If the hype around all things Web3 in the luxury, lifestyle, and fashion sectors was supposed to have died down recently, this news evidently failed to reach Paris in February, a month that saw a complement of digital fashion symposiums that had prestige brands flocking to the French capital. 

Of course, to be serious for a moment, participants and attendees at such events in the city as Digital Fashion Week, Future+, Future Fashion Summit, and the yearly NFT Paris were well aware that questions have been asked about the exact status of Web3 in 2024. 

After all, the industry has taken more than enough of its own hits lately – at least in terms of broader public perception – amid the sliding market fortunes of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud conviction. 

But even if some relatively casual observers are still deterred by the “crypto bro” trope, the evidence presented by the latest Web3 fashion events in Paris indicates that fascinating new innovations and trends are continuing to emerge. 

The sheer pace and variety of such change should certainly provide “food for thought” for many a high-end brand in the UK that might still be uncertain about the best steps to take with its Web3 strategy. 

‍So… what Web3 fashion developments are becoming apparent? 

One thing that certainly ought to be noted, is the embrace by many Web3 fashion stakeholders of more subtle aesthetics than those notorious cartoon monkeys embody. 

Gmoney, the founder of the crypto-native fashion house 9dcc, was quoted as saying by Jing Daily that an “emerging aspirational demographic is completely overlooked by traditional luxury brands.” The news outlet said that 9dcc was “investing heavily in cultivating a business that’s taken seriously as a legitimate fashion label”, catering to what Gmoney referred to as the “crypto mob”. 

However, the situation isn’t necessarily so much about battle lines being drawn between newer, Web3-entrenched fashion brands and their longer-established, traditional counterparts, especially when there is scope for mutual benefit. 

This much was recognized by Nick Adler, founder of the Web3-oriented label Mntge, who drew attention to the endorsement the brand had received from the legacy denim giant, Wrangler. An attendee at Fashion Future Summit, Adler said the alliance between the two “just made sense”. 

He said that established brands can give a leg-up to emerging Web3 firms, while those cutting-edge up-and-comers can, in turn, encourage existing labels to “push the envelope of what traditional fashion has been able to do”. 

‍Web3 fashion proves arguably as relevant and inspiring as ever 

‍Jing Daily concluded its own report on the events in the City of Lights by observing that “brands have been engineering a strong Web3 comeback” – an assessment we emphatically agree with here at Skywire London. 

To learn more about what close work alongside our digital and strategic agency could mean for your own brand’s Web3 strategy during 2024, please don’t hesitate to contact us.