E-commerce and the Metaverse: Polygon, DressX, The Dematerialised | MVFW 2022 Panel Series

What does shopping for fashion look like when the store, the product, and the customer can all be digital? David Cash hosts Brian Trunzo of Polygon Studios, Adriana Goldenberg of The Dematerialised, Kenneth Anand, author of Sneaker Law, and DressX co-founders Natalia Modenova and Daria Shapovalova on Day 2 of Metaverse Fashion Week, recorded in Decentraland in March 2022. The panel covers meta-commerce, digital ownership, the meta closet, and advice for anyone buying a wearable for the first time.

Watch on YouTube

Chapters

1. 00:00 Welcome: e-commerce and meta-commerce
2. 00:59 Brian Trunzo introduces himself
3. 02:24 Adriana Goldenberg on The Dematerialised
4. 03:56 Kenneth Anand introduces himself
5. 05:27 DressX co-founders introduce themselves
6. 10:10 Polygon Studios as a translation layer for brands
7. 12:35 How The Dematerialised launches fashion NFTs
8. 16:08 Splash City, Drip Society, and sneakers in Decentraland
9. 20:14 DressX, the meta closet, and sustainability
10. 25:34 The open metaverse and true ownership
11. 30:18 Advice for first-time wearable buyers
12. 38:49 What the panelists are bringing to the week

Speakers

• Brian Trunzo, Metaverse Lead, Polygon Studios
• Adriana Goldenberg, Head of Growth and Metaverse Partnerships, The Dematerialised
• Kenneth Anand, Author of Sneaker Law, business development for YEEZY Apparel, professor
• Natalia Modenova, Co-founder, DressX
• Daria Shapovalova, Co-founder, DressX
• David Cash, curator of MVFW (host)

Key topics

• Meta-commerce: selling wearables, land, and experiences in virtual worlds
• Polygon Studios as a bridge between consumer brands and Web3 natives
• How The Dematerialised curates and launches fashion NFTs
• Splash City and Drip Society, a sneaker store in Decentraland
• DressX, the meta closet, and digital fashion as a sustainability tool
• Why owning an item on-chain lets it follow you across platforms
• Advice for anyone buying a digital wearable for the first time
• A fashion week anyone with an avatar can attend

In their words

"You own that item. You can take it wherever you want. It follows you." (Brian Trunzo)

"record how you feel wearing digital for the first time" (Adriana Goldenberg)

How to cite

APA: Cash, D. (2022). E-commerce and the Metaverse: Polygon, DressX, The Dematerialised | MVFW 2022 Panel Series [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/laYaUM3kUVs

Chicago: Cash, David. "E-commerce and the Metaverse: Polygon, DressX, The Dematerialised | MVFW 2022 Panel Series." Recorded March 2022. YouTube video, 45:55. https://youtu.be/laYaUM3kUVs.

Recording details

Recorded: March 2022

Format: Panel and talk series recorded in Decentraland for Metaverse Fashion Week 2022

Length: 45:55 · Language: English

Curated and hosted by David Cash, produced by Cash Labs

About the series

The MVFW 2022 Panel Series is a set of ten conversations recorded for the first Metaverse Fashion Week, held in Decentraland in March 2022. David Cash curated and hosted the series, produced by his studio, Cash Labs. Designers, artists, technologists, editors, and founders joined him on the main stage to talk about digital fashion, identity, commerce, and craft. The full series is archived on David Cash's YouTube channel.

About this record

Presented with framing, speaker name tags, and captions added in 2026. Captions were machine-transcribed and reviewed by hand, with names checked against speaker introductions. Speaker roles are as of the recording date and may have changed since.

Shared for educational, research, and archival purposes. For corrections, name spellings, or removal requests: david@cashlabs.io

Transcript

Machine-transcribed and reviewed. Timestamps link to the moment in the video.

[0:09] Hello, everybody. Welcome to day two of Decentraland's Metaverse Fashion Week. This is our first panel today on the main stage. Very happy to have you here. My name is David Cash, and today we are joined by another panel of incredible thought leaders in the Web3 space. Today's topic is something really relevant to this week. It's e-commerce in the Metaverse, and what I like to call meta-commerce, kind of this emerging market as we begin to sell NFTs, virtual wearables, land and experiences, and things even beyond that via the Metaverse. So we have an amazing panel here today. I'd say each of the voices on this panel come at this concept from a completely different space and, you know, background. So I would love to pass the mic around and introduce some of the incredible people we have up here on stage. Up first we have, immediately to my right, at least how I'm seeing it right now, is Brian

[1:02] Trunzo from Polygon and Polygon Studios. Brian, would you like to briefly introduce yourself and let people know what you think of today's conversation? For sure. No, thank you, David. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Yeah, Brian Trunzo, Polygon Studios. I come to the Metaverse to Web3 via fashion, so I guess that's why I'm here, right? Over the last decade, built a career in fashion, having owned and operated stores and brands in New York, Carson Street Clothiers, being my store formerly, and DeVoe New York being my brand formerly. DeVoe, which still exists, my store Carson Street Clothiers, unfortunately no longer exists. That being said, no longer involved with DeVoe, but happy to watch the homies do a great job there. Yeah, my way into the Metaverse, I guess, in 2017 was doing trend forecasting for WGSN, and I had crypto peeled myself pretty hard. I was early into CryptoKitties, and I started slipping that

[2:03] into presentations, talking about digital scarcity and the burgeoning ERC721 contract, and five years later, I'm at Polygon Studios. I love it. I'm sure we'll talk about some of the steps in between, and some of what bridged that gap for you in this conversation, but really happy to have you here, and yeah, excited to talk about what's changing as well in the space as we keep moving further and further into the Metaverse. Up next on my screen, I have Adriana from the Dematerialized. Really happy to have you here, Adriana. Would you like to introduce yourself and let people know the work that you're doing at the Dematerialized? Yes, thank you, David. Thanks for the intro. I'm the head of growth and Metaverse partnerships at the Dematerialized, and so for those who don't know about us, we are a leading market space for fashion NFTs, and the way we say we're a market space rather than a marketplace, because we're a bit

[2:56] more experiential than that, so pretty relevant for today's topic in terms of that next level of e-com. From our perspective, one of the main things that sets us apart from other platforms is really our curated focus on fashion NFTs, and the brands that we really strive to work with, and really working on a very meaningful value exchange for our customers and audiences. We really focus on the utility side of things, and really ultimately building communities around each of our launches. We're a very curated platform centered around the fashion NFT space, and really developing in the audience and utility side of things. Awesome, so happy to have you here, and looking forward to delving into the Dematerialized perspective on the Metaverse and e-commerce in a little more detail in this conversation. Up next for me, once again, Mr. Kenneth Anand, a leader in the fashion space and a critical voice in footwear and streetwear, I could say, as an

[4:06] extension. Kenneth, really happy to have you here and gain some of your perspective. I know you're building some spaces in the Metaverse right now in terms of e-com. Yeah, really happy to have you here. We'd love to get an intro from you and let the people know what you're all about. Thanks, David. Thanks for having me on this esteemed panel. Again, my name is Kenneth Anand. I am a sneaker and streetwear expert. I'm a lawyer by trade. I practice law for many years before leaving the practice to join Kanye West at Yeezy. I was at the Yeezy brand for several years where I helped build that brand, and now I'm sort of a consultant in the sneaker and streetwear space. I wrote a book called Sneaker Law, which is the business and legal bible for the sneaker business. I teach that course all over the country, and I became interested in the Web3 space and the Metaverse space over a year ago. I started working with a company called Banquet Labs, and we're building a

[5:00] space on the central land called Splash City, the first project being Drift Society, which is the first sneaker store in the Metaverse. It's a really cool space. If you have a chance to check it out, please drop by, and yeah, I'm excited to talk on this panel about where the future is going. Awesome, awesome. Super happy to have you here, Kenneth. Always a pleasure to to chat with you, and yeah, Mel Bynes. Up next, we have two very special ladies joining us all the way from Austin, Texas, Daria and Natalia, two of my favorite people in the fashion space, all the way from DressX. Daria and Natalia, how are both of you doing? I know you love to kick it off with each other, so I'll pass the mic over to both of you. How are you doing? Would you like to introduce yourselves and DressX in the context of e-commerce, your specialty? Yes, so my name is Daria and I'm along with Natalia, founder of DressX, CEO of the company, and we

[5:56] founded DressX one year and a half ago. It was summer 2020, the middle of pandemic. Exactly when we understood the retail will never be the same again, and we should definitely go and build its new future. So that's how DressX was started, because we definitely understood the e-commerce will move online, not in the sense of online stores, but it will be so much bigger and different, and we already sensed that, and that's how we came to the idea of opening the store with the clothes that don't feel exists, and you can just wear them on the content, on the video, and on the still images. And there is so much more into DressX, what has happened from the day that we launched, and I pass it to Natalia to share her story, and by the way, I'm coming from the fashion industry, so almost everyone here, 15 years, is in traditional fashion. Thanks Daria for starting, and yes, I'm as well a founder of DressX, and the background is in

[6:56] traditional fashion. The previous company was based in Paris, and that's how it worked with all the major stores, so well as the world, from concept stores, legendary, like Colliet, like Dover Street Market, to such a huge stores, like Lane Crawford, all the big retailers, Revolve, e-commerce retailers, Net-A-Porter, and there's a lot of problems there, and we understood it should be built in a different way, because fashion is such a beautiful visual language for people to communicate, and there is so much more behind that, so with digital fashion, we started from the interface of the store, which is like easy to understand for people, but what we really want to do is to give a meta closet, a digital fashion wardrobe to every person in the world, and right now we start doing it already through our mobile app that is available in App Store, Android version is coming soon, and that's where your

[7:53] digital fashion items become wearables, and also NFTs become wearables already now with our partners, this Whom they launched, and launching our own ecosystem with NFTs being wearables through different interfaces. If you aren't familiar with CressX, I highly recommend you check out both their activations here at Fashion Week, and of course their website and their app, I always mention it, but they have a really incredible app, you have to check it out. Really appreciate you both joining, and I really appreciate all of the panelists here today, I think we have a really amazing group of thought leaders as I've mentioned, and really excited for today's conversation. So to kick it off, when we consider the idea of e-commerce, especially in the metaverse, we have to consider the context that we're coming from, and you know when we were bringing together Metaverse Fashion Week, obviously we were thinking what do we

[8:42] want to bring from the traditional world, and what do we want to create a new, what can we you know build in the metaverse that can't be created in real life, so you kind of faced with this you know this intersection you can say, and I think we're faced with this in the space, in the web3 space, almost on a daily basis, especially most of us come from traditional industries, whether it be the fashion industry or subsets of, whether it be streetwear, sneakers etc, we've all experienced e-commerce, we've always experienced retail on a number of different levels, and now when we're moving into the metaverse, finally at this point in time there's a user base, and there's people who are actually interacting and buying, and working on this digital level at a much higher rate than they were last year, let alone a few years ago, even two or three years ago, so we're in a really exciting time right now, and during Metaverse Fashion

[9:27] Week when so many people are going to be exploring wearables for the first time and going beyond their immediate tangible real-life fashion experiences, I think this idea of what e-commerce looks like in the metaverse will come up for a lot of people, often for the first time, so I think this is a really important conversation, I hope some people get value out of this, and I'd love to start today's conversation by just passing the mic around, just to chat a little bit about what each of you are doing within your practices, within your respective companies, and also you know a little bit of a state-of-the-art let's say of e-commerce or metaverse commerce as it stands right now in the metaverse, so if it's okay with everybody I'll pass it around in the same order, so to kick it off a large topic, but Brian give us a little bit of an idea what you guys are doing over at Polygon and what your perspective

[10:10] is as we continue to move into the metaverse. This begs the joke like how much time do you have, and I think all of us could crack the same joke right, I mean it's just so much inbound, so much prospecting, it's just absolutely incredible, so to level set for a second you know Polygon Studios being the incubator, consultative arm, investment studio, and also just general marketing and tech support arm for NFTs, blockchain-based games, and metaverse for Polygon, the blockchain upon which the blue chip metaverses are built, including of course Decentraland, you know we're in a unique position to be the rails upon which a lot of some of these esteemed cohorts on this panel are building, but also in a position to strategically advise in sort of like a pseudo weird B2B capacity, these actual virtual worlds that are built upon our rails as I had said, so you know coming from the world of fashion,

[11:06] having experience with brands, youth culture, celebrity, entertainment, sport, my extended network is consistently coming to me not only for counsel, but for execution, right, they want to know the agencies, they want to know the development studios, they want to know the platforms upon which they can put forth their vision, right, and obviously I'm always talking about Decentraland, but that's a big part of what I do is being a guy on the inside, right, a literal, sorry, a literate, fluent fashion head who can be a translation layer to the crypto natives and the web3 natives, so we're working with some of the world's largest consumer brands, everyone straight through to luxury, and it's just a really exciting time to be on the ground floor, because it's all happening now, you know, we are setting the best practices and principles for tomorrow, so it's super exciting.

[12:00] Absolutely, and I mean, that's one of the most exciting things about being here right now is people ask a lot of questions and often we're the ones dictating those answers, not just, you know, pulling them from a book, so yeah, building, you know, building the boat as it's sailing or building the airplane as it's flying, you know, these kinds of analogies, I love when they come up, and I totally agree. Thanks for that, Brian. We'd love to pass the mic over to Adriana. Obviously, you have a very specific outlook on e-commerce and the way that you approach it, as you mentioned in a very experiential way through the materialized, we'd love to hear a little bit more about your approach and some thoughts on where e-commerce is progressing right now in the metaverse. Yeah, thanks, David. So I mean, from our perspective, like I mentioned on that kind of curated angle before, and I guess echoing kind of

[12:41] what Brian, you know, mentioned his role was, we really see ourselves as that kind of authority in the space to help brands both kind of physical first as well as digital first find their footing in the metaverse. So each of our kind of concepts and each of our kind of, you know, and I guess launches or almost product launches in this case, is a very unique way of exploring kind of how that brand actually meshes into the fabric of the digital sphere. So you know, we've worked with the likes of MCQ, Karl Lagerfeld, and more kind of traditional physical first brands as well, such as like Rebecca Minkoff, through to the more kind of digital brands as well. So working with EBIT, which is a enjoy being in transition, it's actually a brand from Simon Whitehouse, who's the CEO of EcoAge, who launched a brand to highlight kind of mental health in the metaverse, as well as through to kind of more digital

[13:40] first brands like Tribute brand. And we actually worked with Artifact and the Fabricant way back when in the kind of founding days of the dematerialized as well. So our experiences is really varied and kind of how we come up with the right kind of concept and really, it is like launching a product for us. So my role within that is very much kind of as the head of growth and metaverse partnership side of things, to be able to help brands actually understand, okay, almost from that taking kind of traditional principles of developing a marketing campaign through to actually, you know, what is your kind of goal that you're trying to achieve? Who is your audience that you're trying to reach? And ultimately, what are you, you know, what are you actually trying to do, in terms of the type of launch that you want to have. And that's why we think about all of the different variables that can kind of come into this

[14:32] situation from the types of audiences through to the types of NFTs, through to the aesthetics of the NFTs, which platforms they see as kind of being the right ones to integrate with. And I think, you know, one of our advantages is really being able to play within all of these different ponds, we're not limited to kind of one singular platform, we're not limited to, you know, one type of specific kind of application. And I think, you know, maybe a kind of topic to continue, but we're really able to kind of start a lot of those debates within kind of what actually are the next trends going to be in fashion? And how does that actually play out in the metaverse? Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much for that, Adriana. And love the dematerialized process. You know, there's so few brands active actively working in this space, we all have to respect each other and see, see the quality of each

[15:27] other's work. You guys have put out some really incredible drops in the past couple years. So really awesome to hear a little bit more about the process and looking forward to delving in a little bit further. Next up, Kenneth. Obviously, you're coming at this initially from a traditional standpoint, but more recently, you've done a lot of integrations into the metaverse and you've done a lot of work yourself to enter the metaverse, you could say, you know, this idea of entering the metaverse. And now you're also, you know, helping liaise a lot of brands into this space as well. So definitely this theme of entering the metaverse, I feel like is universal on this panel. But yeah, Kenneth, we'd love to hear a little bit of a little bit more about you and your practice and yeah, what metaverse ecommerce means to you right now. Sure. Well, I think we're all hearing from this panel that we're facilitators of some sort, right? We're trying to bridge

[16:14] the gap between what's happened in the physical space and bring that to the digital space. And I think what splash city and what the work we're doing at banquet really provides is bringing a little bit of swag and culture into metaverse. You know, and much of what I do, in my day to day is acting as a translator, really just working with brands and explaining to them what the metaverse could mean for their brands, and to have them start to think in a web three mindset, which is, you know, it's very new, and it's very fresh to some people. And these are people that have dominated the physical space that have made their marks in many different established and outstanding ways. Now they're being asked to think on a totally different plane and some get it and some don't. A lot of people are waiting to see where it goes before they dip their toe in some are all in. And I think, you know, for those of us on

[17:04] this panel, we're all in and we see it. You know, us at banquet in splash city, we're very bullish on to central land, we believe that that's the place to be for the future of culture that for the future of sneakers and streetwear. And so we put our stake down with drip society, we put the first sneaker store in the metaverse. We showcase designers right now we did a couple launch parties with a very creative person in rare shoe, who has dropped some really cool wearables, but also has physicals to match those. We're launching kids super on splash city was outstanding designer and really gets what web three is all about in the metaverse. And, you know, a couple other surprises that will be soon to come. And I'm just, you know, I'm really excited about I've spent most of my career being a translator between law and fashion between sneakers and business between like all these different convergent places that are very lucrative. But

[18:01] sometimes it takes somebody who straddles both worlds to explain it to those that are in one or the other. So, um, you know, I'm excited for what's going to come. And I think when it comes to e commerce, you know, we're seeing many different possibilities, whether it's interacting with physical products in the metaverse by bridging that gap or just having digital products or a combination of hybrid of both. I mean, we're like we have so many creative people building the metaverse right now that see this much better than all of us do that come from a traditional background. That's important to collaborate with those people. We have an amazing developer on our property called Tang Poco. And she's done a beautiful job with baby dolls, which is one of the coolest spaces in the central land. If I say so myself, it's just a fun party atmosphere. She's thrown some great parties. And, you know, these are the people that

[18:53] you have to link with to build the future of the metaverse. Um, it's it's very exciting. And I think it's a place where commerce will see its new dimension. So that's that's my take on it thus far. Awesome. A bunch of great points there, you know, being a conduit, being that bridge, allowing, you know, that gap to be closed between different worlds. I feel like that's super important as we shift into this space. You know, there is nothing without the on board, and that's super necessary. And yeah, really excited to see how you're continuing to to bridge that gap and looking forward to seeing some of what you're activating in the metaverse over the next week. Would love to now pass the mic over again. Last but definitely not least, the lovely ladies at DressX. Obviously, you have a very unique approach at how you roll out products. You know, we've discussed before the idea of, you know, central, like what platforms are

[19:45] centralized, what platforms are decentralized, what's on chain, what's off chain, you do it all. And you do it in a really compact way. Daria, we'd love to start it with you. And then we can pass it over to Natalia would love to hear some thoughts on Yeah, your perspective on e commerce and the metaverse today. Sure. Thank you so much, David. And first of all, it's so exciting to be surrounded by sidechick, you're rages and amazing people who are also in this space. And they love learning from all of you here, who are in the panel and beyond in the industry in general. So basically, I touch based on my previous backgrounds when I was in fashion since I was 17. I had my TV show in fashion, and then the fashion work in Ukraine that helped to promote the country in a world's fashion map. And the showroom that Natalia have mentioned and actually at the opening of the showroom and the winter game, the

[20:31] editor in chief of Vogue US to meet all of our designers. And this was such a major moment for the industry and so much support from her through those years I actually I when I started in fashion, there was no Facebook and no Instagram. So I remember that change that immediately happened with the one social media came into place into our dialogue. And then when we were doing the showroom, I started to anticipate that there is one more change that is coming to the online shopping to the way how we perceive fashion, how we consume it. And basically, we found this vision and digital fashion, that's exactly why we started from the off chain items to make it so acceptable and so understandable to everyone in fashion, first of all, because that's the audience that we're also targeting people from the fashion world. They did not know much about blockchain, for example, at the very beginning what we started. So we

[21:21] needed to propose something that is used on a daily basis by millions of people and that social media. And that's why we started with a very simple use case when you purchase an item from dress accent with digital address you and you can pass it over social media. That's what got us all the traction and we started to work with so many companies and influencers and talking to brands of how we can move them forward in this idea of making them more attack more digital and more sustainable because that's why dress access is also built because we're tackling this issue of sustainability in fashion that there are so many clothes that are over produced that should not be produced. You know, David, we discussed it in the past. And by and as Natalia mentioned, we dress access your meta closet. So it's the first app that you open before you go somewhere online, whether you take a meeting or you go to

[22:13] Instagram, social media, soon to be all other platforms, because that's how we saw dress from the very beginning. And on the 24th, we are launching the NFT dot DressX.com. Obviously, the launch is happening a little bit differently of how we plan due to the current situation that we're native country where we don't live anymore, but we are probably Ukrainians. So we start with fashion for peace, drop and tell you we'll tell you more about that. But obviously, that's exactly what this new type of commerce, which is digital, which is happening in that diverse gives us so many tools of how we can actually help people to change their habits, how we can democratize fashion in a good way and how we can make it more accessible and how we can make it a tool because like even with the support Ukraine collection that we have addressed x we gave this visual language for everyone to advocate about the events

[23:06] that are happening in Ukraine that shouldn't happen. And we'll continue doing that for many other kind of I don't want to say countries I don't want it's the same situation happen to any other country. But like to many other causes because digital fashion is the language as we spoke and it's going to be reflected in your meta closet, which is DressX. So I think my word to Natalia. Yeah, I think it's very beautiful that there are actually two interesting parts of meta commerce. One is like financial and how their payments are processed and the crypto is doing a lot of this space. And this is amazing how it can react so like fast and how it can be transacted so fast and how it can be super transparent is something that is traditional financial system is missing and same for fashion transparency is super important and also like efficiency. And that's what a digital fashion brings the gap like closing this gap and

[24:15] crypto is closing this gap. And that's why such a great match that you can actually be relevant. Fashion is all about newness all about like right values. And this is something that is possible to do. It also can bring the inclusivity tools but also it can be super exclusive, which is also super important for fashion. So it's it's just an amazing new way of yeah, it's just a new lifestyle. Same as like very digital fashion is like just like new lifestyle, same as spending more time in front of the screen rather than in front of like people IRL. It's a new lifestyle, transacting in a different way. It's also different lifestyle. So that is so this is a powerful, powerful new movement tool and just like absolutely agree. Great points to Talia and Daria. Thank you so much for that. I love your concept of the meta closet. And I think we should all work on expanding our meta closet across platforms, especially

[25:29] this week, as we're all exploring the metaverse, and especially this entry line a little bit more detail. And that's the next one I wanted to touch on. I would love to hear some of the speaker's thoughts on what we're trying to facilitate here, which is ultimately, from my perspective, an open metaverse. So you know, what the central line is trying to push from its very root is a metaverse that facilitates linking outside of it. We don't look at a closed ecosystem here. We're not looking to control the internet, per se, we're looking to bridge and like that was mentioned before, being a bridge, being a conduit, being a block in a chain, you know, it's very native to to our web3 roots, you know, linking outside of something, being inherent to its value. So with the central line, you know, from its very core, we've always had the feature of being able to click on something and then go to a website and go

[26:15] to an external source. And similarly, now as the metaverse is moving forwards, we're having opportunities to scan QR codes in the metaverse to click through and maybe experience a VR experience or a mixed reality experience. And even more even bridge to other metaverse spaces. So I think now when we're moving beyond traditional notions of a website experience or a gaming experience, and we're kind of bridging all these gaps, especially via the power of web3, the commerce kind of potential the web3 enables, I think it's a really exciting time. And I know that every business is approaching this really differently. But specifically thinking of the consumers who are coming into the market this week, the lovely people all across the central line this week who are listening to us right now, some of them I'm sure have bought wearables before some of them haven't, they're going to be walking into stores, some of them

[27:00] they're going to be able to claim pieces for free. Some of them are going to be able to buy pieces. I'm sure many people are going to be converting ETH to MANA and you know, processing transactions like that for the very first time. Polygon MANA for wearables, of course. So yeah, we'd love to pass the mic around and just hear some potentially words of wisdom or just some thoughts that you'd like to share with any folks who are experiencing metaverse e-commerce for potentially the first time this week. Brian, any thoughts? Yeah, lots of thoughts. I mean, I could get quite philosophical with it. So I'll fall short of being like fervent, right? But I often think it's important to talk about like why we're here. And you said open decentralized metaverse. And I think that is so important and distilling that down for folks who may have been on that next wave of being Web3 native that came into the space because of

[27:48] NFTs and now because of fashion, because of wearables, who may not have been here to really see how we got here through being decentralized. And, you know, I like to use the analogy of we are living the end of Ready Player One, right? Like the gunters are gearing up to fight I.O.I., right? And I don't need to name who I.O.I. is in this instance. I think we all know who I.O.I. is in this instance, if we've seen the movie. And to speak on decentralization and you know, digital scarcity and ownership of assets, you know, ownership of assets being the most important part. I think it's important to think about the way people use fashion and items that they own in the real world, right? And that's to say you could do whatever you want with those items, right? I can wear this shirt. This is a Martine Rose shirt. I could wear this inside a Nike store and no one will kick me out of the store, right? I can do

[28:37] that. That's how the real world operates. Up until today, walled gardens and permissioned sort of platforms would not let that stand, right? If you are on a platform that is owned by X company, they do not let you port Y item into that space. You do not actually own Y item. You have a license to use it. That license can be terminated for any reason whatsoever. They could just stop supporting the platform. They could say, we don't want you on other platforms, but in a truly open, decentralized web and interoperability tools are coming. We're not there yet, but in a truly open, decentralized web where you actually own these items, which you do today, we do have that technology. That's what NFTs are. That concept disappears. You own that item. You can take it wherever you want. It follows you.

[29:24] And that's the breakthrough. That's why we're here. So I often like to, you know, blast that trumpet on panels like this, because it often gets lost in the sauce because people who are newer to the game don't really get that concept. Oh, 100%. I'm coming on that soapbox with you because that's one of my favorite topics on versus off chain fashion. That realization will be a huge turning point for so many people. And I hope that people realize this week. And if you don't understand what that means, just start thinking about why you would own something on the blockchain versus why if a video game held that asset for you, you wouldn't own it as much. Just start thinking about that. I think that's a great point, Brian. Really, really glad you brought that up. We'd love to pass it over to Adriana. You know, we're thinking a lot about how people are onboarding and coming into this space, shopping for the first

[30:07] time. What do you hope people would experience this week and any thoughts or advice for people entering the metaverse? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think one of the biggest pieces of advice that I would give anyone getting into the space for the first time is record how you feel wearing digital for the first time. Think about it for a second. And reflect on it and how that sense of gratification that you get from wearing digital and then think about the last time you bought something physical and reflect on that difference. And I think it's important to, you know, take a second to feel how does it feel to be an avatar? How does it feel to interact with other avatars? And I think what's really interesting is hearing thoughts around, you know, entering that space for the first time and having that pin drop moment of, you know, having your avatar actually feeling like or I guess that feeling of convergence

[31:00] where you feel you are your avatar. And I think that's a really, really interesting, I guess foray into the metaverse that hopefully a lot of the viewers of this panel will be experiencing this week. So yeah, I mean, I think, you know, maybe just kind of switching tact as well on the topic of, you know, why Decentraland is so relevant in this conversation. I think Decentraland has a really pivotal role in onboarding kind of new audiences into the metaverse as well because I think particularly from an aesthetic point of view and, you know, Decentraland walks the line between that kind of low poly but simultaneously familiar aesthetic that you don't otherwise get from platforms like the Sandbox or more voxelized traditional platforms like that, which obviously have, you know, benefits in other ways and can be, you know, perceived actually as even more friendly or almost kind of more, you know, approachable. But

[31:54] at the same time, I think Decentraland has a really, really interesting role in actually kind of being the forerunner or the front runner in, you know, attracting both kind of fashion audiences who are curious about getting into getting into the metaverse and being willing to kind of take that risk and take that, you know, first step and explore and simultaneously attracting the kind of more well versed crypto audiences who are, you know, getting into Decentraland from a real kind of experience point of view. So, yeah, I mean, I think what's to come from the Decentraland point of view is also really interesting, both from the learnings of new users on the platform, as well as those who are very well versed on the platform, kind of serving that role in kind of, you know, passing the baton, I suppose.

[32:41] I think that's an excellent point. I mean, for so many of us, Decentraland was our first touch point in an on-chain metaverse, especially for many of us, our first touch point, you know, utilizing on-chain virtual fashion. So, I mean, definitely for myself and I'm sure many other people on stage. So I think that's really important. And it's almost a responsibility, you know, in the ethos of Web3 for people who have experienced to teach people who are entering the space or at least lead them in the right direction so that we don't all get wrecked. I think those were great points, Adriana. Thank you so much for those. Would love to pass it over to Kenneth. Kenneth, obviously you've been doing a lot of onboarding of brands, a lot of onboarding of artists, celebrities across the board. I'm sure you have this conversation a lot. What does it mean to come into the metaverse for the first time? And

[33:23] how do you interact here? Any thoughts for people entering this e-commerce space digitally in the metaverse for the first time? Yeah, I mean, I thought Brian did such a great job of putting it down technically. And Adriana said, you know, the emotion behind it, like, you know, I just have to say for those coming in, we're in Fashion Week, right? Like, think about what your identity would be if you had no boundaries on your identity, right? Like, you know, this is the exciting thing about what's happening in Web3. You have the chance to reinvent yourself and to be someone or be something that you, you know, you feel represents you in some way, or is completely unrepresentive of what you are in real life. There's no limits to it. And as you browse around the spaces during Metaverse Fashion Week, find the ones that you feel represent you the most, like interact with those brands and find some emotional or

[34:18] some, you know, visceral reaction that it gives you that says, yeah, this is my digital identity and I can, I can vibe with this. And it doesn't matter if you can buy those pieces at the time or if they're giving them away, just consider what you're seeing because everything we're seeing is so new and so fresh. I was recently asked to give a designer and developer what my avatar should be. And they're putting that together in a 3D form. So like represents what I would be in the Metaverse. And I came up with this, you know, Professor X looking dude that, you know, has a, has a full night armor on and is, you know, riding around in a mini tank. And like, you know, there's no, there's no boundaries to where you can go with this, you know, and I think that's the beauty of it. And I think for Fashion Week, we have to consider what fashion means in the Metaverse and how that will shape our identities. This is

[35:14] just the beginning and I'm excited to see where it goes. I mean, really important to touch on digital identity. If this is a topic that interests anybody listening right now, you can also check out the panel that we're going to be doing on the Boson protocol stage later today. Look out for that. Really happy if you mentioned that Kenneth, and I think that's really important when we consider what do we want to invest in in our first steps in the Metaverse? Let's invest in things that, you know, we really relate to or at least, you know, surround ourselves with reference points that we really relate to and we resonate with for whatever reason. Great, great points. Really happy to have you here. Again, last but definitely not least, two of my favorite opinion leaders in this space and folks with a ton of experience onboarding brands, individuals, general public, celebrities. The two of you have

[35:56] worked on so many different levels in this process, and I'm sure you've given a whole range of advice. So maybe just considering people who are coming into this for the first time this week, how would you recommend that people try to experience the Metaverse and experience Metaverse e-commerce over the course of this week? Just go and try. And for example, we address sex, build everything on a feedback loop, some of the clients. So this is very important to kind of go, experience, share feedback, share what your experience is. And the Metaverse V3 community is very responsive and will always listen and will always continue building together. This is a very early days, but still the earlier we are there, the more of us are there, the better it is for everyone who will be joining down the way as well. So it's a great place for contribution. And also just think about it, like now everyone can go to

[36:59] the Fashion Week. How many people have been at the Fashion Week their life? I know a lot of people like trying, like desperately trying to get to the fashion shows, to the Fashion Week. It's like something that you cannot reach. But look, it's such an inclusive place. There is a space for everyone and embrace it. I think that's such a great point, especially from a consumer perspective. The fact that you can go to an inclusive Fashion Week where you can go to all of the events, just that alone is unheard of. I mean, IRL, I don't think I've ever seen that before. So I think that in itself is really exciting. I'm happy you brought that up. And another point that Daria brought up, I wrote it in such ridiculous terms, but I think it's a fun thing to consider, you know, especially where it was on the central line, which are on polygon manna, you know, it's a totally sustainable means of commerce. So,

[37:51] you know, we can make consumerism. We can sell 10,000 of something we can do so entirely sustainably. So I wrote sustainable consumerism, because that's what we're facilitating here. We're allowing for people to get what they want and experiment with styles and identities that they want to try out and not to have a negative impact on the world. I mean, that's a really big deal in and of itself. People can have the ASOS experience without feeling really bad about themselves. So this is the future. This is the future. Great points right now, right now. You can go to a store right now and buy some of these wearables and experience yourself. So this has been a pleasure. I'm really happy that we've all gotten to come together today. I really appreciate everybody taking the time just before we all leave you to experience the rest of day two of the central lands of Metaverse Fashion Week. We really hope you're

[38:37] all enjoying it. I would love to pass the mic around one more time to all of our incredible panelists, just to mention anything that they're particularly excited about this week, especially if you're activating anything in particular. We'd love to just pass around the mic one more time. Brian, anything in particular you're really excited about this week you want to mention? Oh, man, it's going to be just an absolute movable feast of cool stuff. I mean, I've been on the ground floor talking to you, talking to Decentraland Foundation, talking to the brands, talking to UNXD. And I still feel like I maybe know 30% of what's going to happen next week. So I'm so stoked to just see it all come to life to see the beautiful, like just innovative and groundbreaking things that that's going to make a blueprint for the future. So yeah, I'm just stoked to be sort of captivated. I want to be captivated.

[39:29] Beautiful. Well, we hope to give you that. I can almost guarantee it. Really happy to have you. Thanks so much for joining us, Brian. It's a pleasure. Adriana, anything you're particularly excited about, especially in terms of what Dematerialize is bringing to the table this week? Yeah, I mean, I think from our perspective, we're kind of, you know, trying to infiltrate all the different panels and thinking about how we can get involved in these types of conversations because yeah, really from our perspective, I think one of the biggest things that we're trying to understand and trying to shape is kind of next phase of culture and fashion facilitating that culture. So, you know, being able to talk about that with various different panelists all across the globe, it's a really exciting position for us to be in. And I think, you know, both from kind of this panel level, as well as kind of within Decentraland

[40:16] itself, can't wait to see the kind of outfits that are going to show up to the shows and really excited to see how people express themselves. And, you know, on the topic of digital identity, honestly, I think we're going to see things we've never seen before in our lives. So I really am excited to see kind of what everyone is wearing and that infamous question, what are you wearing? I really hope someone is, you know, going around and asking that on the on the on the ground floor. Awesome. Thanks so much, Adriana. Really happy to have you included in so many of our main stage panels and of course, as well having the Dematerialized represented in the Cash Labs gallery. I'm really excited to have some of your pieces from your collaboration with Carl Lagerfeld live in our gallery. Make sure to check them out on the first floor in the sculpture garden.

[41:03] So once again, thank you so much, Adriana and the Dematerialized team for everything that you're doing in the space, your insights in today's conversation. And yeah, make sure to go check out their work in the Cash Labs gallery. Would love to pass the mic again over to Kenneth. Kenneth, you're always doing some crazy things in the metaverse. I would love to hear where people should head over to see some of what you're working on this week. Yeah, well, first of all, personally, I'm just interested in seeing how brands and fashion companies show up in an authentic way, but also push the limits. Like I want to see people do some really wild stuff. I think that's where the really exciting, exciting stuff can happen. But for our project, I mean, we have some really cool activations happening in Drip Society. You can see the future of sneakers in the metaverse. Anything that's going to happen big in sneakers, you can

[41:54] expect it to happen there. You'll see Kid Super on the main stage. And yeah, we're just excited to see where this goes. It's I share the enthusiasm with everybody else. Brian, I got to get some new Drip too. I got to make sure that I'm swagged out. My official title is the chief drip officer of the metaverse. So I got to live up to that, right? Like, you know, and and that's such a great metaverse title, like you just got to, you got to think outside the box. So I'm excited to see how other people think outside the box and, you know, just have fun rolling around. So we can all expect Kenneth and Brian to be shooting lasers, shooting fire, you know, all kinds of stuff. When we see their avatars. No, I'm really excited about that. Really happy to have you. Please do make sure sure to go check out Kenneth's awesome activations. And of course, the Kid Super Runway going to be really exciting.

[42:46] Last but again, not least ending us off, two of my favorites, Daria, Natalia. Do you want to give us a little idea just on what you're activating this week and where people can find some of your work? Yeah, I feel like there is a lot of education going on for everyone who is joined, just joining the conversation or who have been has been in the space for a while and already building a metaverse digital fashion. But still there is so much the new things that we can learn and we can do. Yeah, I want to highlight our fashion show with Metaverse Travel Agency and we will have several looks dedicated to fashion for peace support Ukraine collection. This is an important force. We all build Metaverse, but we also should remember that there is an IRL life is actually something that is kind of sourcing the power to build this Metaverse, which we are all excited about. And the nuclear power dress will be

[43:47] showcased in cash labs. This is also visit cause because, yeah, this is a collaboration with several people. The Kuti Rugiya, Clara Dagon, this nuclear power activist and model is available. And of course visit our dress next door. We'll see what will be there like a surprise. Oh, wait, it's it's not life, right? It's not life. So we can say you can already see what we prepared for you. And yeah, just start wearing digital fashion. It's so much more exciting than listening about it, reading about it. Just start wearing maybe the first experience will be surprising, maybe clunky, maybe so like inspiring.

[44:40] But the earlier you are there, the more stylish you are. You heard it here first. I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for Talia and Aria. Always a pleasure having you both. And that's our panel for today. This is day two of Decentralized Fashion Week. We're still just beginning. We have three amazing days of programming. Please go check out the Metaverse here. Don't just stick around in one place. Please explore hop through portals, see everything and buy a wearable buy a wearable today, especially if you haven't if you haven't bought one before. There's even a bunch of free wearables all over the Metaverse today. So I really encourage everybody watching this right now. Go grab a wearable. They're cheap or they're free or they're not, but it's worth it. So one more time. Oh, yeah, please. Yeah, it's a historical moment. It's a variable from the very, very first Metaverse Fashion Week. So I

[45:29] wouldn't encourage everyone to actually buy a lot of stuff this time. You heard it here first. It's going to be it's going to be a historic one. So once again, thank you so much to all of my panelists for joining us today. You can check out all of their socials tagged below. Thank you again for watching. And yeah, now we're going to do our Q&A portion. So we will see you in the next panel this evening. Thanks so much for watching. My name is David Cash, Curator of Decentralized Fashion Week. And we'll see you in the next panel. Take care.