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This is 🪩The Digital Runway 🪩 your guide to understanding and leveraging Fashion, Tech & Trends! 🚀

✨ From Gaming with Lady Gaga to Chipped RTW from 9dcc to Virtual Try On from Farfetch to a Crypto Fragrance — the fashion industry has been buzzing.

In this Issue #004:

👠 Hot off the Runway: News you need to know and why it matters

🧠 Runway Insights: Strategic insights to apply to your brand

⚡️ Fashion Flash: Hot Takes on Fashion’s Digital Revolution

✍️ The Runway Diaries: BTS & Story Time

1. Gaga Goes Gaming with Fortnite

📚 What you need to know

• Lady Gaga headlines Fortnite Festival Season 2 starting Feb. 22 inspired by latest album Chromatica.

• A Fortnite skin (digital outfits worn by players) replicates Gaga’s custom purple bodysuit that she wore on tour with additional offerings like emotes, accessories, music tracks and lego versions for sale.

💡 Why this matters to Fashion & Music Industry

• Music + Gaming. Gaga’s collaboration with Fortnite (Video Game Platform with 650M registered players and $6B in revenue) marks Lady Gaga’s entry into the Digital World and Digital Fashion.

• Brand Partnerships. Artists can connect with fans through virtual events, community engagement, exclusive virtual items and more by leveraging each other’s brands and communities to create magic.

• Fashion is Physical + Digital. Creating a replica of a physical fashion item that Lady Gaga wore and making it into a Digital Fashion item (skin) is the future and will be a must for Fashion Brands and Artists.

2. 9dcc’s Crypto Mob is the Trifecta: Gamification, Tech Enabled Products and Fashion

📚 What you need to know

• 9dcc, a crypto-centric luxury house and lifestyle platform founded by gmoney, launched a 54 piece collection at NFT Paris, featuring coats, pants, sweatshirts, blazers, hats, around the theme “Crypto Mob.”

• Each item has an NFC chip linked to an Ethereum NFT to bridge the digital & physical world through Fashion.

  

  Source: 9dcc

💡 Why this matters for Fashion Brands

• The Trifecta: 9dcc is the only Fashion Brand in Web3 that combines gamification, tech-enabled products, and a fashion aesthetic. The integration of NFC chips from IYK allows scanning and increased rewards through engagement. The collection's aesthetic aligns with traditional fashion standards deviating from black hooded sweatshirts associated with Web3.

• Networked Fashion. 9dcc sets the bar for Fashion, showing how to leverage tech into product assortments through networked items with NFC Chips, promoting consumer engagement.

Read more on Vogue Business here

3. Try Before you Buy Virtually with Farfetch AR

📚 What you need to know

• Wanna, a Farfetch-owned AR try-on platform now offers virtual try-on (VTO) for handbags where customers interact and try them on virtually.

• The virtual fitting room market is projected to hit $18.31 billion by 2030 according to Fortune Business Insights.

💡 Why this matters to the Fashion Industry

• Virtual Try on Before Buying: Leveraging AR Technology to try something on virtually allows customers to better visualize what an item will look like on themselves.

• Cost Savings & Sustainability: The ideal outcome would mean less returns meaning less costs for a company and less carbon footprint.

Read more on Jing Daily here

⚡️ Crypto Fragrance launch missed the mark

Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange platform, launched a fragrance for International Women’s Day along with $25 USDT award for the first 5000 women completing a beginner crypto course on Binance Academy.

💡 What COULD have been done

While the effort to onboard and educate more women into the crypto space is a must, unfortunately, this launch was a MAJOR miss.

• If higher ups insisted on a fragrance launch, collaborating with beauty brands like L’Oreal or Puig would have given expertise and credibility.

• Education and onboarding could have been gamified through offering rewards like beauty products or in-store experiences (like Nike .Swoosh’s approach) launching educational events in key cities could have fostered community and facilitated onboarding women.

🔍What do you think about this Crypto Fragrance launch?

Been on a hiatus taking care of personal matters, but it feels good to be back!

This year I’m learning to reflect and pause. Recently I was reminded me about 3 things that keep me going with The Digital Runway and I wanted to share the with you.

1) Education. When I jumpstarted into Web3 January 2022, there weren’t many women and even less sharing about it. I wanted to share what I was learning and explore the possibilities for Fashion & Beauty brands leveraging tech.

2) Community. I never would have imagined having internet friends who have become IRL friends from all over the world connected through a shared passion in Fashion and Tech/Web3. My IRL circles aren’t in the space yet, which makes these relationships more precious.

3) Fun. I love creating content — ideating, scripting, filming, editing and sharing. It’s fun and hard work, but I love bringing an idea to life. I heard someone say once that she always likes her content first. This has been something I have taken to heart to have fun and enjoy the journey.

💬 Let’s connect

I would love to learn more about you. Hit that reply button to introduce yourself or drop a comment. Below are some conversation starters.

• Who are you, what do you do and how did we get connected?

• What makes you excited about Fashion, Tech and Trends?

• What IRL event are you going to next?

- Janey

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