The Art of Hype: Streetwear and Web3 with Gmoney, Verbal, and Hypemoon | Farfetch Twitter Spaces 04

Jan 29

Recorded live on Twitter Spaces on January 30, 2023, this episode of Farfetch Twitter Spaces looks at the art of hype and how streetwear and luxury fashion became a way into Web3. Produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch and co-hosted with Hypemoon and Hypebeast, the panel brings together Gmoney (9dcc), Verbal (AMBUSH), and Keisha (Hypemoon). They discuss why so much of Web3 fashion started with hoodies and sneakers, how a media brand covers the space, NFTs as access passes for fashion communities, advice for brands entering Web3, on-chain loans against physical goods, POAPs and meeting in real life, and how AI and the metaverse could change what luxury means.

Watch on YouTube

Chapters

00:00 Opening
00:18 Welcome and the art of hype
02:17 Keisha introduces Hypemoon
04:52 Gmoney and Verbal introduce themselves
08:46 Why Gmoney started 9dcc
10:08 Hypemoon on covering hype in Web3
17:21 Verbal on what excites AMBUSH about Web3
23:31 Gmoney's advice for brands entering Web3
27:21 Streetwear, ownership, and self-expression
31:58 Gmoney on on-chain loans against sneakers
39:05 Verbal on bringing fashion brands into Web3
43:31 Hypemoon on media in 2023
46:29 Gmoney on POAPs and meeting in real life
49:38 Verbal on the metaverse, AI, and luxury
55:54 Closing thoughts and where to find the guests

Speakers

David Cash, producer and host
Gmoney, NFT collector and founder of 9dcc
Verbal, Co-founder, AMBUSH
Keisha, Managing Editor, Hypemoon

Key topics

Why the first wave of Web3 fashion was streetwear, hoodies, and sneakers
How Hypebeast launched Hypemoon as its Web3 vertical
Gmoney on 9dcc, verifiable scarcity, and crypto-native luxury
Verbal on AMBUSH NFTs as access passes and the AMBUSH metaverse
Listening to Web3 natives and treating the community as a focus group
Ownership, individuality, and self-expression in streetwear and Web3 culture
On-chain loans against sneakers and other real-world assets
POAPs, community, and meeting in real life
AI, the metaverse, and a new definition of luxury

In their words

"Just because you saw something work before doesn't mean it works now, and you can't be tone deaf to the market and where it is right now." Gmoney

"I think the emergence of Web3, especially during COVID, just changed the definition of luxury forever." Verbal, AMBUSH

How to cite

APA: Cash, D. (2023). The art of hype: Streetwear and Web3 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/246QvhQhXFg

Chicago: Cash, David. "The Art of Hype: Streetwear and Web3." Recorded January 30, 2023, Twitter Spaces. YouTube video, 1:00:41. https://youtu.be/246QvhQhXFg.

Recording details

Recorded: January 30, 2023, Twitter Spaces

Format: Live audio conversation on Twitter Spaces

Length: 1:00:41 · Language: English

Produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch

About the series

Farfetch Twitter Spaces was a series of live audio conversations on luxury fashion and Web3, produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch from 2022 to 2023. Each episode brought designers, editors, technologists, and investors together to talk through how the fashion industry was changing as it happened.

About this record

Trimmed at the start and end only, and opens with a short excerpt from later in the conversation; the conversation itself is otherwise unedited. Visuals, captions, and music were added in 2026 for this video edition. 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.

[0:00] I think the emergence of Web3 especially during COVID when we have to face it just changed the definition of luxury forever it's Okay, hello, hello, hello. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Fashion Twitter. Very excited to be back for another Farfetch official spaces. We're joined here today by a number of very exciting guests. We're co-hosting the space today with Hypemoon and Hypebeast. Very excited to see both accounts in the chat today. Very happy to have you both. And we're also joined on stage by two legends. We got Gmoney in the room as well as his incredible brand 9dcc.

[0:49] Very excited to dive in with both of them. And of course we have Mr. Verbal, one of the creative forces behind AMBUSH from the fashion side. So very excited to have all these incredible speakers here today. I'm really excited to dive in. Send a request over to the Hypebeast folks if you want to get up on stage and join us. But with all of that being said, just want to give a quick mission statement and then we can dive in to introducing our guests and talking about why we're all here. Talking about the intersection of streetwear and hype and luxury fashion as it pertains to Web3, which I think is a fabulous topic. Really excited to be diving in today. But of course we're back here for another Farfetch Twitter spaces. I'm joined by these incredible voices. Our goal with these spaces is really to create discourse. We want to help lead the conversation at the intersection of Web3 and luxury fashion.

[1:32] We're not selling anything in this space. We're simply here to you know help create this discourse, bring together thought leaders and hopefully you know help dictate the future of what this space is going to look like. You know that's really our goal here. So really excited that all of you took the time out of your very busy schedules all over the world to coordinate this. We got Verbal all the way in Japan. We have you know folks stateside as well and you know we have people all over the world who are joining. I see some folks from the Farfetch team in the UK as well. So lots of lots of time zones being represented. But we'd love to take a moment before we kick this off and pass around the mic, introduce all the incredible speakers that we have here. First I'll pass it over to the Hypemoon account. Would love to have you introduce you know some of the amazing stuff that Hypebeast and Hypemoon

[2:11] are doing in the space and let people know what you're all about. I'll pass it over to you. Hey thank you. Thank you guys so much for having us. It's Keisha over here behind Hypemoon. I am the managing editor over at Hypemoon and we've got Hypebeast down in the audience and hopefully they'll be coming up in a little bit by having some technical difficulties. But in a quick sum up Hypemoon is the Web3 vertical and sort of department of Hypebeast. So pretty much similar concept. Hypebeast has been known for the culture, for their drops, for being in tune with the latest sneakers that are dropping, the latest fashion, the for all be all and I guess now in the Web3 space Hypebeast wanted to create a platform for just that specifically for Web3 and not just kind of add another subcategory to the the major Hypebeast page but create its own sort of vertical, its own department to kind of move forward all of the

[3:14] stories all of the cool things that are going on in Web3. Highlight those just as Hypebeast had once done with people who are just starting to come up in the quote-unquote Web2 space is now happening in the Web3 world. We're having celebrities, we have fashion designers, we have artists, we have streetwear artists, we have everything that the Web2 has if not obviously a lot more now with all of the technological advances and everything going on. So Hypemoon is a place for those voices, it's a place for those stories to live and it's a place for us to get connected into the blockchain along with the bigger Hypebeast ecosystem which is something that we are working on and trying to bring that that same culture and that same vibe forward through digital media and a more in an entirely different environment.

[4:07] Hypebeast being an entirely Web2 company it did take the shift and you know it has a team kind of spearheading it along and and now we're here having Twitter spaces with some legends and some really great people and yeah that's that's kind of a little gist a little intro. Fabulous fabulous very very well said and super exciting and very encouraging I think you know to see Hypebeast taking such a stance in the space to not only you know cover and integrate into Web3 but to create a you know a dedicated platform and a dedicated outlet I think it really speaks to what you're all building over there so I think that's I'm very encouraging from my perspective. So lovely to have you here and hopefully we can get the Hypebeast account up on stage as well no pressure but you know hopefully we'll figure it out. I'm very happy to have you in the meantime. Would love to pass the mic over to the man the

[4:57] myth the legend mr. Gmoney who's joining us here very very much appreciate you taking the time to join us here for anybody who may not be familiar with you would you mind introducing yourself and how you fit into this beautiful Web3 fashion ecosystem. Hey how are you thank you for having me honored to be on stage with with everybody on here especially Verbal you know awesome amazing designer and has done amazing stuff both in the fashion space as well as in the Web3 space. I guess my background you know I'm I was a major collector in Art Blocks known very well for my CryptoPunk which is my profile picture. I did a collaboration with Adidas a little over a year ago with their first NFT drop and I have since then launched 9dcc which is a crypto native luxury lifestyle brand.

[5:50] You're a humble man I love the way that you talk about it but very excited to dive in on a couple of these aspects deeper and really appreciate you being here. Would love to pass it over to another legend who you just shouted out we have mr. Verbal from AMBUSH who's joining us all the way from Japan. Thank you so much for taking the time for anybody from the Web3 space who may not be familiar with you and AMBUSH would love if you would take a moment to introduce yourself thanks for being here. Sure and thanks for having me and the honor is mine. Like I said I was super pumped to be able to be on stage with everyone today especially Gmoney. I think we've been in touch I think you've been in touch with you and we've been kind of going back and forth on some ideas so I'm super excited to be here today. Yeah I started the brand AMBUSH with my wife and partner Yoon who's the creative designer and the genius

[6:47] behind the brand and as a fashion brand you know we've always been about collaboration you know getting a lot of energy through interactions with like-minded brands and those don't necessarily mean fashion brands we work with you know cereal brands like Reese's we've worked obviously with sportswear Giants Nike and you know alongside our collection that we present throughout the year that creates a lot of energy and new concepts and of course the way we fit into the whole Web3 space is through our interest in tech throughout the years so I'm also in the entertainment space namely in the Japanese music industry and through my journey there I was in the into motion capture suits which kind of segued me into virtual reality and I was always dabbling in that space and then I stumbled into NFTs through utility and the token gating the where possibilities of having wearables and such was very very exciting

[8:13] and I thought that it could be a great segue to experiment to find creative ways you know to bring value to the fashion community and that's how I'm here through the POW! REBOOT and glow in the dark which is our AMBUSH NFTs awesome I love it and thank you so much for taking the time once again to be here really excited to have your input in today's conversation as we dive in deeper into the art of hype the art of streetwear and luxury streetwear specifically last but certainly not least if there's somebody behind the account I'd like to talk I would love to pass it over to 9dcc here a little bit more about what you and the Gmoney team are building in creating your own Web3 native streetwear brand oh yeah so I guess I'll speak to it it's I don't know I don't know who's who's on it right now on the account but yeah you know to me I started it mainly for three things one is I wanted to create

[9:11] a crypto native something that would signal I'm a wear that I just didn't see that was out there at the time two is I wanted to kind of tap into verifiable scarcity where you know it's like what what better use case for a decentralized ledger than to allow people to see how much of an actual product actually exists where you know I think if anybody has spent any amount of significant capital on anything whether it's a watch a purse a shirt whatever it is you want to know how many of them exist and then three and this is where I think things are gonna start to get really fun and interesting with the brand is now that you know I have product out in the wild like what is it like to kind of begin to gamify that ecosystem and bring the tech that we have now like in Twitter on Discord and that we obviously see these community thriving online and bring them out into the real world also very well said and really exciting

[10:12] to see how that happens live in action and I'm excited to dive in deeper in this conversation today to set the stage once again you know I think I think this topic is really interesting I think everybody here up on stage is gonna have some incredible insights to share today but when we consider the luxury fashion ecosystem as it pertains to Web3 I mean we're on stage with somebody who's really helped craft a lot of it but a lot of what we've seen you know through RTFKT through Adidas through a lot of the leading projects and the fashion side of things have been streetwear you know it's hoodies sneakers streetwear for the most part so I really think it's important and insightful right now to dive in and see what's been done so far what what has been done successfully what can we change and you know as the rest of the fashion industry begins to you know take its first steps trepidatiously into this

[10:57] Web3 space we want to see what's been done so far successfully and how we can learn from things and you know I think it's a really productive conversation to have so I'd love to pass things down the line I have some questions set up for each of you but as per all of our conversations I just want to stress if anybody has anything you'd like to add to anything that's said in this conversation please feel free to chime in we do have some structured questions but we want this to be a free-flowing conversation we want to hear your thoughts we invited you for a reason so again if anybody has any thoughts at any point please feel free to just chime in you know we're not in class you don't need to raise your hand I'm very happy to have you so with all that being said I'd love to pass the mic back over to Hypemoon while we wait for the Hypebeast account to join as well I got some questions for you too

[11:35] but no pressure if you can't but for the Hypemoon folks I mean obviously you know you talked about taking the the step into the Web3 space by creating this dedicated outlet and you also already spoke about how Hypebeast has been so integral to covering culture and really this progression of culture and I really think that's a big part of what we're talking about when we're talking about the art of hype and we're talking about luxury streetwear we're talking about culture so I'm curious from your perspective can you tell us a little bit about your entrance into Web3 and how you see your role in this Web3 media landscape covering what's going on would love to pass it over to you yeah yeah no and regardless I think for the Hypebeast account I would have been kind of so speaking on their end as well so any questions you have them I would also kind of take similar to how Gmoney's doing with 9dcc but I guess in

[12:23] terms of that question Hypemoon the project itself had initially launched last year in May early June and I mean our founder came on behind Hypebeast is a huge fan of the Web3 ecosystem and I think when when Hypebeast or you know I won't speak for the brand itself but when I think this shift was starting to happen with all of these huge brands and this luxury sort of sort of lifestyle started popping up in the Web3 ecosystem all of these brand collaborations were coming in creating really dope stuff in terms of digital wearables and also physical wearables there was you know online digital fashion weeks being posted for it I mean the hype that this space has caused obviously was inevitable like it was hard to ignore I'm sure for many companies around the world and including for many many media brands but I think that to to kind of answer your question in a short form to create Hypemoon it was not because it didn't make

[13:25] sense to just add a tab and to the Hypebeast home page and start talking about NFTs and tech I think it was you need to find a way to slowly gravitate your audience to that sort of content and not hit them so hard right off the bat for it especially when there's a space that's so new and things are just starting up I think it makes sense to kind of set it apart create its own brand kind of create its own identity with it so it can find its own tracks as it goes and I think with Hypemoon it's doing just that it's it's sort of finding its identity finding its crowd finding its community finding those same hype heads that you know are into the streetwear culture are into the sneaker world culture and are looking for those similar stories but they're in this space you know I think in this space we there's a lot of different media outlets and I'm just like I think the topic even Verbal had mentioned in terms of

[14:16] collaboration I don't see this space as being an intensely competitive market when it comes to that I think there's a lot of media outlets right now trying to find their niche trying to find their communities trying to find their crowd and what's like gravitating towards them and there's so much that's going on but at the end of the day people are interested in obviously what's hype what's exclusive what's what's the scarcity what's going on but people are also interested in stories people are interested in stories that are creating these brands who are the people doing it who are they collaborating with and how is this coming to be and I think that that's where Hypemoon at least for now can sit in new terms where we're creating space for a lot of these brands and a lot of these individuals to have a voice to share their story with the community and then do it in a reputable way where you know

[15:08] there is things that go on the Hypebeast home page and people are seeing that and trying to find that middle ground of how do we have how do we create valuable and resourceful content for the audience that we have right now in front of us but how do we also gravitate towards the Web2 audience that isn't exactly sure but they're interested also in those stories in those weird things going on but also the cool things you know not I don't think everybody wants like an in-depth technical analysis breakdown of certain coins and things people people want to know that there's real people behind a lot of the stuff that's going on and people want to know that there's things that that are being built there are brands that are collaborating and I think those stories and those outlets are important so I think Hypemoon and Hypebeast right now we're sitting in that middle ground of trying to gravitate to those same sneaker heads but

[16:00] the ones that are in this space too and it's interesting when you see like if you look at statistics and things like that and I think that later on Hypemoon will probably be covering this in a more in-depth look but the people who are here the people who are interested in NFTs and paying tens and thousands of dollars for for expensive exclusive NFTs are also the same people that are interested in the latest Nike drop or in the latest you know exclusive luxury brands like it's a very similar concept I think if you can connect luxury to this space like you can you can see how and the why and yeah I'm sorry if I rant it off a little bit no I think that's that's perfect really great insights I totally agree I think that we've seen that there's a ton of overlap between you know the luxury streetwear market and and the Web3 world and we've seen that practically through you know appeal in and you know

[16:56] interest in drops like you know again the RTFKT drops and a lot of what Gmoney's done with Adidas etc you know we've really seen an interest in hoodies and sneakers similar to you know the the same cultural references that as you said Hypebeast was covering before so I think it's really important to see not just the intersection and the parallels but yeah how we can maybe just learn from each industry both in different ways so I think it's really interesting and speaking of you know traditional fashion coming into the space in a really big way I would love to pass it over to Verbal Verbal I mean it's lovely to have a brand in the Farfetch family here a representative from a brand of the Farfetch family here especially somebody who's been doing so much in the Web3 space both in terms of your own projects as you've mentioned as well as collaborating with you know Web3 staples like Azuki and

[17:47] I've seen even posts with other leaders in the space like People Pleaser I'd love to pass it over to you and just hear from your perspective what excites you about this Web3 space we heard a little bit how you came into it but would be would be interested in terms of what excites you now and what excite you what excites you specifically as it pertains to your brand and what's possible I'll pass it over to you sure so for me I've always you know been enthralled with tech just the possibilities of expression and what makes it possible so like I said I was really into the motion capture suit technology it was just to kind of you know move around my avatars on stage while I'm performing and you know that was really cool and like I said that kind of segued me into virtual reality you know and while I was dabbling with that COVID happened so we really had to only do shows in the metaverse and while I was doing that there

[18:50] was this whole idea of you know using NFT as a way to kind of you know create wearables and like that's how we you know trade them or like you know that's how we you know sell them and I was like wow that's very very interesting and around that time a lot of my friends who are in the music industry fashion industry were you know degens and they were just very very heavily into this space and very knowledgeable so I had the opportunity to really get information from all my friends and then you know one of my friends Jeff Staple was like hey I'm really into RTFKT and I'm working with them and then that got me into RTFKT and you know from there I didn't know what NFTs were you know I'm like super late in the game but I just thought you know the best way is to kind of buy into it just kind of experiment on my own so while I was going through the journey in the Web3 space I realized that you know

[20:09] the experience for the audience could be gamified and it could be interesting something that you know us as a Web2 brand couldn't provide before so you know I thought that would be interesting to have something that could become an access pass for the holders bridging fashion world through Web3 and you know having relationship with audiences that otherwise would be difficult to communicate with so what I'm saying is you know for a regular customer coming to check out AMBUSH you know I can't just be like hey come to the fashion show or like you know hey let's have a get together or something but I think Web3 does just that so that was like an exciting part of it and for us to be able to build from a creative standpoint and also from a you know let's say in the future the cross chain transaction is going to be more frictionless like now I think it was mentioned earlier like you know everyone talks about these

[21:25] you know different chains and stuff but that's not going to be in the conversations right it's right now very new so everyone likes to talk about these keywords and kind of throws a lot of people off but in the future it's only going to facilitate you know great experiences so that's what really excites me and ever since I started the you know this journey last February so it's almost been a year it's been great just launching our you know NFT as an access pass and then doing our metaverse where people could you know the holders could go and experience IRL events and you know enjoy shows music events in our space and so forth and you know it's been a great point of contact and a way for us to really you know experiment and like I said find creative ways to bring value to the fashion community through Web3 very very well said love a lot of what you touched on there especially the consideration of you know the

[22:38] user experience above all else you know the future will always be more facilitated you know it'll always be easier people are always going to want something that's easier to do so I think you're totally on on point where you know the consumer isn't always going to go through all the hoops so we have to make it easier for them and I think you know considering the user experience at deeper level is also integral to Web3 this came up in a conversation I was hosting earlier with Vogue Singapore today you know this idea of virtual spaces having to consider utility and how they're going to be used in terms of you know we own these virtual spaces versus in Web2 you know the virtual spaces own us so now you know brands like yours I think it's really important that you create these own spaces and learn to populate them with content which is sounds like exactly what you're doing in place of you know

[23:24] the the current version of social media that exists where it's more imposed so really really great insights and very very happy to have you here once again would love to pass the conversation over to Gmoney I mean definitely another fashion force but definitely somebody who also comes from the Web3 side of things you know you've done a lot in this space I mean that that goes without saying I think at this point you know especially in terms of kick-starting the world of Web3 fashion beyond the metaverse Red DAO 9dcc which we're here talking about today I'm curious from your perspective you know having launched so many successful projects and brands within this space what do you think is integrable for brands and for creatives to consider when they're entering this quote unquote Web3 fashion space how should they enter and even though that's a big and lofty question what would you say I guess boilerplate

[24:12] yeah I mean it's funny because I think the it all depends on like where we are right like what is currently happening in the market right so it's like what worked 12 months ago 18 months ago definitely would have worked today right and so I think the the biggest piece of advice that I try to hammer into like any brand or you know legacy whether it's a celebrity or a brand or whoever that I'm talking to is like you know you just like just because you saw something work before doesn't mean it works now and you can't be tone deaf to the market and where it is right now and I think one of you know we've seen that a lot you know last week there was a Porsche and its entrance into its entrance into the space and you know how they had to cut supply and you know it's it I think it's just really interesting of like I think a lot of a lot of times brands will think they know better when in reality this is like a different

[25:12] market and you know one of the beautiful things about it is you kind of have like this really active and engaged focus group that brands like major brands will spend you know millions of dollars on so that they can like get the right product out there but you know one of I think one of the features and not one of the bugs of Web3 is like if your community doesn't like it like they will let you know right away and you have the opportunity to fix it very quickly before let's say you go out with like a big roll out of like oh you know and and that's one of the things like and I tell people in my community you can talk to anybody in a minute one where I'm like yep I tell them like I'm not going to always get things right and I know that but you know I'm going to try my hardest to fix things when I think I think I made a mistake or if if I if I think I made the right move and they don't understand necessarily why

[26:07] I did explaining myself so then that they do understand why I might have made a specific decision so I think that like the biggest piece of advice that I can I can give to brands entering into the space is one if you are talking to Web3 natives is to listen to them to actually take their advice and not necessarily think that you know better because you know you have a multi-billion dollar business it is a very different sub-segment of the marketplace and you have to treat it accordingly absolutely and very very well said I think that you know the progression of the space has has shown us you know there's been a lot of successes but there've been equal if not way more failures in terms of brands coming to things and I think you know the Porsche example is is definitely a great you know recent one but I think ultimately as you touched on you know it's really just about having an open dialogue and and you know

[27:00] being one with the community this idea of co-creation not just as a buzzword but in terms of actual really you know actually really co-creating and and you know taking this community feedback and making it a two-way street once again you know separating us from this you know Web2 ecosystem where we're speaking at people now we're speaking with people it's very important and I think that's really key and very happy you touched on that I would actually love to pass it over to to the Hypemoon folks and the Hypebeast folks I'm curious from your perspective Gmoney touched on some some distinct elements of it but I think you know a big thing that we're seeing here which I mentioned before is you know this this shift into the Web3 space using streetwear using luxury streetwear as a conduit you know through the through you know incredibly successful drops like the Adidas drop I see my hoodie hanging on the hook right

[27:47] next to me you know the you know RTFKT drops that have really driven a lot of traffic and interest in the space via Nike and beyond I'm curious from your from your perspective how you see you know again streetwear and and you know streetwear and luxury fashion being this conduit for for culture into this Web3 space and helping onboard a lot of people through through what they love would love to pass it over to you yeah so I think I think obviously it touches on a lot of different aspects that can be brought up in a really in-depth analysis if we wanted to and considering the space is so new I think there's a lot of time for us to kind of look and assess and come back to this but like for for me and something that I see I think that Web3 consumers specifically like if you're really into this space and you're a true degen you even come from a crypto native space people really value decentralization

[28:44] and the ability to control and own their own assets which I believe aligns with the ethos of streetwear culture where like individuality and self-expression are highly valued right I think people look for those those artists that are kind of running their own thing they're not backed by these huge huge mega companies that are taking over and people are taking a more artisanal like straightforward sense and I think another part of the Web3 ethos is the high value that people have with art and individuals creating that and then giving you that power and that sense of freedom for you to kind of like hey this is mine I really own this this is a rare and unique item that is scarce and and kind of adds me into this exclusive sort of community I have friends I have this place where yeah we have the same collection and all of a sudden we have something to really vibe out and connect about similar to the same communities

[29:45] that can be created around around streetwear where it's you know these very small brands where people kind of geek out and they're like oh my god how do you know this brand and yeah I'm part of the same group and just that feeling of owning this specific asset being a part of a of a community and I think that now the tokenization of luxury streetwear in this space specifically is more accessible and affordable than other you know I think I think that also makes it very appealing to to Web3 consumers this is this value of like I feel included in and like they're part of this inclusive financial democratization that's happening with with streetwear and digital assets now and I think that that's something we probably weren't seeing before I don't think people were feeling this inclusivity or this closeness but something about streetwear specifically is that you do feel obviously a little closer to a streetwear

[30:43] individual fashion artist or designer than you would to you know a huge fashion designer at the top of of the game so I think that the decentralization aspect people feeling like they can control their own assets and are part of this small you know community that's inclusive and it's accessible and it's and it's affordable to to some I think that's important and I think people are valuing that and I think it goes with the same ethos of streetwear culture and individual individuality and self-expression that we're seeing right now in the space with brands like Gmoney and what he's launching and what he's putting forward and people people feel connected I would say to to these specific individuals in this community like Gmoney or even like Verbal right I don't think we were ever in a space back then where people were have the ability to even talk or converse with some of these designers or individuals right or to just

[31:44] kind of express how they feel be part of the community and like Gmoney said these people are listening right that you have to in order to be successful you have to kind of listen to what the community wants what's going on and I think that's part of it as well very well said Gmoney I think you have some thoughts you wanted to add to that yeah you know I think you brought up a bunch of really good points one of the things that I think I'm I'm most excited about as I'd say we start to onboard streetwear and luxury fashion into the space is you know the idea of the the maturation of the industry and this is definitely something in a thing that I'm trying to push very much so and what I mean by that right is like I think I may have taken the first on-chain loan against the t-shirt a few months ago right and because it's like when you think about it right and you think about you know that kid that buys a pair of Jordans right

[32:45] on the drop that like sits in his closet that he's never going to wear right like what why does that need to sit in his closet why doesn't that sit in a centralized custodian where you know you can now get issued in NFT where one you have access to 24-7 global liquidity but then more importantly and you if you know you take a look at like very mature industries like real estate or equity is the stock market getting that access to capital without having to sell it right and so it's like what happens if you could post that pair of sneakers as collateral in a lending platform and get you know some sort of LTV uh and some sort of loan against it so that you don't need to necessarily sell the asset in order to monetize it right and what does that mean one for the value unlock two for the appreciation of those assets but three and most importantly is like you're now giving this access to capital that otherwise

[33:42] didn't exist and you know what I just described is you know what a mortgage is to real estate what a margin loan is to equities and now when you start bringing that into you know the streetwear space of like what does that mean right like what does that mean for the value unlock and one of the really cool things that I think we're doing with 9dcc is like you know for the first two drops like if you know you could have you could have opted to either take delivery of the shirt or you could have it bolted right and now when it does exist as an asset on chain like you can now use it utilize it as collateral right and then I think as this concept begins to grow and especially when I came into the space and looked at the promise of NFTs you know and I think a lot of people will be like oh well like at some point like you know all real estate will be on chain yes I agree but I think that that reality is probably you

[34:34] know 10 plus years away but when you take a look at like low hanging fruit of like why don't you tap into markets that are underserved that could access this credit that there is like a large market there already but they don't have access to this credit they don't have access to these um you know uh financial products that are are acts that are accessible in in most mature markets around the world and that to me is a massive value unlock that we're probably going to start seeing over the next three to five years like pretty quickly very very well said I mean I think one of the exciting things that you're mentioning is really you know people being able to utilize products of DeFi as it pertains to NFTs art fashion etc you know really understanding what's possible to to do with these assets you know that you can collateralize against them you know you can you can take out a loan on chain against

[35:24] some of these assets if they're continuously valuable if they come from a brand that produces value um and I think you know alt yeah no please yeah and also like not even to just cut you off is like imagine you could have a pair of sneakers that you know you could take out a loan at five percent and you can earn yield at eight percent and you make three percent for owning a pair of sneakers right like that and like absolutely you know like what does that mean in terms of opportunities for people that you know might not have access to the stock market or even care to have access to the stock market right um I don't know like to me it becomes super you know when people talk about real world assets coming on chain the same way that I I believe that the reason why I think uh NFTs really took off is they started off with quote unquote worthless pictures right you had these pictures that weren't

[36:16] worth much online and now you know we have this multi-billion dollar industry that's popped up around it I think we're gonna start seeing the same thing with real world assets in that sense totally I'll pass it back over to Hypemoon in a second but I think one thing you just made me think of as well as you know part of the reason potentially why you know you see streetwear culture and sneaker culture getting so into the spaces all of these things you're talking about you know all these financial instruments that we can implement fairly easily easily on their own on our own sorry um they do have a bit of a learning curve and I feel like the people who are open to you know integrating and utilizing these tools are people who would previously potentially do the same thing in the real world in maybe much more mundane ways with things like sneakers you know flipping sneakers and understanding the market and understanding

[36:59] what's worth what when and you know really just understanding things on a deeper level and now people to a similar degree can you know take financial instruments that are totally attainable to them via Web3 via the blockchain and they can use these tools to to create you know financial freedom for themselves or income for themselves as you're mentioning you know you know specific examples but I think I think it's fabulous that people have this opportunity now that you know you invest in one asset maybe something that you would have invested in anyway you know like a sneaker you know as we see with RTFKT maybe you love Nike sneakers already but now the fact that you could you know collateralize against that or you know really kind of go the next step I think that's really where things get very exciting in terms of how Web3 can really add to these experiences as as Verbal was also talking about I

[37:39] do want to pass it over to Verbal in a second but um I know Hypemoon also raised uh their hand so I'll pass it over to you first yeah I know really quickly I just I agree with a lot of what Gmoney said and what you said as well and this this connection of you know people flipping their shoes and their sneakers and the same sort of habit happening here but also and there's a lot of statistics and data out this for this as well but like the upcoming generation right now statistically cares more about what their digital Roblox character is wearing and and and putting on then what they're wearing in the real world right so I think that that's also something that's super important of people creating and finally finally being able to like really own this digital identity that's so um dynamic and interactive and I think that's an aspect that can't be overlooked as well that eventually people are going to care a little bit

[38:31] more about what sneaker their CloneX is wearing than than what sneaker they might have in the physical world or they want both right they want that sneaker in in IRL and they want that sneaker digitally for their their digital identity it's also out there I think it's also an important aspect to all of it oh 100 I mean full transparency I bought a pair of RTFKT sneakers for my Decentraland avatar before I bought a pair for myself just because you know that that kind of came first in my mindset I don't know that um definitely see that happening more and more moving forwards um I'm really curious you know from the same kind of standpoint or question I'm curious what you think Verbal um you know coming from definitely a more luxury standpoint in fashion in the fashion world um but definitely you know you always have this uh this streetwear tie-in or this hype tie-in I think to everything that's done um through

[39:22] AMBUSH you know there's always this this edge to everything that you do in a really fabulous way um I'm curious from your perspective how you see um you know streetwear in fashion you know the same question that goes to Hypemoon um as this conduit you know this this entry point to the space you know we've seen so many um successful fashion drops at this point again you know like Adidas with Gmoney and and RTFKT and you know like the Dolce & Gabbana drop um with the Red DAO purchase and some of these you know major moments I'm curious from your perspective how you see this this transition um and brands like yours entering the space yeah thank you um for uh well first of all Gmoney just address the elephant in the room if you will right and then of course Hypemoon just kind of touched upon it which is that fashion brands equate decentralization with chaos and you know everyone's trying to figure out how we can you know

[40:19] leverage this bubbling scene so we could do something exciting with it but along the way some brands have some weird advisors who probably take them on a different route and end up doing like that like a bad drop or something right and um they're like oh yeah see I told you like NFT is like bad or something but it's it you know Gmoney also mentioned this too and I really agree you just have to listen to the right people you know people in the Web3 space who understand you know we can't come out as a Web3 Web2 brand and be like yeah you know we were successful so we're just going to apply the same blueprint like it's not going to work it's like a parent trying to understand their kids generation it's like it's like a different you know dimension so I think um you know we as I huff and puff and talk about how exciting Web3 is to the fashion world and then they're sort of like scratching their head but you know slowly

[41:22] onboarding them through time uh through case studies and doing different you know drops and showing them like you know I think someone mentioned for me like you know our our collab with Azuki was something that was very uh it was a great moment people were like oh okay I get it now you know um kind of adding uh you know IRL as well as um a digital element to the drop and people starting to like see how things could come into play and um you know I think uh the you know working on ways to try to communicate this so that you know something like DeFi that could be very exciting and very very unique to the Web3 space could add a gamification to the you know a shopping experience and add different layers to the you know to product that's what's going to be exciting and um you know uh that that's what I'm really looking to do and you know I think the only way to show how this could be exciting fun and a new business opportunity

[42:40] is by just kind of creating case studies and manifesting it yourself so um that's where I'm at and um I I'm totally in line with what Gmoney and mentioning very well said um I think you know what you just mentioned at the end there comes back to one of the core tenets um of launching crypto everything you know it's it don't trust verify you know don't don't just trust that it can be done because you've seen it be done um find out for yourself and you know like you said find a case that you do a case study try it for yourself and you know take those steps um to enter the space authentically um I think there's been a lot of really amazing insights shared in today's conversation I'm really excited uh about the potentials that can can lead from this and that you know I do think it's very important that these conversations are had and that's really our goal here with hosting these spaces is really to try to

[43:26] continue to bring this conversation forwards and see productively what can be done in the space um to bring it back to Hypemoon I'm curious from your perspective um you know again kind of not not sitting on the sidelines I mean being quite active but being a force that you know covers this transition and covers this um boom this space this new um hype uh collector category I suppose of the of the Web3 collector um where do you see things going from here uh what do you see as being interesting and and uh newsworthy as we move through 2023 especially as it pertains um to this fashion space what's exciting you right now I I think something that's really exciting to me and like Gmoney and AMBUSH and uh Verbal had touched on it's like this the decentralization aspect but also the emerging technology that's like coming around with this space right I know there's been a lot of conversations about AI, AR, virtual

[44:20] reality and you know I think a lot of brands and a lot of individuals touch upon this gamification aspect that everyone tries to integrate into their drops and into their collections and I think gaming is also something very exciting but as a brand who's also trying to build out something for themselves and working collaboratively with some other I think that because of that same emerging tech I think we're gonna see a shift in in media I would say and and what media covers in sort of removing this this censorship that sometimes can play about being real paying more attention to what's actually going on into the conversations that are going on I think media is going to see that shift where people really want to see that you're in here and you're not just you know trying to find the the quickest story or the biggest story and or lie or you know create clickbait but I also think that there's a potential

[45:15] here for media to become more interactive to become part of the blockchain and to become part of the the this sort of quote unquote metaverse world that we're building um both virtually and physically so I'm excited for those components I'm excited for the tech side of things to continue growing and merging as we see you know all of these big companies right now are just kind of racing to the finish trying to fight one another and see who does it best who does it fastest and quickest but I think a lot of them and like we talked about are missing that mark right because they're not really taking their time they're not really associating themselves with this space but I I'm excited when I see individuals like Verbal and like Gmoney and so many others you know Jeff Staple so many others that are just creating their own individual brand their own individual identity and to see that be on the top of the bucket

[46:11] list of hype instead of some of these other big brands or these emerging tech companies that's exciting for me I'm excited to remove some of the not remove them but to see some other names and some other brands at the forefront of um of what's coming in this future fabulous very well said um I'll pass a similar question over to Gmoney you know from from your perspective and from the perspective of 9dcc um I know you you have a lot of insight into what's going on right now across the board from the traditional fashion space entering the the Web3 space and you know the Web3 native brands who are really leading the charge including yours um I'm curious from your perspective you know as as things uh you know exist right now what excites you is it is it this DeFi integration kind of putting things to the next level um you know a higher level of Web3 knowledge or is it something more more practical curious from

[47:04] your perspective yeah so I think um I think the DeFi stuff is obviously really compelling and interesting right and I think that that will drive a lot of Web3 adoption over the next few years but what you know one of the things that I'm trying to push with 9dcc and you know this was I think really cool in terms of like an activation that we did in Art Basel right was like each shirt distributes its own POAP right so you can get proof that you actually meet uh a shirt in real life and once you can start gamifying that and you know getting people to connect in real life because at the end of the day right like what what is it about being human that makes it special right is that having that human element connecting with other people you know I think you know for a couple years there we were all stuck behind screens and we all still wanted to connect with each other right a lot of connections were made and when

[47:57] things started opening back up people wanted to meet in real life and one of the cool things that I think we've been able to do with 9dcc is like how do we empower these people to meet each other out in the wild and you know I had a lot of case studies where I had been doing this uh personally where I was giving out POAPs to people that I met and I was basically telling them like this is basically like an on-chain autograph of proof that you met Gmoney and that's ultimately what led to the allow list for uh Admit One and ultimately for 9dcc and it's like well how can I empower other people that are part of the network in order to do the same for themselves and that to me has been one of the most fun and intriguing parts of all of this right is um now that I have product out there how can I get that community building that happens organically already and encourage that so that people who are part of the same tribe

[48:52] part of the 9dcc tribe are now encouraged to go out there and meet other like-minded individuals find other people in their hometowns or when they're traveling and have this opportunity to meet with others that to me is what I find the most intriguing and the most exciting things to work on because I I do think like the tech is you know so vast and it's so powerful that we're going to have to kind of show proof of concept uh and I think that that will lead to more um creativity down the road boom I love it the future of Web3 in 2023 is is next level community I love that taking it to the next level in every in every way shape and form I think that's incredibly important um to leave everybody with um last but again certainly not least I'd love to to throw um a similar question over to Verbal but I'm curious coming from from your specific background I know you mentioned this a couple times but also in your intro um you

[49:51] said you were previously before you got into NFTs you were interested more in these immersive technologies if I'm not mistaken I think you said VR and some of these other texts I'm curious from your perspective uh maybe coming the opposite direction of some other folks um who kind of gone down the Web3 rabbit hole where they maybe got roped in through NFTs and then they they ended up in the metaverse um like myself I'm curious from your perspective um now having delved into the space quite a bit um how you see um you know some of these other technologies like XR, VR um you know metaverse spaces um you know being prevalent to the work that you do um at AMBUSH and beyond yeah for uh us you know coming from a fashion context you know we're not by any means trying to make a game you know um game companies exist they've been here um we'll be here forever um and that's already a metaverse in and of itself so for me it's about

[50:47] creating an experience um in 3d just to show them what a digital wearable would look like in the space and a different form of expression and I was almost thinking you know of course a end product being shown to the customers B2C but also um something that's more B2B or even C2C where new up and coming designers could say hey here's a portfolio myself um and my collection which I would like to make in real life and that could be made possible through the new tech that's coming out and you know a lot of people are creating these concepts and I love how you know over the course of these past two years when I travel to different countries and cities and go to you know Web3 conferences and events there's so many creators that just you know I never would have met unless I entered this space um and their their their way of thinking is so different from the traditional fashion uh design and uh you know

[52:00] the the the structures so that's very interesting and um for me um using the metaverse to try to have people you know join us in the AMBUSH journey if they can't be in Tokyo you know they can join from all parts of the world so they can enjoy a music event or they can enjoy like a showcase of uh something that we do in our proprietary metaverse we it's called Silver Factory and we open during the event so it's almost like a music venue right um where you only open during events or like store like a retail space where it's open during uh certain hours and we create special moments in there but I think tech allows us for um better experience like for example in the metaverse and I think Hypemoon you were mentioning earlier about um you know AI so you know me and some of the you know right now in the mod chat in the AMBUSH chat you know we're kind of going back and forth about OpenAI and ChatGPT

[53:10] um you know because they're asking ChatGPT questions like what experiences could a fashion brand offer to special customers and I guess they would answer VIP access offer special access to exclusive events so it's like now um with AI in the mix there's new I mean I mean it's stuff that we probably know in the back of our head but it's kind of you know reverting back to us um from different angles and that that's very exciting and I think um if people if we can get our hands and wrap our heads around it we could really leverage this new technology to you know advance brands and sometimes brands kind of you know hit a wall uh because of you know after like churning out so much pumping out so much designs it's you know you you're sort of like hey where are you going next but you know for AMBUSH you know you and I we found that tech I mean especially Web3 has like it just brought so much excitement

[54:19] excitement like you don't understand like these past you know year especially after we released our collection you know NFTs um it just opened our eyes you know first of all like you know meeting all the community members and you know what they're looking for and you know like we would come in from a Web2 angle and they'll be like no we want this and you know so um that's a big learning experience it's like that directly communicating with the community and the people that and what they want has been very interesting and like I said the tech kind of allows for new um encounters so um yeah I I really encourage all brands to just jump into it and keep talking to the people who are very familiar with the space so that it could you know open up a new world for them um and you know you know um and I I always say this but I think the emergence of Web3 especially during COVID when we have to face

[55:30] it just changed the definition of luxury forever it's you know the new generation is going to consider these digital assets to be of of high importance and that's in addition to this industry and you know it's only going to get better so I'm just excited for the future and what's to come beautifully beautifully said uh couldn't have said it better myself um I I think you know just since we're at the end just highlighting one point that you mentioned because I think it's so beautifully in line with what we're trying to do here with Farfetch and Farfetch's mission in general you know it's really this intersection of of you know creativity fashion and technology and how we can use technology to um better the experience of of everyone you know better humanity better uh the customer experience you know improve things in every way shape and form um so really beautifully said um unfortunately we've come to the end of today's

[56:26] conversation I don't want it to end I'm sure people listening have questions if you do have any questions please feel free to shoot us a dm or or a reply to the thread here around this room we'd love to get to them at another point or answer them in a future space um really appreciate all the guests who've taken the time out of their busy schedules to join us here today all over the world I know that people probably have to hop to other calls but just before we do I'll pass the mic over very briefly once again just so that everybody can let folks know where to find them in the rest of social media Hypemoon I'll pass it over to you first um what should people check out that you're working on right now yeah so right now I mean we're trying to ideate and see what we have coming up for NFT NYC seeing if we do something smaller out there in New York and working on some collaborations there but we do have some

[57:13] upcoming Twitter spaces that are are not 100 confirmed but we'll be coming out this soon last week uh about a week or so ago we had a great space with terrell jeremy food some great artists we're going to have a couple more of those um and also some more Web3 and fashion-oriented spaces as well so this might not be our last with Farfetch I hope not I really appreciate you guys having us and definitely find any of our content at hypemoon.com and we are across all of your lovely social media panels as well as Hypebeast, who's in the audience make sure to give it a follow and check out the notifications and see anything else that we've got coming up and Twitter will be the best place for that information but I really appreciate you guys having us and um and this is a lovely space no thank you for taking the time really appreciate it yes hopefully the first of many um again thank you uh would love to pass it over

[58:04] to Gmoney Gmoney where can people find all this beautiful work you've been doing with 9dcc and is there anything else you'd like to shout out that you're working on right now um yeah so just you know throw me a follow throw 9dcc a follow it's the best way uh to stay up to date uh we're actually opening up uh the Discord channel uh in the Discord this week for people that own uh 9dcc assets so I think that will be fun um and yeah I mean I just hope that people decide to come down this journey with me is I'm hoping that we can push the boundaries of tech and fashion and community and all these great things that uh bring us to Web3 4 and and you know I'm here for it and I hope you guys can join very well said really appreciate you taking the time once again today and everything that you do for the space it's an honor to have you here um last but certainly not least Verbal I mean I'm hoping that everybody who follows Farfetch

[58:58] is familiar with AMBUSH already but for folks who are listening where can people find all the beautiful Web3 work you're doing if you want to plug your NFT collection or any other ventures that you're currently working on yeah I think everybody already who's familiar with AMBUSH know our Twitter account which is @AMBUSHDESIGN, one word, and then Instagram is @ambush_official but if you want to find out more about what we do um with Web3 check out our Discord um we have all the information there all the different projects you know all the upcoming drops that we tie in with the physical you know um drops as well so um please check us out on our Discord um and yeah we'll keep you updated um also from my personal account which is @VERBAL_AMBUSH awesome really appreciate you taking the time Verbal and I know that we have to take some time coordinating this but uh really really happy that you're able to join again

[59:56] it's an honor and yeah thank you thank you all we've had such amazing guests today and also thank you to everybody who spent the time listening either live or after the fact um this is yet another spaces we're hosting these regularly um if you'd like please follow the Farfetch page um to see more of these conversations um hopefully with more of Hypemoon and Gmoney and some of these other incredible guests that we have here today uh so thank you all once again my name is David Cash um and if you had any other questions that you weren't able to ask today um please just take a second and shoot Farfetch a dm uh we will get back to you uh with when we can integrate those questions into future spaces thank you everybody have a great rest of your evening or day wherever you are and we'll see you in the next one

David Cash https://www.davidcash.ca