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Welcome to 🪩The Digital Runway 🪩 — your go to guide to Fashion, Tech & Trends! 🚀

✨ This week we’re diving headfirst into the Digital Realm with Games, Memberships, and Tailored Experiences from Balenciaga, Walmart, Hugo Boss and SRGN Academy. Read on for details👇

📍Question of the week: Should Fashion Brands embrace Gaming, Experiences and emerging tech? Does it matter to consumers? Share your thoughts.

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🗞️ In this Issue #007

1. Balenciaga’s 8-bit & NFC Chip Adventure

📚 What you need to know

• Balenciaga's latest collab with BFRND (French Musician) isn't just music—it's an immersive journey!

• Dive into their exclusive playlist, limited-edition merch with NFC chips, and an original 8-bit video game, BFRND: THE GAME.

• The merch, available at stores and online, includes T-shirts and zip-up hoodies featuring an NFC chip for accessing a bonus level in the game.

• Fun Fact: This isn’t the first game that Balenciaga has launched. You can check out Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow from FW21 here.

  

  Source: Balenciaga

💡 Why this matters

• Innovative Interaction: Balenciaga’s ethos of music, fashion, tech and gaming offers a comprehensive way to engage.

• Purposeful Tech. The Balenciaga x BFRND collection has NFC chips that allow access to a secret level of the game.

• Key Takeaway: Traditional Shopping needs a makeover and leveraging tech and brand partnerships is the Future of Fashion.

Read more on HIGHSNOBIETY here

2. Walmart’s Ecommerce Goes Digital

📚 What you need to know

• Walmart launched Walmart Realm, a 3D shopping platform where users explore and shop in virtual worlds via desktop or mobile featuring digital twins of products from physical Walmart stores.

• Users shop by adding virtual items to their cart to buy the physical items and engagement in mini games is rewarded.

💡 Why this matters

• Next Level Shopping: Merging e-commerce with a gaming-like experience creating an immersive environment where users can shop for the physical twin makes it easy for users to buy and brand’s to drive sales.

• Targeting Gen Z: Partnering with influencers like Mai Pham, Nava Rose, Mackenzie and Malia Flower as well as gamifying the experience.

• Physical Rewards. Incentives like a 20% coupon and $100 sweepstakes are being used to rewards engagement.

Read more on Modern Retail here

3. Hugo Boss’s Tech Powered Membership Experience

📚 What you need to know

• HUGO BOSS unveiled HUGO BOSS XP, a cutting-edge omnichannel membership journey centered around the HUGO BOSS mobile app.

• The program integrates traditional loyalty features with innovative blockchain-tech like tokens (NFTs) for exclusive products and experiences.

• First launch market is the UK, so the rest of the world will need to wait.

💡 Why this matters

• Not Your Average Loyalty Program. Merging traditional loyalty features with blockchain elements and incentivizing engagement with exclusive products and digital wearables takes consumers on a new journey deepening the relationship with the brand.

Read more on Hugo Boss here

LOVE IT OR HATE IT: Customize your sneaker not just in Digital, but also with AR. The collaboration between SRGN Academy and swatchbook makes fashion customization digital.

SRGN Academy, founded by Dominic "The Surgeon" Ciambrone, is a collective of creatives, dedicated to boundary pushing custom shoe making and design.

Swatchbook has created the world's largest library of digital materials and innovative tools for designers, revolutionizing how they work with 3D assets and materials.

This partnership allows SRGN Academy's unique customization capabilities to merge seamlessly with swatchbook's cutting-edge technology, empowering users to participate in exclusive design challenges and elevate their fashion creativity digitally. Users can also design in AR vs. needing to make an order IRL.

🧠 Brands must embrace emerging tech like AR and digital customization to stay relevant, connect with their community, drive sales and build the future together.

NGL (not going to lie), this is the first time I haven’t had major FOMO (fear of missing out) with all the events happening. Viva Tech happened this past week, which I am excited to cover in next week’s issue and NFC Lisbon is happeniong next week.

This week I got a lot of digital action. I had fun playing Balenciaga’s BFRND game, exploring Walmart’s Digital World, and checking out SRGN Academy’s new mobile app + customization. Last week was very AI and this week was very much more about driving engagement and connectivity.

Have you tried any of the digital experiences I shared? Let me know.

💬 Let’s connect

Got questions about Fashion, Tech & Trends? Hit reply and let me know.

- Janey

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