it so much, she explains that she sells "the clothes I have photos in or that lots of people have seen me in at a big event. I like to take every chance to wear something different each time."

Like Rachel, Smith intends to sell his clothes on Depop, with more than 20 bags of garments in his loft waiting to be listed. A quick scroll on the popular resale app reveals endless listings which reassure potential buyers that an item has only been worn once or, sometimes, just for a single photo.

She is aware of the impact of her actions. "It's really bad of me to just throw clothes away," she says. "It's a waste of money and also bad for the environment as it means those items will end up in landfill. And to make matters worse, manmade fibres such as plastics or nylons don't break down nearly as easily as natural fibres, such as cotton or wool."

Most of the people I spoke to for this article are intelligent and generally pretty aware that wearing something once and then getting rid of it isn't great for our planet (the words 'admit' and 'guilty' came up a lot). So what exactly is driving such a throwaway attitude to their wardrobes?

In news that will surprise no one, social media is a key factor. "Social media plays a huge part," says Smith. "You don't want negative comments and messages off people saying, 'You've worn that top before or outfit before,' as I've had in the past."

Alice Gividen, editor of WGSN's global trend edit The Feed, echoes this. "Once an outfit has been 'gridded', there's a real reluctance for shoppers to share the look again," she says. "The gratification that comes with a new outfit is gone, as the compliments stop coming."

As well as creating an expectation for ever more new outfits, by sharing a look once and once only, people are feeding into a never-ending cycle. They share an #OOTD for the likes or compliments, they scroll, they see another look, they buy that look...and so it continues.

"The concept of FOMO is sort of intrinsic to social sharing - and it's impacting clothes and shopping habits," Gividen continues. "Following the #OOTD hashtag introduces us to clothes we don't have, or can't afford - and fuels further consumption. As Instagram works to reduce friction on in-app paths to purchase, with the ability to now shop, checkout and manage orders all within the app, it makes buying this product easier than ever. While it is exciting that [Instagram] has democratised who actually is a tastemaker, with trends emerging from unlikely places, it just introduces us to, and creates demand for, even more product."

While Instagram certainly plays a part, there are psychological factors driving this hyperconsumerism, too. Professor Carolyn Mair writes in her enlightening book, The Psychology of Fashion: "As humans have developed and their basic needs are met, they experience greater motivation for belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. Fashion and fashion-related products can satisfy these needs... Comments and evaluations from others provide self-knowledge and can influence self-concept, self-identity and self-esteem." In other words, clothes are important to how we see ourselves and how we believe others see us.

Clothes can ease social anxiety, act as a canvas for self-expression and engender a sense of belonging in the wearer. And the type of people who take these benefits from clothes - people who are concerned about their appearance and being 'fashionable' - tend to be more receptive to adverts which emphasise image, and willing to pay more for clothing than others, according to Mair.

The habit of wearing clothes once and then chucking them may seem indefensible but when you begin to explore the reasoning behind it, a portrait of social pressure, psychological drivers and hormonal rewards emerges and it becomes easier to understand. Of course, understanding isn't a free pass to carry on being wasteful but it should prompt us to look beyond the individual to the wider causes and potential solutions.

Wearing something once doesn't seem so bad if it's rented or borrowed from a friend, for instance; it's throwing it away that's the problem. In a shift that Business of Fashion has called "the end of ownership", more and more brands are experimenting with rental models, tapping into the growth in popularity of dedicated rental platforms such as HURR and Onloan. "Rental, resale and refurbishment models lengthen the product lifecycle while offering the newness consumers desire," , pointing to a potentially more sustainable solution than buying and chucking.

The individual isn't off the hook here - it's imperative that we reconsider our wasteful ways as well as questioning our motivations for buying. Yet systemic changes could help ease the overbearing social pressure to constantly acquire new stuff while allowing us to express ourselves through style and try new looks without leaving the planet drowning in discarded clothes.

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Why Do People Ditch Their Clothes After Just One Wear?

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"Let's just say, wearing an outfit more than once is seen as a fashion crime," says presenter Sukaina Benzakour. The 24-year-old is not alone in her opinion. Perhaps surprisingly, since sustainability seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue right now, one in three young British women consider clothes to be 'old' after just one or two wears.

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Buffalo Shoe London x The Fabricant — The Fabricant

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This is a limited edition. Be one of the 100 wearing the first Digital Only shoe by Buffalo London and The Fabricant. Joining forces for Buffalo’s first time selling a non-physical product, which takes the industry into a whole new perspective of experiencing fashion in a more sustainable and creati

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Being such a new phenomenon, there is currently no data out there on the environmental impact of digital fashion weeks. That's why Mora has enlisted the help of tech company Normative to calculate the carbon footprint of this season's online edition of Helsinki Fashion Week, which will run from 27 July to 1 August. "Having our [digital] footprint measured and compared to physical events will give us a lot of information on how to do things differently," Mora explains.

Calculating the footprint of a digital fashion week

Considering that the information and communications technology sector is responsible for two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions - making it just as harmful as the aviation industry - it's important not to forget the invisible infrastructure behind a digital fashion week. The production of video, and the massive data centres and servers required to host those videos online, all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. As more brands embrace 3D and virtual reality (VR) technology, this digital environmental impact is only likely to rise.

"That's the first thing that surprised me: the scale and the operations behind the digital fashion week," comments Morten Rosén, head of partnerships and sales at Normative. "We've spoken to about 45 developers working on this project and gathered data from all the designers and digital partners. There are a lot of computers running, and a lot of logistics that go into running all these computers." The number of virtual attendees is an important factor, too. "Now we're waiting to calculate the bandwidth from the event itself; how many megabytes are being used, how many users?" Rosén explains.

While the final results won't be published until after the fashion week takes place, initial findings suggest that the digital Helsinki Fashion Week will have a higher overall impact on the environment - although more people can attend virtually. "The preparations are much heavier in carbon footprint during the digital event than the physical events," says Rosén. "If you look at only the carbon footprint, then the digital has a larger footprint than the physical. But if you take into consideration how many [people] can attend a digital fashion week, then the carbon footprint is substantially lower."

It shouldn't be about digital versus physical

Despite these direct comparisons, it's unlikely we'll move to digital-only fashion weeks beyond the pandemic, with designers such as Chloé's creative director Natacha Ramsay-Levi highlighting the value of a physical show during a Vogue Global Conversations panel in April. "Fashion shows are special events, I believe, they are here to inspire and engage conversation - and they have a meaning and they must feel authentic," she said. "There's a human dimension to it, which I'm very keen to keep."

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Are Digital Fashion Weeks Really More Sustainable?

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Being such a new phenomenon, there is currently no data out there on the environmental impact of digital fashion weeks. That's why Mora has enlisted the help of tech company Normative to calculate the carbon footprint of this season's online edition of Helsinki Fashion Week, which will run from 27 July to 1 August.

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Digital clothes: Could it make fashion more sustainable?

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Digital clothes: Could it make fashion more sustainable?

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Digital clothes video and how we are using digital models as well as clothes.

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Computer generated fashion models have been around for a few years, but some companies are now creating digital-only clothing for their virtual models to wear.

BBC Click's Spencer Kelly finds out more.

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Can digital clothes make fashion more sustainable?

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Computer generated fashion models have been around for a few years, but some companies are now creating digital-only clothing for their virtual models to wear. BBC Click's Spencer Kelly finds out more.

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by 36%

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Luckily, with retail outlets closed or restricted, fashion retailers have been able to up their game online

But with customers that expect fast and free returns, margins can be tight

Virtual try-on apps can offer a solution to get the fit right before purchases are made

E-commerce was a gift for retailers when physical outlets were closed. But selling online means dealing with a different type of customer - one that expects to be able to try on clothes and other apparel and return for a full refund if the style's not right or the fit's too tight.

It's estimated that between 30% and 50% of all fashion purchases are returned. This cuts heavily into the retailer's margins. But not offering free returns risks customers abandoning for another competitor altogether - it's not as if online shoppers are lacking choice.

The solution? To innovate, of course.

Enter virtual 'try-on' applications. Already used by brands like IKEA and Home Depot for customers to preview furniture and products in their homes using augmented reality, getting this right with clothing has been a 'holy grail' in the online fashion industry for a long time.

Due to the individual characteristics of the human body, making this technology accurate and reliable for everyone is very difficult, but there's progress being made by a number of tech firms and retailers.

French luxury brand Dior recently collaborated with Snapchat to allow its users to test their new models from the comfort of their own homes. To do so, customers would just need to click or scan the QR code from the Snapchat app, and to select the model of sneakers they want to try on and visualize them directly on their feet with Snapchat's AR technology.

Orders can be placed directly from Snapchat or Dior.com and the results of the try-on, of course, can be shared on the app.

Prior to Dior, Champs Sports became the first sportswear retailer to offer AR try-ons for sneakers using Snapchat's new technology. In August, Hoka One One, the maker of athletic apparel owned by Uggs maker Deckers Brands, created a mobile shopping experience featuring an AR pop-up store and virtual try-on of running shoes .

Other brands, including Clearly, Essie, Kohl's, Jordan Brand, and Sally Hansen, offered virtual try-on experiences on Snapchat . AR try-on and e-commerce experience are another sign of how Snap is integrating its advertising technology with online shopping, as digital business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce becomes a bigger priority for social media companies.

In fact, in its most recent earnings announcement, Snap touted AR experiences as a key growth driver in helping brands engage with its predominantly younger audience. More than 180 million of Snapchat's 249 million users engage with AR every day for an average of 30 times.

Technology firm Zeekit has worked with retailers such as Adidas, Macy's, and Modcloth to help shoppers get an idea of what an outfit will look like on them by uploading a full-body photo to mix and match garments.

"The crisis in the retail world has also created an opportunity to reinvent and revolutionize the way this industry operates," Yael Vizel, co-founder of Zeekit, said earlier this year.

"Right now it's all about personalization. We live in the era of the selfie generation and Zeekit is taking that to the next step, giving every brand and retailer the opportunity to extend their presence into the reality of their customers' lives."

According to Zeekit, early data has shown the service to help reduce return rates for its retailer partners by 36%.

AR has proven that it can add enormous value for consumers in the shopping journey given that physical retail must evolve. And for retailers, the revenue gains could be huge.

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Why virtual try-ons could be fashion's holy grail - TechHQ

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Luckily, with retail outlets closed or restricted, fashion retailers have been able to up their game online But with customers that expect fast and free returns, margins can be tight Virtual try-on apps can offer a solution to get the fit right before purchases are made E-commerce was a gift for retailers when physical outlets were closed.

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Mentions on exclusivity and whether it would appeal towards people who love fashion.

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Play the video to see how we used the INTOXICA jacket in our collaboration with @i_D and @vice.

We dressed three influencers in digital fashion. We never met any of them physically and they didn't drop by for a fitting. They were all digitally dressed at a distance, with no shipping or delivery trucks needed.

Anyone, anywhere, can wear our outfits. Our clothes are for all physiques, all sizes, and all genders. Digital diversity is key to what we do.

What material would you choose for your outfit made from data? The only limit is your imagination.

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Play the video to see how we used the INTOXICA jacket in our collaboration with @i_D and @vice. We dressed three influencers in digital fashion. We never met any of them physically and they didn't drop by for a fitting. They were all digitally dressed at a distance, with no shipping or delivery trucks needed.

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It takes a lot to interrupt a mindless Instagram scroll, but a photo of [stylist] Nicola Formichetti stopped me in my tracks. His candy-wrapper ensemble looked like a wearable Jeff Koons sculpture. Something about the impossibly shiny sheen made me think: Is that real? No, it turned out it wasn't. It was an outfit from Tribute, a company based in Zagreb, Croatia, that makes "contactless cyber fashion."

In some ways, this kind of fashion is a continuation of a trend we've seen accelerated during COVID-19. Most fashion brands have paused real-life catwalk presentations and instead used short films or virtual showroom visits to get their seasonal vision across. But even before the pandemic, we saw hints of how fashion could exist purely on the internet. Digital fashion influencers like @lilmiquela, for instance, have rocked the latest runway looks from an entirely different dimension. E-commerce websites are also making it easier than ever for shoppers to purchase items without ever having to see or touch it in-person, too. You can even window shop on Zoom now. All of this is possible because social media has primed us for dressing for a digital audience rather than a physical one.

So it's no surprise that some brands are continuing to blur the line between reality and fantasy, taking us into fashion's uncanny valley. Tribute makes digital clothing that it places on people who spend up to $699 on a top that only exists online. The inspiration for the brand was the Sims, Grand Theft Auto, and other video games. "You have these characters and clothing shops where you can dress them up. That was always the most exciting part of the game for me," says Gala Marija Vrbanic, the founder and creative director of Tribute. She launched Tribute with Filip Vajda, who is the head of digital fashion. Prior to starting it, the duo worked on a traditional clothing brand, but always had their sights set on a digital brand. A shared love of sustainable design led them to take the concept to the extreme with Tribute, which claims to be zero-waste because the clothes are made from pixels rather than textiles. By creating clothes that are online-only, the duo see a creative opportunity to have people wear things that could never exist on planet earth. In other words, perfect Instagram bait. "We add new things that are impossible in the real world, like new materials-things that just couldn't function in the real word due to the laws of physics," says Vrbanic.

To start their line, Vrbanic and Vajda digitized patterns that they had already created for real-life clothes, using a 3D software that brands that make physical clothes also use. Once the garments are complete, they then use another software to paste the outfit onto a customer's image that they submit. They blend the garment onto the photo seamlessly, and add shadowing and other lifelike elements. The whole process takes three to five hours, but Vrbanic sees the technology developing so, "people could have this type of clothing instantly."

Currently, the brand has a collection of 12 otherworldly garments available on its website, and they take custom orders. Though it's not real stock, Tribute only produces a certain amount of virtual styles, and once they're gone, they're gone. On the website, it lists how many pieces the brand will create. One hundred people can buy a black, shiny coat with green trim for $29, while only three can purchase a top that resembles green lace and black latex for $699.

Tribute's Instagram page sometimes makes it tricky to determine what is real and what is digital. But its gravity-defying aesthetic makes it easier to discern. The clothes aren't necessarily supposed to look real, but they can certainly make you do a double-take and question it. So naturally, I wanted to see if my friends would be able to tell if I was wearing digital clothes, without being primed for the possibility. I surrendered a photo of myself to Vrbanic and Vajda, and they quickly sent me back a new-and-improved version of myself wearing cyborg clothes. Suddenly, I was wearing a Matrix-style trench coat with silver and green pants that made me look like a superhero. It was me, but better and more alien-like. I immediately sent my new digital outfit to all of my unsuspecting friends, to get their first impressions without any context or clues given.

Not all of my friends were fooled (three immediately asked if the 'fit was fake) but all of my friends were fascinated. My friend Christina said, "The pants look painted-on, but I had to zoom in on first look." She also said it reminded her of Cher's closet in Clueless. Another friend compared it to Monster energy drinks, and another said it gave her Hugh Hefner vibes.

Having tried Tribute's cyber garments myself now, I now see the appeal of it. I am often guilty of scrutinizing my outfit in photos, and if the fit is only slightly off, I will delete said photo. Looking at myself in these flawless virtual pieces, however, the end result had the desired effect that fashion should have: It made me feel good. Like me, but amplified. The only thing that would make the experience even better is if I could actually walk down in the street in these masterfully slouchy pants. But I can't, because that's not the point.

Other virtual brands like this seem to be gaining traction. The Scandinavian brand Carlings operates on the same concept, and its team of 3D designers have been crafting digital streetwear since 2018. The Fabricant recently launched a film campaign that showcases an entire digital denim line too. "We truly believe this is something that is going to shape the future of fashion, and it's something that is totally zero-waste," says Vrbanic. With waste being an ongoing issue in the fashion industry, the duo thinks their digital approach will catch on. It may seem excessive to spend $29 on an outfit that doesn't exist in the physical world, but the brand's founders see it as less wasteful than creating a new physical garment from the world's limited resources. "If you recycle many plastic bottles or produce many organic cotton, it's still going to be a problem-even a greater one, because when you produce organic cotton, there's a lot of more water used," says Vrbanic. "In this case, there are no external resources used. In a couple of years, everything is going to be digital."

But Tribute likely isn't for everybody. It's for people who really love the look of clothes, and flexing it on Instagram. Will those with simple, everyday style-say, jeans and a tee-really purchase Tribute's bold creations? Probably not, but personally, I see Tribute as special-occasion-wear-when you've exhausted your wardrobe and need something fun and outrageous to wear for a photo. I didn't expect to be so taken by my avatar, but I am, and can confirm that spending $29 to be living for your look is well worth it. And if you've grown accustomed to seeing your online persona as an extension of yourself, the fact that these clothes are computer generated doesn't matter. The result is the same.

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Would You Spend Real Money on Virtual Clothes?

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It takes a lot to interrupt a mindless Instagram scroll, but a photo of [stylist] Nicola Formichetti stopped me in my tracks. His candy-wrapper ensemble looked like a wearable Jeff Koons sculpture. Something about the impossibly shiny sheen made me think: Is that real? No, it turned out it wasn't.

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First article in fashion magazine - Our virtual influencers Zoe and Ella with the big Insta stars, in one magazine! Now in the new issue, including interviews with Sarina Nowak (Curvy Model), Kasia Lenhardt and cover story with Louisa Mazzurana. FIV Magazine (Issue #6), the first German-language report about our digital avatars Zoe & Ella.

FIV Magazine: "Virtual Influencers: Tomorrow's Future?"

Artificial avatars, inlfuencers, whatever, a hot topic in advertising, especially for innovative companies and first movers (i.e. companies that are the first to pick up new ideas. "Virtual Influencers: Tomorrow's Future?" - You can read the e-Magazine free of charge, online:

Virtual influencers: Social trend

Cocaine Models is the first model agency in Europe with virtual influencers. Exclusive and new! For many, virtual or digital influencers are something completely new. Especially for marketing strategies. International examples like Lil Miquela show that it makes little difference to people whether the star on Instagram is "real". What is "real" on Instagram? The virtual and the real world are getting more and more mixed up. Instead of classical marketing methods (TV, poster) more and more brands are changing to modern marketing methods like social marketing and even more special influencer marketing.

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"Virtual Influencers: Tomorrow's Future?" - First magazine article in Germany - CM | Model Agency

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First article in fashion magazine - Our virtual influencers Zoe and Ella with the big Insta stars, in one magazine! Now in the new issue, including interviews with Sarina Nowak (Curvy Model), Kasia Lenhardt and cover story with Louisa Mazzurana. FIV Magazine (Issue #6), the first German-language report about our digital avatars Zoe & Ella.

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This article shows how the virtual world is being explored after COVID.

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How Will Fashion Shows Evolve? Are Virtual Clothes the Next Frontier? Designers, Tech Leaders, and CEOs Discussed What’s Next at Vogue’s CES Panel

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The pandemic has dramatically and permanently changed the way we think about fashion shows, community, and technology. In a Vogue panel at CES, Jeremy Scott, Olivier Rousteing, Balenciaga’s Cédric Charbit, and more thought leaders share their visions of the future.

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Online influencers wear ‘real’ clothes. But why? Their followers only see the digital image of the clothes. Swipe, like and move on to the next image. Three seconds of exposure and the look is old news. The solution: digital clothes. One algorithm fits all.

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Online influencers wear ‘real’ clothes. But why? Their followers only see the digital image of the clothes. Swipe, like and move on to the next image. Three seconds of exposure and the look is old news. The solution: digital clothes. One algorithm fits all.

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This shows some virtual models in digital clothes. The aim is this will intrigue readers to scroll down and read article.
I have edited and combined multiple videos I found and added music.

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"Louis Vuitton’s feature in League of Legends, for example, was one of the first to offer digital outfits for in-game avatars"(Heuritech, 2020).
Givenchy collaborated with the virtual boy band The Futurer from the online game The Glory of the King for its Chinese Valentine’s Day collection this summer. This took the cover of Super ELLE’s August edition.

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China is known for its thirst for innovation, pushing the boundaries of what we think possible. The case is no different for fashion. Beyond technology itself, part of what fuels this penchant for all things novel is social media and different influencer eco-systems within China, who give a platform to new technologies, emerging Chinese designers, and foreign brands looking to get a foot in the door. E-commerce channels have provided Chinese consumers access to international luxury brands, despite competition within the market being intensified by emerging domestic brands with strong growth momentum.

That is indeed the overall thematic of Chinese fashion at the present moment: digitalization and shifting values, notably in sustainable fashion, have given rise to a range of innovations in fashion in China, so let's have a closer look.

Chinese retail is undergoing major innovation

Around the world, retail seems to modernize each year with new features, new platforms, and new experiences. But fashion retail is on an entirely new level in China, blurring the boundary of shopping and exhibition: today, Chinese retail is much more immersive and experiential. For example, in the newly-opened SKP-S department store, brands can convert retail spaces into various futuristic museums. Designed by South Korean brand Gentle Monster, the concept is one of questioning "what lies in the future, and what will future humans value and pursue."

And in Pudong, the commercial building dubbed Shanghai Times Square has been transformed to deliver a more theatrical experience to shoppers. To achieve this, Japanese design studio Nendo relocated escalators, straightened the central passage, rearranged the atrium, and more, all to create a revolutionary experience for shoppers. And according to the studio, the inspiration behind the renovation was indeed theatrical: "Theaters are also generally designed so viewers in any seat have a good view of the stage, and here too, the structure is deliberately tiered to draw the eye."

The digitalization of fashion in China

Since 2018, fashion brands have increasingly been seeking cross-sector collaborations. Video games have admittedly been a surprising mix of universes, with a growing list of brands working closely with popular games. Louis Vuitton's feature in League of Legends, for example, was one of the first to offer digital outfits for in-game avatars.

China's push for sustainable fashion

Consumers all around the world care more than ever about the environmental impact of their purchases, encouraging brands to have a more eco-friendly approach. This shift in values is mostly pushed by millennial and Gen Z consumers, who present an important customer base for fashion brands in particular. In this way, brands are adapting more and more to their audiences' desires, particularly as a result of the pandemic. Corporate social responsibility initiatives during the outbreak have been paid decent attention, which has played an even more crucial role in consumers' purchasing decisions. According to Edelman's Trust Barometer Special Report, 82% of Chinese respondents recently started using a new brand due to their compassionate response to the outbreak.

As a result, local designers in China are leading the "Go Green" trend: for instance, ICICLE infuses 100% organic or recycled materials into modern and innovative designs, and materials such as linen can be directly linked to the growing awareness about sustainability and the focus on eco-fashion. In China this Spring 2021, Heuritech forecasts that linen will grow in visibility by +32% for women compared to Spring 2020, a considerable nod to the sustainable fashion movement in the country. JNBY, another eco-conscious brand, has put a particular focus on linen for many years now to convey modern yet qualitative oriental aesthetics.

It's clear that the world is becoming increasingly tech-driven as we move forward, and the fashion industry is no exception. China joins this phenomenon through its innovations in retail and cross-channel collaborations between fashion and video games, but also through its use of technology advancements to create a more sustainable industry. Heuritech's report with Luxurynsight, titled Fashion in China, digs up the answers to these changes and their manifestations as fashion trends.

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China's progressive fashion future thanks to innovation and sustainability

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China is known for its thirst for innovation, pushing the boundaries of what we think possible. The case is no different for fashion. Beyond technology itself, part of what fuels this penchant for all things novel is social media and different influencer eco-systems within China, who give a platform to new technologies, emerging Chinese designers, and foreign brands looking to get a foot in the door.

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Would people only post of them wearing the outfit once?
Is it really environmentally friendly?
Do people want clothes that look digital or not?

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Influencers Are Now Buying Virtual Clothes They Will Wear On IG But Never Touch IRL

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Chief Investment Officer, Defiance ETFS
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sold his first tweet for $2.9 million, a Beeple work of art sold for more than $69 million at a Christie's auction, and Zoë Roth, who many know as "Disaster Girl," paid off her student debt with a $500,000 photo - all via NFTs.
What is an NFT?
But for many, "NFT" is a bizarre acronym from a sub-reality without meaning, and many investors remain unsure of what an NFT is, let alone the value of NFTs as an investment opportunity. As chief investment officer of a financial technology firm interested in the next generation of sector investing, a futures trader and someone who often studies how technology will change the way we live and work, the nonfungible token world has piqued my interest and research efforts. This article attempts to clear up some of the most common FAQs I've seen come up about NFTs.

NFT stands for "non-fungible token." An NFT is basically data that is stored or accounted for in a digital ledger, and that data represents something specific. An NFT can, for example, represent a piece of art, a music album or other types of digital files.

That clears it up, right? Not really.

When you buy an NFT, you are essentially buying a digital recording of ownership of a token, which can then be transferred to a digital wallet. The recording (or ledger) where that token is certified as proof of ownership is called a blockchain. This is similar technology to where Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies trade (or rather where their ownership is recorded). (Full disclosure: Author personally invests in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.)

But with an NFT, that aforementioned token represents something else. In the case of Beeple's artwork, for instance, it is a token that represents an original graphic painting by Mike Winkelmann, an artist. The buyer essentially purchased a token that gave them the rights to own the original artwork. However, the actual copyright remains with the original artist or owner. Some might ask, "Why would anyone buy it?" To me, the motive seems to be to either own the original artwork or to flip it when it gets some attention and resell it for a higher value.
Why are NFTs popular?
A common misconception is that NFTs are a type of cryptocurrency. The similarities between crypto and NFTs are that they both have a stored digital record on a blockchain. The similarities end there. With NFTs, each token has a unique value and cannot be exchanged for another of equal value. With cryptocurrency, the value and transparency are more obvious; you can exchange one Bitcoin for another, for example. Like is like, and every token of equal value can be exchanged for another.
Are NFTs a new fad that will soon fade?
There are many use cases for NFTs. First, selling an NFT can offer significant benefits to the artist. For example, in March, the band Kings of Leon sold unreleased music via an NFT. The benefit to the band is if Kings of Leon sells an NFT to one owner and limits the digital reproduction, they can receive royalties and control the distribution of their product. The NBA is also investing in projects to sell NFTs and will be selling clips in NFT form. You might not get rights to the IP to resell, but you do get the unique bragging rights of owning that clip. You can then trade it and financialize it - like a new way to trade sports cards.

To me, the answer is no. They've been around since the mid-2010s, according to the New York Times, but their popularity seems to have surged recently.

So what is propelling the latest rise in popularity? I believe one reason is the coronavirus. Covid-19 drove a boom, with the NFT market reaching a valuation of more than $250 million in 2020, according to the NFT Report 2020 (via the Times). I believe part of the boom also came around the growth of crypto. For example, Ethereum surged over the past year. It can be used to purchase NFTs in part or full in some cases, and as the value of the assets in Ethereum grew, so did the buying power of the underlying owner.

Time will tell, but with investments and use cases in the space booming and buyers clamoring for access, I believe we can expect to see NFT growth in the coming years. The main reason why NFTs are likely to stick around and grow in popularity centers around the idea of uniqueness - having access to something that no one, in theory, could ever have access to without the owner's active decision to replicate. Whereas paintings, baseball cards and other such works can be easily copied, NFTs provide true sole ownership, which is appealing to many. Also, as blockchain use becomes a more popular way to have proof of ownership, NFTs are likely to keep coming. Finally, anything that looks, smells or feels like part of the crypto or digital revolution has taken our society by storm.
The information provided here is not investment, tax, or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
NFTs are, in a sense, just another asset class supporting the currency asset and blockchain exchange growth. For those investors looking for exposure to the asset class, I believe that many opportunities will come our way, whether through managed funds or individual NFTs themselves. While these opportunities are exciting, investors should keep in mind there is a risk of picking the right NFT, ensuring the transaction is secure and understanding the underlying value of the asset itself. Do your homework before buying an NFT, and if you aren't sure which one to buy or invest in, hang on for a while as the space matures. I expect to see managed funds available to the investor, which could help manage some of the diversity and risk issues.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

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Council Post: Are NFTs The New Crypto? A Guide To Understanding Non-Fungible Tokens

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Chief Investment Officer, Defiance ETFS Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sold his first tweet for $2.9 million, a Beeple work of art sold for more than $69 million at a Christie's auction, and Zoë Roth, who many know as "Disaster Girl," paid off her student debt with a $500,000 photo - all via NFTs.

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Dior encourages users to try the digital experience on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. A Lens specially designed for Snapchat allows each user to virtually try on all four versions of the sneakers and to purchase them via Dior’s brand profile on that platform and Dior.com.

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You do not have any products in your basket

To celebrate the in-store launch of the new Dior-ID models, Dior invites you to partake in an exclusive digital experience on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. A Lens specially designed for Snapchat allows each user to virtually try on all four versions of the sneakers and to purchase them via Dior's brand profile on that platform and Dior.com. A filter on Facebook and Instagram also unveils new pairs in nude, blue and green, each animated by dance steps set to a rhythmic soundtrack.

Click or scan the QR code with Snapchat to try on the new Dior-ID sneakers in augmented reality.

THE E-BOUTIQUE SERVICES

Free delivery

Free returns

Enjoy complimentary Standard shipping, with free Customs duty

ART OF GIFTING

Your order will be presented in an iconic Dior gift box and accompanied by a personalised message

Click & Collect

Order your product online and collect it in store.

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DIOR-ID : FILTRES EN RÉALITE AUGMENTÉE - News and Events - News & Savoir-faire | DIOR

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You do not have any products in your basket To celebrate the in-store launch of the new Dior-ID models, Dior invites you to partake in an exclusive digital experience on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. A Lens specially designed for Snapchat allows each user to virtually try on all four versions of the sneakers and to purchase them via Dior's brand profile on that platform and Dior.com.

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6 pairs of shoes can be tried on before purchasing.

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As talk around NFTs heats up, the luxury house is teaming up with AR fashion platform Wanna to expand further in the digital product space.

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Gucci has launched a new digital space that allows fans to design their own virtual footwear. The arrival of the Gucci Sneaker Garage, as it's called, comes as creative director Alessandro Michele has designed the label's first-ever digital sneaker.

The Gucci Sneaker Garage got its name by referencing the place where many successful start-ups began and the area where many sneakerheads store their collections. Accessible through the Gucci app, the digital space acts as a home for gaming, art, stories, and more, including a virtual fitting room for trying on shoes.

In addition to virtually testing sneakers, you can also take images and video of the shoes you're trying on and share them digitally. Furthermore, the Gucci Sneaker Garage serves as a place where you can design your own Gucci sneaker, similar to Alessandro Michele's Gucci Virtual 25 silhouette.

Using the sneaker generator, you have the ability to implement various elements the house is known for, mixing and matching uppers, soles, and branding. Once complete, you can then add your creation to virtual avatars on platforms such as Roblox and VRChat.

Featured below are sneaker designs by select artists from Gucci's global network. You can create your own virtual shoe, and get a look at Alessandro Michele's Gucci Virtual 25, by accessing the Gucci Sneaker Garage through the official Gucci app.
To stay updated on everything happening in the sneaker world, follow @Highsnobietysneakers on Instagram, check our sneaker release date calendar, and subscribe to our sneaker chatbot on Facebook to receive lightning quick updates to your inbox.

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Gucci's New Digital Space Lets You Design Virtual Sneakers

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Gucci has launched a new digital space that allows fans to design their own virtual footwear. The arrival of the Gucci Sneaker Garage, as it's called, comes as creative director Alessandro Michele has designed the label's first-ever digital sneaker.

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Digital Village x Patrick McDowell Fashion Show

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Digital Village x Patrick McDowell Fashion Show

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Digital fashion may be the answer to saving the planet

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Fashion does not need to be physical to exist | Amber Jea Slooten | TEDxHvAmsterdam

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Moschino Created a Sims-Inspired Capsule Collection

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Moschino Created a Sims-Inspired Capsule Collection

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"Moschino announced its eight-piece Pixel collection inspired by the Sims.
swimsuit emblazoned in green Sim Plumbobs, matching earrings, a Freezer Bunny cellphone cover, and a Uni Llama tee."(Rearick, 2019)

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Your dreams of using a cheat code to magically add money to your piggybank may never come true, but thanks to Moschino, you can at least dress like you're straight out of a video game universe.

For the latest collection from the creators of the most lavish dry-cleaning bags and pop culture-inspired pieces, Moschino announced its eight-piece Pixel collection inspired by the Sims.

Officially launching on April 13, the line includes Moschino couture items that feature design tributes to all-things Sims. There's no appearance from a Grim Reaper or a pesky neighbor who never leaves your doorstep on move-in day, but the collection includes a swimsuit emblazoned in green Sim Plumbobs, matching earrings, a Freezer Bunny cellphone cover, and a Uni Llama tee. A Freezer Bunny hoodie will also be released later this year.

Debuting at Jeremy Scott's Palm Springs Desert Party on Saturday, the line will also be available in-game for your Sims to wear, too. As Hypebeast reports, clothing items will be making their way to the the Sims 4, the Sims Mobile, and the Sims FreePlay. As for IRL shoppers, the capsule collection will be carried at Moschino stores and online.

In a press release, Jeremy, creative director of Moschino, shared what he thought of the collaboration, saying, "I love the idea of being able to imagine, design, and bring to life a world of individual personas with the Sims universe. That concept emulates what I get to do for each collection at Moschino as I create a fantasy universe of spectacular storylines and characters."

Ahead, take a look at images of the very Sims-inspired campaign.

Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: The Sims Is Coming to Your PHONE

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Thanks to Moschino, You Can Now Dress Like a Sim

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Your dreams of using a cheat code to magically add money to your piggybank may never come true, but thanks to Moschino, you can at least dress like you're straight out of a video game universe.

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Stefanos Constantinous, "spent just short of £100 on a statement cobalt blue ensemble, which a team of 3-D designers then digitally altered to a photograph he submitted to them.

Once the digital items of clothing have been fitted to one picture, there’s a fee to have them fitted to another. So you, quite literally, get one picture in one outfit."(May, 2019).

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In May, businessman Richard Ma bought a dress for his wife, Mary.

The dress, which was called the Iridescence, cost him $9,500 and was silver and silky in its composition.

So much so that when it caught the light, it twinkled, as though the material was smiling at you.

By all definitions, it was a real show-stopper. A true jaw-dropper. An absolute head-turner.

Mary Ma in the dress her husband Richard bought for her /

The Fabricant was founded in January 2018 by Finnish animator Kerry Murphy, who was inspired by fashion student, Amber Slooten's all-digital graduate portfolio, which was modelled by holograms.

Fast-forward six months and Slooten had joined Murphy in his pursuit of digital, sartorial excellence.

"I was attracted to her passion and openness to try new things. I knew I could visualise her fashion designs in a much more scaled and technically-enhanced manner," Murphy explains.

Read more

The rise of CGI influencers: are models' days numbered?

The zeitgeist, in case you've been living under a rock, is on sustainability. How we can be more sustainable now, in the future, and just how we have been so unsustainable up until this point?

For fashion is faster than ever - Zara takes designs from the drawing board to store in just five weeks - but the innovation of how clothes can be produced ethically has not managed to keep up with how rapidly they're marketed and consumed by the masses.

Perhaps this is where digital clothing - which, naturally, creates zero waste - could be the solution to the world's toxic relationship with disposable fashion.

Certainly the notion of sustainability is what inspired Scandinavian brand Carlings to launch their first digital-only range in October last year.

One of Carlings' customers wearing the brand's digital Godspeed Jacket /

"The fashion industry is in trouble, we all have to understand that and seek solutions," Carlings' CEO Ronny Mikalsen candidly states. "The issue is that a lot of retailers are targeting sustainability but they're not properly engaging, they're just talking at you."

His two daughters are digital natives of Gen Z themselves: perhaps it's the way he's analysed their consumption of social media that enabled him to envision the digital-only focus that Carlings developed.

"Once the world got introduced to social media, clothing production increased massively. It's all about 'the fake reality' - we have to understand that people are buying things to wear once and be pictured in," he explains. "They never wear these clothes again."

The brand must have done something right: their first, and only, digital collection sold out within a week, proving there is a demand, or at least a curiosity, about digital fashion.

Stefanos Constantinou is one of those who purchased a digital outfit from Carlings, but for him it was less an issue of sustainability and more the "innovative" advertising campaign which "was addressed to everyone, no matter of gender or age" which attracted him.

He spent just short of £100 on a statement cobalt blue ensemble, which a team of 3-D designers then digitally altered to a photograph he submitted to them.

Stefanos Constantinou in the digital outfit he bought from Carlings /

Once the digital items of clothing have been fitted to one picture, there's a fee to have them fitted to another. So you, quite literally, get one picture in one outfit.

Constantinou explains: "I would think twice to buy a luxury item but I feel in this case the whole concept ticked all boxes."

Mikalsen's view on the torrent of single-wear fashion is holistic: he has observed that Gen Z feel the strong urge to "express themselves", which is why Carlings' digital collection comprised so many avant-garde pieces which they wouldn't necessarily purchase in real life.

But could digital clothes ever truly compete with the fabric which we require to dress us?

Mikalsen is resolute: "This will never replace physical clothing. We will always need those items, but they're not the items you want to express yourself, they don't show the other side of your personality, which the younger generation are all keen to do."

The same question is posed to Murphy, to which he steadfastly replies: "100 per cent they will. No doubt about it."

It would appear that the jury's out and the future of fashion really is unchartered territory.

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These clothes are all digital: is this the future of fashion?

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In May, businessman Richard Ma bought a dress for his wife, Mary. The dress, which was called the Iridescence, cost him $9,500 and was silver and silky in its composition. So much so that when it caught the light, it twinkled, as though the material was smiling at you.

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Where you can change the message on the t-shirt using Instagram filter.

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One (IRL) t-shirt, infinite (digital) slogans/designs and the thrilling possibility for retailers that selling a garment is far from the end of the brand-consumer journey. That's the premise of the brand spanking new, "everyday" digital fashion concept devised by Norwegian fashion retailer Carlings in collaboration with Virtue, the international creative agency spawned by youth media monolith Vice.

Conceived to make digital fashion more attainable to the average consumer (while bespoke pieces of digital couture at $9,500 a pop may be making major industry headlines they're unlikely to be the gateway to mass consumption) the new "gateway" concept co-opts Facebook's open-source Spark AR software-a no-coding-necessary slice of tech built to smoothly unleash interactive AR experiences within Instagram.

Carlings new phygital t-shirt concept using Instagram's new face filter tech allows one t-shirt to ... [+]
Carlings / Virtue Northern Europe

Fans of the brand simply go to Carlings Instagram account, press the filter icon, select a design and point their phone camera at a particular tracking spot embedded into their €39.90 ($44) Carlings t-shirt. If you place your smartphone near the hangtag, the app opens to exactly the right spot automatically. The design surfaces as if part of the t-shirt, bolstered by alluring hyper-realism of appearing to bend and ruck with the folds of the t-shirt, as seen on screen. One basic(ish) garment equates to an instant upgrade of an online persona, especially useful if personal protest underpins your social media repertoire.
Digital Fashion? Carlings and Virtue Have Previous
It's the second digital fashion collab for the two businesses, indicative of a pioneering attitude that's put Carlings on the map for those outside its Scandinavian stronghold (it's 200 or so stores span Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland). "We were originally briefed by Carlings a year are a half ago, when the focus was on just wanting to open a web-shop. We suggested to think way beyond that, to consider what we'd do if we were to reimagine that web-shop but ten years from now," says Virtue Nordic's executive creative director, Morten Grubak.

Countering fashion's eco-unfriendly reputation while tapping into the rise and rise of avatar-influencers such as Lil Miquela and Shudu Gram, in December 2018 they launched a digital-only streetwear collection. To own and "wear" the digital pieces, fans uploaded an image of themselves to a microsite, coughing up €10-30 ($12-35), depending on the style. 3D-motion designers digitally add the garments to consumers' images, which could then be shared on social. The collection (16 pieces per day, due to the skill involved in crafting a digital fit) sold out every day throughout its three-month, November-January run. It's always raised Carlings to the top of the Google search listings without a cent (krone) spent on Adwords.

Profits were donated to international sanitation charity WaterAid, a facet of the project that's been reprised in this instance; €10 ($11) from the sale of every t-shirt will be assigned to the same charity.
Dialling the Digi Back To Engineer Accessibility
Ironically, the focus of the second collaboration was dialling the digital innovation back, or at least re-forging those futurist flavours with more physical, IRL perimeters. "We wanted to back-peddle to an extent, to create a meaningful gateway for digital fashion and using an app we know that pretty much everyone has in their pocket," says Grubak, conceding that the first collaboration may have been too disconnected from "real reality," albeit zeitgeist central; it only slightly tailed a collaboration between Gucci and Silicon Valley avatar creation and messaging app called Genies that saw Gucci translate 200 pieces that fans were salivating over into digital doppelgängers, ready to clothe their tiny online clones.

Part of the appeal with Spark AR, says Grubak, was the ease of connecting the physical world to social media. He reports that with the benefit of a few Youtube tutorials under your belt it's apparently possible to create your own filters in just hours-a level of intuitive tech learning entirely in sync with the Virtue creative mentality: "We've got a young in-house team who don't necessarily have to think digitally because it's inherently part of their mind-set. But that doesn't mean they're all coders, far from it." That lack of specific tech knowledge in favour of a more general openness to new tools is, infers Grubak, what's allowed Virtue to be a new generation creative agency who not only conceptualise strategy in the same way as their ad land predecessors, but also provide full implementation in-house.
Katherine Hamnett's Protest Tee Reborn
While the relatively low cost and ease of placing a marker on a t-shirt makes it an obvious garment to kick-off with, there's are a cultural reason: the item's long-time affinity with the vernacular of protest and subversion. Dubbed "The Last Statement T-shirt," it's a project primed to update the famous Katharine Hamnett slogan tee for the digital generation. "We certainly considered the world of influencers today and the notion of being able to service people who want to talk about topical ideas and make statements extremely quickly," says Grubak.

The concept inherently also challenges the 'wear it once' world of superficial insta-influence, where wearing the same item twice is considered a mortifying social media faux pas. Because brands can effectively mainline different slogans and designs at will via the app and onto the t-shirt, there's no need to write a new caption let alone change your outfit: "The idea was to create something allowing you to [positively] hack the eyeballs of [young] people in a language they understand," says Grubak.

Katharine Hamnett, fashion activist and the original inventor of the slogan protest tee.
Katharine Hamnett

Drop Culture Riffs Tap Post-Purchase Opportunity
Riffing on drop culture-Carlings plans to drop new designs every Wednesday-the initiative also supports the important school of thought that suggests clothes don't cease to exist for brands the minute the cash is handed over.

Here, there's a far longer potential dialogue in play: the capacity to engage and potentially even sell limited edition versions of designs via the app (currently anyone with the t-shirt can access all the design drops) or, according to Carlings, "even invite the consumer into the design process itself."

Consider, too, a tiered dissemination of designs whereby only certain people are given access to certain styles, fuelling micro movements and sub fandoms.
Next Steps: Whole Outfits
Of course, for the hardcore influencer community, when it comes to using digital fashion to slip into something new to delight your fanbase/earn those paid posts, a change of t-shirt will hardly cut the mustard. But then this is just the start. Presently, the t-shirt uses only one tracker to create a realistic looking change of shirt. Soon, says Grubak, we'll see the use of multiple trackers so making it possible to convincingly superimpose entire outfits.

It's another doorway to virtual living, and a world of "complicit commerce" where a new role for brands will be helping consumers stylistic reinventions on an increasingly individualised level.

Carlings phygital t-shirt concept using Instagram's new face filters will allow one t-shirt to be ... [+]
Carlings / Virtue Nordic

... Read More

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Carlings Phygital T-Shirt Gives Virtual Fashion The Accessible Vibe Brand Land's Been Waiting For

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Bringing a much-needed layer of accessibility to the digi fashion scene (and grabbing the post-purchase opportunity with both hands) Scandi fashion retailer Carlings & creative agency Virtue new AR tool co-opts Instagram's new face filter tech so one IRL t-shirt can be reborn online, infinitely.

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It's official: Moschino's creative director Jeremy Scott has reached peak millennial courtesy of his latest collection inspired by The Sims.

In sartorial homage to the life simulation game, Scott has created a ready-to-wear line which features signature Moschino motifs such as the teddy bear and retro chains - all warped through a noughties Microsoft lens.

Pixel Capsule Biker Bag, £716

The PC-inspired line even plays on the plumbob (the green diamond which floats over each Sim's head) with a thigh-cut swimsuit and gram-worthy umbrella.

Sims x Moschino one-piece swimsuit

Even The Sims will be finally be able to upgrade their pixelated wardrobe in one fell swoosh thanks to the Freezer Bunny hoodie.

For the campaign, iPhone-clutching models, Stella Maxwell, Aiden and Denek K, have even been plonked into the make-believe world in a bid to bring "avatar realness".

"I love the idea of being able to imagine, design and bring to life a world of individual personas with The Sims universe," Scott said. "That concept emulates what I get to do for each collection at Moschino as I create a fantasy universe of spectacular storylines and characters."

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Though the designer is no stranger to tapping into pop culture nostalgia, as his latest runway show paid tribute to '70s game shows such as The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune.

Models Bella Hadid, Stella Maxwell, Kaia Gerber and Joan Smalls dolled up as show hosts on the runway with heavily-lacquered hair and gaudy make-up.

The Moschino x The Sims collaboration comes a year ahead of the EA game's 20th anniversary and is now available to shop online.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

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You can now dress like a Sim thanks to Moschino's latest collection

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It's official: Moschino's creative director Jeremy Scott has reached peak millennial courtesy of his latest collection inspired by The Sims. In sartorial homage to the life simulation game, Scott has created a ready-to-wear line which features signature Moschino motifs such as the teddy bear and retro chains - all warped through a noughties Microsoft lens.

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5 things to know about Balenciaga's video game

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5 things to know about Balenciaga's video game

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5 Things To Know About Balenciaga's Virtual Reality AW21 Show

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Balenciaga staged its dystopian autumn/winter 2021 collection as a virtual reality runway show presented through Oculus glasses, and released the video game, 'Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow'.

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Balenciaga has released its Fall 2021 fashion collection in the form of a video game, which sees players travel through a wonderland-style future world, passing avatars dressed in ripped jeans and metal-armour boots on the way.

The Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow video game is structured in five different levels, or "zones", which the player simply has to walk through, following a predetermined path of glowing arrows.

The journey starts out in a Balenciaga retail store, before players exit onto a city street and hop onto a bus, which takes flight and warps into thin air.

Participants are then transported to another outdoor environment where they are directed through a series of abandoned concrete structures, and towards a dark forest opening. A white rabbit leads players through the forest to a "secret rave".

Upon leaving the forest, players traverse upward steps through winding caves to the top of a rocky cliff, where an avatar dressed in knight's armour pulls a sword from a stone.

This action seems to explode the rockface to reveal an opening to a red-rock mountain, which the player is directed to walk over until they reach a sunset, where the game closes.

A blank screen with a pulsating circle in the centre appears where credits would usually be shown, with the words "breathe" and "hold" printed across the circle to encourage the player to participate in a meditation-style breathing exercise.

While anyone can now access the video game via Balenciaga's website, a select group of people were initially invited to play the game via Virtual Reality (VR) headsets instead of attending an in-person runway show.

It was within this game that the brand presented its Fall 2021 line, also called Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow, which is a continuation of its Summer 2021 pre-collection shown in October 2020.

Avatars are dotted throughout each virtual space dressed in garments from Balenciaga's latest collection. This includes oversized, tailored suits made from t-shirt jersey materials that have been made to look worn and creased.

The brand also reimagined 400-year-old steel knight's armour in the form of thigh-high boots and stilettos made from a lacquered material, designed to represent fashion as "a type of armour worn to protect against the elements of judgment".

Other looks see ripped jeans with coloured patches visible underneath paired with faux fur and puffer jackets.

Formafantasma and Shahar Livne Design named design studios of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020

Dezeen Awards winner Shahar Livne designed the jewellery for Balenciaga's Afterworld collection. The Israeli designer won the title of emerging designer of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.

Examples of her work include a pair of sneakers with alternative leather inserts made from the wasted fat, bones and blood of animals.

Balenciaga's creative director, Demna Gvasalia, aimed to create pieces that he thought represented the future of clothing, where "nature and youth co-exist" to offer garments that can be repurposed and last forever.

"People will keep wearing clothes they love until they fall apart. I do myself. So things look quite destroyed, worn-in, pre-crinkled," said Gvasalia.

"The game and the collection imagine a near future in which clothing is meant to transform over many years," added Balenciaga. "Treatments tease out the aging process of materials, emphasizing the idea of wearing something for decades or repurposing it forever."

"In the future, a garment that appears to serve one function may serve another, seeing as certain materials will be reinterpreted for new uses," it continued. "A satin trench is not a coat but a party dress."

Explore New York with Virgil Abloh and Louis Vuitton's retro video game Endless Runner

"Jeans layered over pants and sweats showing a boxer short waistband are actually each a single item," the brand added. "As animal fur is no longer appropriate for people to buy new, a puffer is embroidered with recycled fabric that was laser cut to mimic the movement of a fur jacket."

The list goes on, and includes blankets that become coats, parkas with enlarged pockets that function as bags and military coveralls that have been reconstructed to form evening gowns.

Balenciaga is not the first fashion house to create a video game for its designs. Last year Louis Vuitton released a 1980s-style video game called Endless Runner, which was inspired by Virgil Abloh's Autumn Winter 2019 show for the brand.

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Balenciaga's Afterworld video game takes players to a secret rave in the forest

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Balenciaga has released its Fall 2021 fashion collection in the form of a video game, which sees players travel through a wonderland-style future world, passing avatars dressed in ripped jeans and metal-armour boots on the way.

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RTFKT - the digital fashion powerhouse that made history this February selling $3.1 million worth of NFT sneakers in just seven minutes - has just scored $8 million in funding "to create the future of fashion for the metaverse."

The NFT startup secured the funds in a recent seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. With the sizeable new investment, RTFKT Studios plans to scale its team of three by hiring creators and artists, build an NFT marketplace, and invest in personnel to build a new virtual world. It's a promising prospect given the impact RTFKT has already achieved with a skeleton team.

"RTFKT is leading the way in building the bridge between digital and physical fashion ... As we spend more time in virtual worlds, I believe that we will care just as much about our digital sneakers and handbags as we do our physical ones," explained Jonathan Lai of Andreessen Horowitz in a statement."Over the past decade, games have evolved from entertainment into social networks - for many folks today, games are the new mall and sports bar."

Taking to Twitter yesterday, Lai teased RTFKT's ambitions to build "Digital Supreme" - starting with sneakers. The studio has been dominating the digital sneaker space recently, dropping a new sneaker collaboration with Atari back in March and joining forces with 18-year-old artist Fewocious in a sale that fetched over $3 million in under 7 minutes.

According to WWD, the business has already racked up $4.5 million in revenue this year alone, far exceeding the $600,000 it pulled in 2020. Now, an $8 million could supercharge the start-up's ascent. Speaking on the investment, RTFKT's founder Benoit Pagotto said, "It's our culture, and [we] are doing things differently. We're super exclusive, yet have an open source approach to our content. We work with creators and empower them and give them revenue share." He continued, "NFT allows us to combine all our expertise and community to create the future without having to worry about legacy or how things are done today."

Pagotto describes his company as "a fashion company born from gaming," and that's likely to prove incredibly lucrative as the NFT market matures. When Highsnobiety recently surveyed our readers on gaming culture, we found that 60 percent had already purchased digital clothing/ skins for their avatars. Right now there aren't many options for NFT sneakers and digital couture, but RTFKT is at the forefront of gamified luxury and they're well-positioned to bridging the gap between those who are investing in NFTs and their digital avatars.

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NFT Innovators RTFKT Just Secured $8 Million in Funding

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RTFKT - the digital fashion powerhouse that made history this February selling $3.1 million worth of NFT sneakers in just seven minutes - has just scored $8 million in funding "to create the future of fashion for the metaverse." The NFT startup secured the funds in a recent seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

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Zepeto is a South Korean social media app that lets you create a 3D digital character, or avatar, from a photo of yourself. So when Gucci released pieces from its ready-to-wear collections for sale on the app last month, Zepeto head of global business Rudy Lee personally jumped at the chance to buy and wear them.

Lee's new fashion looks proved popular. While exploring the Gucci Villa - an interactive space created by Gucci within Zepeto - Lee's avatar was quickly approached by multiple other players asking to go on a date. "People in Zepeto are very much on-trend with the cool and expensive items," says Lee. "People go to great lengths to access fashion that differentiates."

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Vogue Business in partnership with Xiaohongshu

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Vogue Business in partnership with BigCommerce

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Over the past year, Gucci clothing has experimented with multiple global games. Robert Triefus, EVP of brand and customer engagement, explains how the brand inhabits new worlds.

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Non-Fungible Theft

It's not a good look for a technology that touts itself as the future of fine art collecting.

Hackers have already started stealing non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the blockchain-based art credentials that give a buyer original ownership over a digital piece of art, Motherboard reports.

"Someone stole my NFTs today on @niftygateway and purchased $10K++ worth of today's drop without my knowledge," marketing freelancer Michael Miraflor wrote in a Sunday tweet. "NFTs were then transferred to another account. I encourage EVERYONE to please check their accounts ASAP."

Not So Nifty

Nifty Gateway is an "exclusive digital art platform" that allows people to buy "Nifties," their name for exclusive NFTs sold on their platform.

But the site's cybersecurity measures appear to be lacking.

Several other Nifty Gateway users reported that their accounts had been hacked. "My entire account was just hacked and the person who got in wasn't even booted after changing my password?!" one user wrote in a tweet.

According to a Nifty spokesperson who spoke to Motherboard, the company was aware of the fraudulent activity. The company claims the affected users didn't have two-factor authentication turned on and that "access was obtained via valid account credentials."

Nifty also claimed that the NFTs were originally sold "in transactions negotiated over Discord or Twitter," a practice not recommended by the company.

Easy Access

The NFT trend has been taking the art world by storm, allowing essentially anybody to either sell or purchase purely digital pieces of art, whether those pieces are live burnings of physical works or simple tweets.

The surge culminated a piece by artist Beeple being sold for $69 million at world-renowned art auction house Christie's last week.

It's not a good look for a technology that prides itself in being very secure. These particular incidents, however, appear to be involve hackers exploiting loose security measures.

READ MORE: Hackers Stole Thousands of Dollars Worth of NFTs from Collectors [ Motherboard]

More on NFTs: Blockchain Company Sets Priceless Banksy Painting on Fire to Create an NFT

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It's not a good look for a technology that touts itself as the future of fine art collecting. Hackers have already started stealing non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the blockchain-based art credentials that give a buyer original ownership over a digital piece of art, Motherboard reports.

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The world’s first piece of digital couture

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The world’s first piece of digital couture

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Sold for $9,500.

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Last week, London-based start-up Favourup held a panel discussion between a panel of Instagram-based sustainability influencers about the perils of 'fast-fashion' and challenges of conscious consumption. A Q&A session followed, during which the question was raised 'why not wear digital clothing? If your platform of communication is digital, why can't your clothes be?'. A heated debate ensued, with the audience and panel protesting that 'digital fashion would just encourage more consumption' and that digital fashion is disingenuous because it 'doesn't exist'. Digital fashion houses The Fabricant and Carlings are sources of virtual fashion, but this event made it clear that the digital fashion concept needs time to ripen.

It is true that digital clothing is not readily accessible to the masses yet, but it took a leap closer this weekend. Digital fashion pioneers The Fabricant, create digital clothing by harnessing 2D garment pattern-cutting software and 3D design software, coupled with powerful film rendering tools to create hyper-real clothing that lives and breathes - online, at least.

'Iridescence', their breakthrough collaboration with artist Johanna Jaskowska, creator of the number one futuristic filter taking over Instagram, Beauty3000, and Dapper Labs, the team behind the CryptoKitties blockchain phenomenon, culminated in an auction last weekend at the Ethereal Summit in New York. The world's first piece of digital couture created by The Fabricant and worn by Johanna Jaskowska sold for $9,500. But how does one 'wear' the couture? There is a 28-day window for the couture's new owner to provide a photo of the future wearer to the creators in order for them to custom fit the digital garments. As a blockchain digital asset, the unique existence of the garment makes it both clothing and (crypto) currency.

Reflecting on the Influencer event, the question begged was "why". There are several reasons - some rational and environmental, others cultural and philosophical. The relative merits of sustainable clothing are a hot topic of debate, but the fact remains that all clothing has an environmental impact and places strain on our planet. The only truly sustainable option is to go naked, it has been said. The next best solution is to dress digitally.

From a philosophical standpoint, the newest generation of consumers - the much discussed 'Gen Z'ers' - are typically creating multiple digital personas in online games and on social media. They live a considerable portion of their lives in digital communities, and it follows that they want to dress and present themselves in a way that is true to them. Digital clothing allows this.

The market in crypto collectibles has exceeded $200 billion for the first time this year. The Fabricant reports that "Global brands in the real world apparel market are vying to enter the digital-only fashion space to forge deeper engagement with 'Gen Z' consumers - those born after 1997 who have only known a digitally connected world."

Some recognition of this rising phenomenon can be seen in the popularity of Li'l Miquela, the Instagrammer with 1.5 million followers who only exists in the digital realm. This has not stopped her representing global brands and being paid handsomely for it. Other examples of digital clothing gaining prominence include ASOS X Sims and Fortnite, the game that allows players to buy digital clothing from cult brands via collaborations. With games spend running into the billions in the US and UK this looks set to drive digital accessories spend within games too.

The legitimacy of the digital clothing extends beyond its blockchain registration - the creation of the garments is based on 2D pattern pieces that are used to create physical garments, meaning it is technically possible to create the clothing physically if the owner shares the pattern files. This opens up opportunities for merging digital and physical style.

The rise in digital fashion, bolstered by the sale of the first ever piece of digital couture (which only exists digitally and will never become a physical garment) may mean that digital influencers, like L'il Miquela, will surge ahead of the human ones - for now, at least.

... Read More

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World's First Digital Only Blockchain Clothing Sells For $9,500

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Digital clothing is not readily accessible to the masses yet, but it took a leap closer this weekend. Digital fashion pioneers The Fabricant, create digital clothing by harnessing 2D garment pattern-cutting and 3D design software, coupled with film rendering tools to create hyper-real clothing.

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In just seven minutes, a company called RTFKT Studios sold $3.1 million worth of digital pairs.

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In just seven minutes, a company called RTFKT Studios sold $3.1 million worth of digital pairs.

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Acquiring covetable sneakers is already difficult enough because of intentional scarcity, bot-wielding resellers, and high-level nepotism - but what if there were virtual sneakers, too, that you couldn't own?

NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, have come for the sneaker world through the virtual shoe brand RTFKT Studios. Its non-tangible sneakers are only available through blockchain-based auctions and are selling for prices that rival the rarest real-life sneakers.

On Saturday, RTFKT Studios released a collaborative capsule with the "crypto artist" Fewocious. The kicks sold out in just seven minutes, raising $3.1 million off of shoes you can't wear and that have no connection with the ones you'd kill to have in your hands.

This is only the beginning - Now, thanks to the trendiness of NFTS, there are more impossibly expensive sneakers on the market - and they can't even be worn. RTFKT Studios has said a lot of "big brands and celebs" have reached out to it for collaborations, which raises the prospect of digital versions of real-life shoes.

So let's imagine the next major Nike Dunk release, for example. You likely won't be able to buy it because countless others, including resellers more tech-savvy than you, are after it, too. RTFKT Studios could create an NFT for it, which could maybe serve as a sort of consolation prize. But a bunch of crypto dorks will swoop in to purchase and push the price well above what you would pay on the secondary market for the real thing. Your closet and your computer are devoid of any form of the Dunk you so desire.

RTFKT Studios is already teasing the inevitable outcome and has posted digital recreations of the Travis Scott Air Jordan 6 and user-submitted kicks including the "Grape" Air Jordan 5. Tekashi 6ix9ine also got knockoff Air Jordan 3s, and his involvement should tell you everything you need to know about the corniness of NFT sneakers.

Want to drop $10,000 on a virtual shoe? - Until Nike and other major sneaker brands decide they want a piece of the NFT market, you can try to buy original creations from RTFKT Studios. On its sold out webstore, you'll see prices that start at $1,500 for editions of 300 and run up to $10,000 a piece for more limited editions.

Some of the sneakers are clear knockoffs of classics, including an Air Jordan 1 with flames slated to release soon and the Fewocious kicks that bear a resemblance to the Air Force 1. The most expensive item of all isn't even a shoe, it's a Fewocious charm that sold for $88,000.

Leave it to the tech world to find a way to make the increasingly less fun sneaker game even more miserable.

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$10K for a virtual shoe? NFTs are here to create more sneakers you can't get

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Acquiring covetable sneakers is already difficult enough because of intentional scarcity, bot-wielding resellers, and high-level nepotism - but what if there were virtual sneakers, too, that you couldn't own? NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, have come for the sneaker world through the virtual shoe brand RTFKT Studios.

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Amazon's new AI technique lets users virtually try on outfits

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Amazon's new AI technique lets users virtually try on outfits

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In a series of papers scheduled to be presented at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Amazon researchers propose complementary AI algorithms that could form the foundation of an assistant that helps customers shop for clothes. One lets people fine-tune search queries by describing variations on a product image, while another suggests products that go with items a customer has already selected. Meanwhile, a third synthesizes an image of a model wearing clothes from different product pages to demonstrate how items work together as an outfit.

Amazon already leverages AI to power Style by Alexa, a feature of the Amazon Shopping app that suggests, compares, and rates apparel using algorithms and human curation. With style recommendations and programs like Prime Wardrobe, which allows users to try on clothes and return what they don't want to buy, the retailer is vying for a larger slice of sales in a declining apparel market while surfacing products that customers might not normally choose. It's a win for businesses on its face - excepting cases where the recommended accessories are Amazon's own, of course.

Virtual try-on network

Researchers at Lab126, the Amazon hardware lab which spawned products like Fire TV, Kindle Fire, and Echo, developed an image-based virtual try-on system called Outfit-VITON designed to help visualize how clothing items in reference photos might look on an image of a person. It can be trained on a single picture using a generative adversarial network (GAN), Amazon says, a type of model with a component called a discriminator that learns to distinguish generated items from real images.

"Online apparel shopping offers the convenience of shopping from the comfort of one's home, a large selection of items to choose from, and access to the very latest products. However, online shopping does not enable physical try-on, thereby limiting customer understanding of how a garment will actually look on them," the researchers wrote. "This critical limitation encouraged the development of virtual fitting rooms, where images of a customer wearing selected garments are generated synthetically to help compare and choose the most desired look."

Outfit-VITON comprises several parts: a shape generation model whose inputs are a query image, which serves as the template for the final image; and any number of reference images, which depict clothes that will be transferred to the model from the query image.

In preprocessing, established techniques segment the input images and compute the query person's body model, representing their pose and shape. The segments selected for inclusion in the final image pass to the shape generation model, which combines them with the body model and updates the query image's shape representation. This shape representation moves to a second model - the appearance generation model - that encodes information about texture and color, producing a representation that's combined with the shape representation to create a photo of the person wearing the garments.

Outfit-VITON's third model fine-tunes the variables of the appearance generation model to preserve features like logos or distinctive patterns without compromising the silhouette, resulting in what Amazon claims is "more natural" outputs than those of previous systems. "Our approach generates a geometrically correct segmentation map that alters the shape of the selected reference garments to conform to the target person," the researchers explained. "The algorithm accurately synthesizes fine garment features such as textures, logos, and embroidery using an online optimization scheme that iteratively fine-tunes the synthesized image."

Visiolinguistic product discovery

One of the other papers tackles the challenge of using text to refine an image that matches a customer-provided query. The Amazon engineers' approach fuses textual descriptions and image features into representations at different levels of granularity, so that a customer can say something as abstract as "Something more formal" or as precise as "Change the neck style," and it preserves some image features while following customers' instructions to change others.

The system consists of models trained on triples of inputs: a source image, a textual revision, and a target image that matches the revision. The inputs pass through three different sub-models in parallel, and at distinct points in the pipeline, the representation of the source image is fused with the representation of text before it's correlated with the representation of the target image. Because the lower levels of the model tend to represent lower-level input features (e.g., textures and colors) and higher levels higher-level features (sleeve length or tightness of fit), hierarchical matching helps to train the system to ensure it's able to handle textual modifications of different resolutions, according to Amazon.

Each fusion of linguistic and visual representations is performed by a separate two-component model. One uses a joint attention mechanism to identify visual features that should be the same in the source and target images, while the other identifies features that should change. In tests, the researchers say that it helped to find valid matches to textual modifications 58% more frequently than its best-performing predecessor.

"Image search is a fundamental task in computer vision. In this work, we investigate the task of image search with text feedback, which entitles users to interact with the system by selecting a reference image and providing additional text to refine or modify the retrieval results," the coauthors wrote. "Unlike the prior works that mostly focus on one type of text feedback, we consider the more general form of text, which can be either attribute-like description, or natural language expression."

Complementary-item retrieval

The last paper investigates a technique for large-scale fashion data retrieval, where a system predicts an outfit item's compatibility with other clothing, wardrobe, and accessory items. It takes as inputs any number of garment images together with a numerical representation called a vector indicating the category of each, along with a category vector of the customer's sought-after item, allowing a customer to select things like shirts and jackets and receive recommendations for shoes.

"Customers frequently shop for clothing items that fit well with what has been selected or purchased before," the researchers wrote. "Being able to recommend compatible items at the right moment would improve their shopping experience ... Our system is designed for large-scale retrieval and outperforms the state-of-the-art on compatibility prediction, fill-in-the-blank, and outfit complementary item retrieval."

Images pass through a model that produces a vector representation of each, and each representation passes through a set of masks that de-emphasize some representation features and amplify others. (The masks are learned during training, and the resulting representations encode product information like color and style that's relevant only to a subset of complementary items, such as shoes, handbags, and hats.) Another model takes as input the category for each image and the category of the target item and outputs values for prioritizing the masks, which are called subspace representations.

The whole system is trained using an evaluation criterion that accounts for the outfit. Each training sample includes an outfit as well as items that go well with that outfit and a group of items that don't, such that post-training, the system produces vector representations of every item in a catalog. Finding the best complement for a particular outfit then becomes a matter of looking up the corresponding vectors.

In tests that use two standard measures on garment complementarity, the system outperformed its three top predecessors with 56.19% fill-in-the-blank accuracy (and 87% compatibility area under the curve) while enabling more efficient item retrieval, and while achieving state-of-the-art results on data sets crawled from multiple online shopping websites (including Amazon and Like.com).

How startups are scaling communication: The pandemic is making startups take a close look at ramping up their communication solutions. Learn how

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Amazon's new AI technique lets users virtually try on outfits

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In a series of papers scheduled to be presented at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Amazon researchers propose complementary AI algorithms that could form the foundation of an assistant that helps customers shop for clothes.

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Produce contactless cyber fashion.
Candy wrapper style clothes.

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It takes a lot to interrupt a mindless Instagram scroll, but a photo of [stylist] Nicola Formichetti stopped me in my tracks. His candy-wrapper ensemble looked like a wearable Jeff Koons sculpture. Something about the impossibly shiny sheen made me think: Is that real? No, it turned out it wasn't. It was an outfit from Tribute, a company based in Zagreb, Croatia, that makes "contactless cyber fashion."

In some ways, this kind of fashion is a continuation of a trend we've seen accelerated during COVID-19. Most fashion brands have paused real-life catwalk presentations and instead used short films or virtual showroom visits to get their seasonal vision across. But even before the pandemic, we saw hints of how fashion could exist purely on the internet. Digital fashion influencers like @lilmiquela, for instance, have rocked the latest runway looks from an entirely different dimension. E-commerce websites are also making it easier than ever for shoppers to purchase items without ever having to see or touch it in-person, too. You can even window shop on Zoom now. All of this is possible because social media has primed us for dressing for a digital audience rather than a physical one.

So it's no surprise that some brands are continuing to blur the line between reality and fantasy, taking us into fashion's uncanny valley. Tribute makes digital clothing that it places on people who spend up to $699 on a top that only exists online. The inspiration for the brand was the Sims, Grand Theft Auto, and other video games. "You have these characters and clothing shops where you can dress them up. That was always the most exciting part of the game for me," says Gala Marija Vrbanic, the founder and creative director of Tribute. She launched Tribute with Filip Vajda, who is the head of digital fashion. Prior to starting it, the duo worked on a traditional clothing brand, but always had their sights set on a digital brand. A shared love of sustainable design led them to take the concept to the extreme with Tribute, which claims to be zero-waste because the clothes are made from pixels rather than textiles. By creating clothes that are online-only, the duo see a creative opportunity to have people wear things that could never exist on planet earth. In other words, perfect Instagram bait. "We add new things that are impossible in the real world, like new materials-things that just couldn't function in the real word due to the laws of physics," says Vrbanic.

To start their line, Vrbanic and Vajda digitized patterns that they had already created for real-life clothes, using a 3D software that brands that make physical clothes also use. Once the garments are complete, they then use another software to paste the outfit onto a customer's image that they submit. They blend the garment onto the photo seamlessly, and add shadowing and other lifelike elements. The whole process takes three to five hours, but Vrbanic sees the technology developing so, "people could have this type of clothing instantly."

Currently, the brand has a collection of 12 otherworldly garments available on its website, and they take custom orders. Though it's not real stock, Tribute only produces a certain amount of virtual styles, and once they're gone, they're gone. On the website, it lists how many pieces the brand will create. One hundred people can buy a black, shiny coat with green trim for $29, while only three can purchase a top that resembles green lace and black latex for $699.

Tribute's Instagram page sometimes makes it tricky to determine what is real and what is digital. But its gravity-defying aesthetic makes it easier to discern. The clothes aren't necessarily supposed to look real, but they can certainly make you do a double-take and question it. So naturally, I wanted to see if my friends would be able to tell if I was wearing digital clothes, without being primed for the possibility. I surrendered a photo of myself to Vrbanic and Vajda, and they quickly sent me back a new-and-improved version of myself wearing cyborg clothes. Suddenly, I was wearing a Matrix-style trench coat with silver and green pants that made me look like a superhero. It was me, but better and more alien-like. I immediately sent my new digital outfit to all of my unsuspecting friends, to get their first impressions without any context or clues given.

Not all of my friends were fooled (three immediately asked if the 'fit was fake) but all of my friends were fascinated. My friend Christina said, "The pants look painted-on, but I had to zoom in on first look." She also said it reminded her of Cher's closet in Clueless. Another friend compared it to Monster energy drinks, and another said it gave her Hugh Hefner vibes.

Having tried Tribute's cyber garments myself now, I now see the appeal of it. I am often guilty of scrutinizing my outfit in photos, and if the fit is only slightly off, I will delete said photo. Looking at myself in these flawless virtual pieces, however, the end result had the desired effect that fashion should have: It made me feel good. Like me, but amplified. The only thing that would make the experience even better is if I could actually walk down in the street in these masterfully slouchy pants. But I can't, because that's not the point.

Other virtual brands like this seem to be gaining traction. The Scandinavian brand Carlings operates on the same concept, and its team of 3D designers have been crafting digital streetwear since 2018. The Fabricant recently launched a film campaign that showcases an entire digital denim line too. "We truly believe this is something that is going to shape the future of fashion, and it's something that is totally zero-waste," says Vrbanic. With waste being an ongoing issue in the fashion industry, the duo thinks their digital approach will catch on. It may seem excessive to spend $29 on an outfit that doesn't exist in the physical world, but the brand's founders see it as less wasteful than creating a new physical garment from the world's limited resources. "If you recycle many plastic bottles or produce many organic cotton, it's still going to be a problem-even a greater one, because when you produce organic cotton, there's a lot of more water used," says Vrbanic. "In this case, there are no external resources used. In a couple of years, everything is going to be digital."

But Tribute likely isn't for everybody. It's for people who really love the look of clothes, and flexing it on Instagram. Will those with simple, everyday style-say, jeans and a tee-really purchase Tribute's bold creations? Probably not, but personally, I see Tribute as special-occasion-wear-when you've exhausted your wardrobe and need something fun and outrageous to wear for a photo. I didn't expect to be so taken by my avatar, but I am, and can confirm that spending $29 to be living for your look is well worth it. And if you've grown accustomed to seeing your online persona as an extension of yourself, the fact that these clothes are computer generated doesn't matter. The result is the same.

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Would You Spend Real Money on Virtual Clothes?

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It takes a lot to interrupt a mindless Instagram scroll, but a photo of [stylist] Nicola Formichetti stopped me in my tracks. His candy-wrapper ensemble looked like a wearable Jeff Koons sculpture. Something about the impossibly shiny sheen made me think: Is that real? No, it turned out it wasn't.

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Why digital clothing is an exciting trend

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Why digital clothing is an exciting trend

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Monday 1st February 2021
Fashion industry fears for future over consequences of Brexit trade deal
The Fashion Industry calls on the Government to meet urgently and discuss solutions to help save our industry.
The fashion industry contributes £35bn to UK GDP and employs almost 1 million people, but is at real risk of decimation by the Brexit trade deal and current Government policy.

The UK fashion industry is facing several critical issues, which without urgent attention these issues will jeopardise the immediate and long term future of the sector.

Ours is a thriving industry, based on global leadership, complex supply chains and above all a deeply interconnected relationship with our overseas colleagues. To survive post-Brexit and safeguard our future, we need to ensure we can trade with overseas businesses and are also supported to grow the internal market.

Following an industry-wide meeting held on Wednesday 20th January 2021, brought together by Fashion Roundtable, the industry has highlighted the key issues, impacts and unforeseen consequences of Brexit in an Open Letter to the Government, with a call to action.

We are asking the Government to meet so we can create solutions which will help save our industry.

This letter, signed by 451 signatories, will be presented to the Government tomorrow morning, asking that we can sit at an urgent roundtable meeting with the relevant Ministers for the fashion industry in the coming weeks, to work together and create solutions which will help save our industry.

The Open Letter has received cross-party parliamentary support, with signatories including Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, John McNally MP, Martyn Docherty-Hughes MP, Lord Cashman CBE, Lord Foster of Bath, Earl of Clancarty, Baroness Bonham-Carter and Lord Taylor of Warwick.

The letter has also gained the support of industry leaders across manufacturing, retail, modelling, creative business, education, brands and journalism. Signatories include Jenny Holloway (Fashion Enter), Paul Barnes (Association of International Retail), Kate Hills (Make It British), Jane Shepherdson CBE (MyWardrobe HQ), Caroline Issa (Tank), John Horner (Models 1), Carole White (Premier), Nick Knight OBE (SHOWstudio), Zowie Broach (RCA), Camilla Lowther OBE (CLM), Bethany Williams, Phoebe English,

Professor Dilys Williams (Centre of Sustainable Fashion UAL), Helen Brocklebank (Walpole), Fashion Revolution, Laura Bailey (Model and British Vogue), Dame Twiggy Lawson DBE, Katharine Hamnett CBE, Sarah Mower MBE (Vogue Runway and British Fashion Council), Ruth Chapman OBE ( Matchesfashion), Isabel Ettedgui (Connolly), Yasmin Le Bon (Model), Roksanda Ilincic (Roksanda), Juergen Teller (Photographer), Jess Mcguire-Dudley (John Smedley), Sarah Coonan (Liberty), Justin Thornton (Preen), Andrea Thompson (Marie Claire), Jane Bruton (Telegraph) and Jefferson Hack (Dazed Media Group).

Jefferson Hack, Dazed Media Group: "Everyone who cares about the future of Britain economically or the future wellbeing of our youth needs to understand what's at stake if our fashion and textiles industry is trashed because politicians won't look at the paperwork and get ink on their fingers. How can they stand by and watch something built over generations collapse when they have the power to make a difference? Now is the time to act to save British Fashion, culture and livelihoods."

Isabel Ettedgui, Connolly: "Connolly's home is off Savile Row, but our horizon has always been international, and especially European. Our leather was on the first Rolls Royce and is now on the latest Ferrari. We sell Scottish cashmere but we manufacture our leather goods in a small town in Spain where all the top luxury brands manufacture - because we cannot find the skills to make the goods anymore in the United Kingdom, although the leather is sourced, where possible in this country. It is this dialogue between our island and our neighbours abroad that has shaped who we are. The sadness, the lack of goodwill and the red tape we are now experiencing as a Brexit trading outpost, the financial ramifications of creating barriers with our major trading partner and also the loss of their skills; will be devastating and the result could be the possible closure of a 185-year-old company that holds the Royal Warrant."

Katharine Hamnett CBE: "We need a radical overhaul of customs arrangements including VAT on all goods shipped into the EU by the end of February, or British brands will die."

Michelle Noel, MNN Agency: "The fashion industry is having its creative bones fractured by the implementation of Brexit. The emotional and financial impact has been immediate & damaging, to my consultancy practice and to my network of UK & EU clients. Brexit has eroded any slither of confidence in UK governance and highlighted the disdain & insufficient support for thousands of fashion businesses".

Helen Brocklebank, CEO, Walpole: "Prior to the pandemic, the British luxury sector was in rude health with a value of £48bn to the UK economy and strong annual growth of nearly 10%. Very much a British success story, the sector supported more than 160,000 jobs throughout the UK. However, international visitors to the UK are a crucial revenue driver, and the last 11 months has put severe pressure on their businesses. On top of the pandemic, the eleventh hour Brexit deal has compounded the sector's problems, making chances of swift recovery for British luxury recede compared to their European counterparts. With 42% of all British luxury export sales coming from the EU, the costs and administrative burdens of trading in continental Europe mean many of our members, not least the SME's, have concluded they simply can't afford to continue selling to those countries.

Before the pandemic, the UK/EU deal would have created exceptional difficulties for Walpole members. On top of the pandemic, its impact puts an unconscionable pressure on businesses who should be given every priority to be a calling card for Global Britain. Our luxury brands sell Britain to the world, exemplifying British craftsmanship, innovation and heritage, and their continued success is imperative if Britain is to maintain its reputation in the global marketplace. This is really not the time to inflict additional damage on British luxury. Our businesses are resilient, and they will work to navigate the challenges, however, now is the time for the Government to step up to the mark and support the sector with a set of very tailored measures if we are to bounce back swiftly."

Yasmin Le Bon, Model: "It is crucial not only for people in our business but crucial for the welfare of the UK economy that all people in the creative and fashion industries can travel freely within the EU. I have been working continually in this industry for the past 37 years, it works in a very particular way, with jobs being confirmed literally at the last minute. I may get a call, make a decision and be at the airport within 2 hours ready to fly to Madrid, Milan or Miami! The wealth of these creative industries is in our ability to move and change quickly. This is our future, we can not be stuck back in the dark ages or we will be left behind. Up until now, we have been at the forefront. These are crucial negotiations, the fashion business is huge, and every piece of the jigsaw supports each other, we rarely speak up for ourselves for fear of seeming uncool, but this is about more, it's about hundreds of thousands of jobs that may potentially be lost. You may think that fashion is all about frou-frou skirts and polka dot ties, but it is about so much more. From the designers not just of fashion and accessories, but all the machining for all the hardware, the craftsmanship of the manufacturers, the creativity and artistry of the marketing and advertising tribes, all the wily, resilient retailers, who have been hit so hard by this pandemic. For once we need to be listened to and for the Government to work with us before it is too late."

Tamara Cincik, CEO Fashion Roundtable: "In the fashion industry, everyone wants to "make fashion history": it is a deeply competitive, hardworking and successful sector, generating over £35bn and almost 1m jobs in the UK. Pre-pandemic it was growing 11% year on year. But there is a real risk of it being utterly decimated from the gaps in the Brexit trade deal and UK Government policy, which across each area of the sector: manufacturing, retail, creative, education, is severely impacting on all levels of the business from SMEs to multinationals and in the coming months will destroy the fashion industry in the UK, removing any hope for us to build back better. From the decision to end the VAT Retail Export Scheme, to the decision to not add garment workers to the Shortage Occupation List for visas, while not lining up the necessary T-Levels to train UK domicile garment workers until September 2023, or the extra costs and delays of Brexit red tape to our largest market, the EU and the very real risk of a brain drain, as the UK becomes increasingly unsustainable for our world-leading fashion talent to stay here.

Everywhere I look across our complex, innovative and highly successful UK fashion industry, I see perfect storms and tsunamis unless we act. Fashion Roundtable are about solutions: we have them and urge the Government to engage, listen and act upon them now.

You cannot attract the brightest and the best from overseas, if the talent we already have in the UK cannot stay here for the good of their livelihoods and careers, or you do not shore up the workforce to support a more sustainable, transparent manufacturing sector.

We urge the Government to meet with us, listen to our concerns and policy solutions, so we can ensure the long term viability of the UK fashion industry, which we have all worked so hard to make the success story it is. We want the fashion industry to continue to thrive as a key contributor to GDP and the jobs market in years to come.

We urge the Government to hear us and act: don't make fashion history."
Note to Editors
Background
The deal done with the EU has a gaping hole where promised free movement for goods and services for all creatives, including the fashion and textiles sector, should be. The fashion and textiles industry is the largest component of the previously thriving UK creative industries, growing 11% annually, bringing vital jobs and innovation to the UK. We contribute more to UK GDP than fishing, music, film, pharma and motor industries combined. Yet we have been disregarded in this deal and our concerns overlooked in current policy decisions. This has significantly impacted our opportunity to build back better and grow our onshoring manufacturing, digital innovation and sustainable design and technology in the UK, where we now, more than ever, have the real chance to show global leadership.

The full letter can be found here https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/openletter

About Fashion Roundtable

Fashion Roundtable is the only fashion think tank that sits between the fashion industry and policy leaders; Front Row to Front Bench

We are secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Textiles and Fashion chaired by Dr Lisa Cameron MP, with members including Dame Eleanor Laing, Lord Taylor of Warwick, John McNally MP and Baron Vaizey of Didcot.

Fashion Roundtable are also the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, co-chaired by Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey and Catherine West MP.

Tamara Cincik, Founder & CEO Fashion Roundtable has over 20 years' experience in the fashion industry and has also worked in parliament for Sharon Hodgson MP. Since launching Fashion Roundtable, Tamara has spoken publicly on fashion and politics with a range of high-profile business press including SKY TV, BBC, Telegraph, Vogue Business and Business of Fashion.
For more information please contact:
admin@fashionroundtable.co.uk
www.fashionroundtable.co.uk

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Press Release: The Fashion Industry calls on the Government to meet urgently and discuss solutions to help save our industry. - Fashion Roundtable

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Helen Brocklebank, CEO, Walpole: "Prior to the pandemic, the British luxury sector was in rude health with a value of £48bn to the UK economy and strong annual growth of nearly 10%. Very much a British success story, the sector supported more than 160,000 jobs throughout the UK. However, internatio

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shows how they fit the outfit to your photo.

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Scandinavian retailer Carlings offers with its Digital Collection a solution for the environmental impact of mass consumption and the ongoing demand for new clothes by online influencers.

Online influencers wear 'real' clothes. But why? Their followers only see the digital image of the clothes. Swipe, like and move on to the next image. Three seconds of exposure and the look is old news. The solution: digital clothes. One algorithm fits all.

Carlings Digital Collection is the ideal fashion brand for people showing off their looks on social media. In Carlings webshop, visitors are asked to select an item, upload a selfie and click 'Dress me'. Then, the 3D designers get to work: they'll make the piece of clothing a perfect fit with the person on the selfie. The result is a fashion look as good as the real thing.

https://digitalcollection.carlings.com/

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Carlings Digital Collection - Buro Jantrendman

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Why do influencers still wear 'real' clothes? Their online followers only see the digital image of the clothes. The solution: digital fashion. The 3D designers from retailer Carlings make every item from the online collection a natural fit for poses of influencers. And on top of that, these non-existing, digital clothes have zero environmental impact.

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Will You Be Wearing Digital Fashion In The Near Future? | i-D

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Tribute Brand - Fitting Guide for 3D garments

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You are welcomed to send multiple photos and let us choose which one will suit the best. It is possible to combine and fit multiple products from the same order on the photo, let us know on the note section at the checkout.

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IRL Shopping Withdrawals? These Apps Fill The Void Perfectly

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IRL Shopping Withdrawals? These Apps Fill The Void Perfectly

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Packed with nearly 200 luxury labels from Christopher Kane to Prada and Tabitha Simmons, you can play dress-up with everything from high-impact gowns to chic slides and work out how to wear them. Then, when you've really fallen for them, you can click through to buy on Farfetch and get them into your real-life wardrobe.

Alternatively, you can join the lockdown obsession with Nintendo's simulation game, Animal Crossing, where you can dress your chosen character in must-haves, courtesy of Marc Jacobs, Sandy Liang, Valentino and more. Or capitalise on the current dearth of fashion shows with Balenciaga's dystopian video game Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow, through which the brand unveiled its autumn/winter 2021 collection.

Pay Gucci a virtual visit

You may not be able to experience the deep carpets and rarefied atmosphere of its boutiques, but Gucci is doing its best to give you the full shopping experience from the comfort of your own home. Last summer, the house launched a new service where you can book an appointment to talk directly to a sales assistant in one of their stores via video. They'll take you on a tour of the space, show you pieces from the rails, and talk you through everything from fit to fabric. It's particularly useful if you're in the market for a new bag - you may not be able to touch the new Jackie 1961, but you can explore it from every angle.

For the full makeover

Voir - another app backed by Vodianova - is primarily a subscription tool for perfecting and editing your selfies, thanks to its impressive range of touch-up tools and filters. But it also lets you use your photos to test out different hair colours as well as more than 1,500 beauty products. What's more, you can try out whole looks - a smoky eye with a muted lip, for instance - rather than just trialling individual components.

Hair colour to dye for

Given that salon appointments right now are either completely off the cards or like gold dust, you might be tempted to do colour touch-ups yourself at home. Picking the right shade is crucial and both L'Oréal and Garnier have online tools designed to make it as foolproof as possible: upload a picture of yourself or switch on your camera and, whether you want to perfectly match your existing shade or see what you look like with hot-pink hair, you can get creative with colour. They'll even tell you which ones work - or don't - with your skin tone. Just make sure that you nail your lighting to make it as accurate as possible.

The ultimate try-on experience: watch this space

Let's be honest, the dream virtual try-on app would give you the full Clueless experience and it's just around the corner. Picture this: a luxury virtual changing room where you can upload a picture of yourself and dress up in the latest runway looks. Israeli startup Zeekit is set to launch what's touted as the world's biggest virtual closet and Amazon Fashion is working on a similar service.

Companies including 3DLook and Style.Me, meanwhile, are partnering with labels to modify digital mannequins so they look more like you. Then there's Meepl, an app that scans and measures every inch of your body so choosing the right size first time is more likely. And keep your eye on Psykhe, an algorithm-powered shopping tool that, once you've taken the test, suggests outfits based on your psychological profile.
More from British Vogue:

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IRL Shopping Withdrawals? These Apps Fill The Void Perfectly

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Packed with nearly 200 luxury labels from Christopher Kane to Prada and Tabitha Simmons, you can play dress-up with everything from high-impact gowns to chic slides and work out how to wear them. Then, when you've really fallen for them, you can click through to buy on Farfetch and get them into your real-life wardrobe.

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8 Essential features of a magazine article