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

✨ This week, we're diving into the cutting-edge of fashion and technology, from L’Oréal Paris and Walmart's AR hair color experience to Balenciaga's haute tech couture with Ledger Stax Holder. Traditional with an Hermès Pop Up in Soho. Plus, celebrity meme coins. Read on for details👇

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🗞️ In this Issue #009

1. L’Oreal Paris, Walmart and Snapchat’s Phygital Hair Color Experience

📚 What you need to know

• In-Store Experience: Féria hair dye boxes at Walmart have QR codes to try 15 hair colors via AR on Snapchat.

• Online Access: Try it on L’Oréal Paris’ Snapchat profile or use the Snapchat QR code below.

  

  Source: L’Oreal

💡 Why this matters

• Enhanced Shopping: AR elevates the shopping experience. 66% of consumers are interested in AR tech while shopping (Deloitte).

• Digital Solutions: Trying on hair colors with your face and skin tone makes things personal and possibly a better match.

Read more on retail TouchPoints here

2. Haute Tech Couture: Balenciaga’s Ledger Stax Holder

📚 What you need to know

• Balenciaga and Ledger debuted the Ledger Stax Holder that doubles as a passport cover in Balenciaga's Spring 2025 collection.

• For the newbies: Ledger is a company with products helping secure digital assets. Ledger Stax is a new product launched by Ledger with a digital screen created by Tony Fadell, the mastermind behind the Apple iPod.

  

  Source: Balenciaga, Ledger

💡 Why this matters

• Fashion Tech Partnerships: A new luxury standard is fashion and emerging technology. Ledger has also partnered with Fendi, Hublot, Stadium Goods and The Hundreds just to name a few.

• Wearable Tech: Carrying and securing crypto assets is a fashion statement.

Read more on Highsnobiety here

3. Celebrity Meme Coins: Iggy Azalea and Caityln Jenner

📚 What you need to know

• Celebrities like Iggy Azalea and Caitlyn Jenner launched their respective meme coins, adding to the growing trend of celebrity backed digital currencies and digital assets (NFTs).

• For the newbies: Meme Coins are a type of cryptocurrency that gain value through internet memes and social media rather than underlying technology or fundamental value.

  

  Source: Iggy Azalea

💡 Why this matters

• Celebrity Culture. Celebrities joining crypto by launching their own meme coins shows the intersection of entertainment and finance.

• Risk & Reward: Celebrity meme coins may offer potential gains, but also risks of full of pump-and-dump schemes and rug pulls aka scams. A fake Iggy Azalea Meme Coin was launched before Iggy launched her own. Insiders bought and sold the real Meme Coin for $2M before the announcement of the real coin. *Not financial advice.

Read more on Decrypt here

LOVE IT OR HATE IT: A Giant hot pink Hermès Birkin Bag was in Soho for 2 days in front of SoHotel in New York. Brands use Pop Ups to showcase products to connect with their audience, create marketing buzz with instagrammable moments, and/or drive sales. But, this Hermès Pop up could have been elevated with Tech. Here’s how. 👇

Augmented Reality (AR): Visitors could have tried on a digital version of the bag with the Hermès logo embedded to share on social media.

Digital Touchpoints: QR codes could offer exclusive content, interactive touch screens to explore products, audio to create an immersive experience, or a virtual mirror for virtual try on (VTO). Plus…

Olfactory Senses: Adding Hermès fragrance could elevate with a sensory experience.

🧠 Leveraging emerging tech and a sensory experience is the key for innovation. Make it more than just another pop up.

🤝 Want to elevate your brand with marketing, innovation and tech? 🔑 Book a Strategy and Action Planning Call here.

Conference Season is buzzing, but surprising no FOMO. NFC Lisbon, Concensus and Viva Tech across Fashion Tech and Web3. HBU?

Fashion wise, Balenciaga is everywhere with it’s show in Shanghai, last week’s NFC chipped merch collab and video game. Excited to see more brands create accessories for tech that will be fashion statements just like cases for our phones & headphones.

The Hermès installation was beautiful, but I’m surprised that Hermès especially finance team approved this especially since I haven’t seen much media coverage and it doesn’t have clear ROI. Maybe they have a big marketing budget?

What did you think of the news from this week? Let me know.

💬 Let’s connect

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

- Janey

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