What Is Luxury Fashion's Role in Web3? | Farfetch Twitter Spaces 01

Written By David Cash

Megan Kaspar (Red DAO), Matt Medved (nft now), Maghan McDowell (Vogue Business), Don Diablo, Shashi Menon (UNXD), Nelly Mensah (LVMH), Hannah Siegel-Gardner (Art Blocks), Elena Corchero (Dow Jones), and Johannes Wilbrenninck (EY Fabernovel) join co-host Ramona Tudosescu of Farfetch to ask what luxury fashion brings to Web3. They talk through digital fashion NFTs, physical and digital collections, authentication, brand strategy in the week of the FTX collapse, and the future of wearable tech. Recorded live on Twitter Spaces on November 15, 2022, and produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch.

Watch on YouTube

Chapters

  1. 00:00 Opening
  2. 00:14 Welcome and Farfetch's Web3 vision
  3. 03:48 Megan Kaspar on Red DAO and the Doge Crown
  4. 07:49 Matt Medved on access, provenance, and utility
  5. 12:25 Maghan McDowell on making the technology feel normal
  6. 18:12 Don Diablo on digital and physical fashion
  7. 23:11 Shashi Menon on UNXD and Dolce & Gabbana
  8. 32:56 Nelly Mensah on LVMH's approach
  9. 38:26 Hannah Siegel-Gardner on Art Blocks
  10. 41:06 Elena Corchero on digital craftsmanship and wearables
  11. 48:29 Johannes Wilbrenninck and closing thoughts

Speakers

  • David Cash, producer and host
  • Ramona Tudosescu, Product Lead, Web3 and Innovation, Farfetch (co-host)
  • Megan Kaspar, Founding Member, Red DAO
  • Matt Medved, Founder, nft now
  • Maghan McDowell, Senior Innovation Editor, Vogue Business
  • Don Diablo, DJ, producer, and fashion designer
  • Shashi Menon, Founder and CEO, UNXD and Vogue Arabia
  • Nelly Mensah, Head of Web3 and Metaverse, LVMH
  • Hannah Siegel-Gardner, Chief Marketing Officer, Art Blocks
  • Elena Corchero, Director of Emerging Technology, Dow Jones
  • Johannes Wilbrenninck, Director, EY Fabernovel

Key topics

  • Red DAO's 423 ETH purchase of the Dolce & Gabbana Doge Crown
  • NFTs as a medium for provenance, token-gated access, and exclusive experiences
  • How retailers like Farfetch can make the technology feel normal to mainstream shoppers
  • Buying a digital version, and a filter, alongside the physical garment
  • UNXD's Collezione Genesi and DGFamily drops with Dolce & Gabbana
  • LVMH's priorities: craftsmanship, authentication, and support for creativity and community
  • Aligning communications and commercial goals in Web3 projects
  • Craftsmanship in digital goods and Web3 as a testing ground for wearable tech
  • ESG, FTX, and a playbook that keeps changing

In their words

"NFTs are a medium that transcend every category, and each of those categories have different creative and consumer priorities."

(Matt Medved, nft now)

"I see Web3 as the playground for the future of wearable tech in physical fashion."

(Elena Corchero, Dow Jones)

How to cite

APA: Cash, D. (2022). What Is Luxury Fashion's Role in Web3? | Farfetch Twitter Spaces 01 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/qaccMffM6rI

Chicago: Cash, David. "What Is Luxury Fashion's Role in Web3? | Farfetch Twitter Spaces 01." Recorded November 15, 2022, Twitter Spaces. YouTube video, 1:09:55. https://youtu.be/qaccMffM6rI.

Recording details

Recorded: November 15, 2022, Twitter Spaces

Format: Live audio conversation on Twitter Spaces

Length: 1:09:55 · Language: English

Produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch

About the series

Farfetch Twitter Spaces was a series of live audio conversations on Twitter Spaces, running from 2022 to 2023 and produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch. Each episode brought together voices from fashion, technology, media, and Web3 to talk about where luxury fashion and new technology meet.

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] One of the big beliefs that we have Is that while we're very much digital maxis? We're not digital absolutists So Good morning fashion Twitter. Very excited to be here today for the first official Farfetch Twitter Spaces This is a big day. This is a big moment. We have some amazing guests here already We have some more amazing guests joining us very shortly really excited for today's conversation Just before we kick this off. I just want to address You know the fact that this past week has been a whole bunch of different things But what we'd like to do with today's conversation is take a moment for the culture for fashion for Web3 and really try to start A discourse here and hopefully the beginning of many conversations started discourse here at the intersection of Web3 and luxury fashion and figure out what that means how we can push this forwards and how the Web3 community and the luxury

[1:01] fashion community can come together to Co-create a better future and a better existence within the space So very excited about today's conversation so thrilled to have so many amazing guests joining us here today I see even more incredible friends and voices in the audience that I'm sure we can bring up into today's conversation and future conversations But before we dive in too deep I would love to take a moment and pass it over to my co-host here the wonderful Ramona from Farfetch Ramona would love to just give you a chance to introduce yourself and share a little bit about what Farfetch has done So far in entering the Web3 space and yeah, just give you a moment to say hello to all of our lovely Folks who have joined us here today Ramona. How are you? Hi David, hi everybody. Thank you. Thank you. So so happy to To be on on this talk right now, especially as for us working in Farfetch for myself

[1:51] It has been such an exciting time to see how fashion can evolve with the opportunities of Web3 and metaverse So I'm working in Farfetch in Web3 and innovation. I've been very passionate about nascent ecosystems right now I'm all into the world of fluid identity self-expression everything unlocked by new principles of creation co-creation and co-ownership and I'm very happy to have on the first Twitter Spaces all of these amazing voices and leaders that have inspired us as at Farfetch we exist for the love of fashion and revolutionary technology and we wanted to open up the conversation as This industry that we love and we care about is looking into to the future with this new angle where participation infinite possibilities Sustainability and being open to subcultures is what's really really excites us into Into the space and into everything that is opening up thanks to this new technology and this

[2:54] new Subculture that is bringing fashion into a new era Beautifully said beautifully said. Thank you so much for that Ramona and I'm sure we're gonna pass it back over to you throughout the conversation So just as our as our guests continue to join us lovely to see you Matt., Megan Megan Elena Shashi so appreciate all of you being here And we do have another a few other incredible voices who are going to be joining us throughout this conversation including Nelly from LVMH Don Diablo And several others as well as the representative from Art Blocks who are very excited to share the stage with as well But the goal of today's conversation is really just that it's to it's to strike a discourse And I do have a question for each of you But really my goal in today's conversation is to make this the first of hopefully many Conversations that we can have to really push the conversation forwards and and as Ramona beautifully mentioned

[3:42] try to co-create this future Of what culture what luxury fashion what luxury fashion in Web3? Really looks like so in order to do that I'd love to go through some of our incredible panelists today If I may I'd love to pass it first over to the incredible Megan Kaspar Megan I might just let you introduce yourself first because you have so many incredible things that you do Through Red DAO through your work at various ventures I mean, you're you're an incredible force in the space and most notably I mean well one of the more notable things that you're very Well known for is being partially responsible for the largest virtual fashion acquisition in Web3 history Which I had the pleasure of discussing with you in a little bit more detail in an article that I got to write With you not too long ago And I'd love to pass the mic over to you hear some of your thoughts and hear from your perspective since this Monumentous

[4:31] occasion which you had with the folks at UNXD Not too long ago Where where where are things now? Where are things going and where's your mind at Megan? I would love to pass it over to you first Yeah, thank you. David. Thank you so much for having me today and thank you To the Farfetch team for hosting this. This is really exciting. Um, I think another big movement with Web2 fashion moving into Web3 so really excited to be here and participating and a lot of really great faces I see Jenny Wang and Gigi and a lot of really awesome people that are supporting the digital fashion movement. So um Yeah, like you said I'm one of the founding members of Red DAO. We purchased the most expensive Most valuable to date digital fashion NFT, which is the Dolce & Gabbana Doge Crown We acquired it for 423 ETH And we're really proud to be holders of this piece and I think that the piece um Well, David you wrote an incredible

[5:34] one-year anniversary memorial looking back on everything that we've done over the last year at red and Um, the piece is really a big part of how red sort of came together and got super excited and um, you know, I think UNXD putting together The nine piece couture line for Dolce & Gabbana was also a pivotal moment in fashion where you could See that the crypto ecosystem is offering a new opportunity Not just for marketing purposes, but also new product channels using the technology And it's just really exciting and we're still so early like yesterday. We were on a Red DAO call And Danny and Gmoney and I going back and forth on you know What does this look like and how are people going to adopt this and we're all in our own little?

[6:30] Sort of ecosystem echo chamber if you will Um, but the rest of the world still has no idea what digital fashion is There's maybe a handful of people that are actually using it today outside of games And I think you know with the shift of Instagram Um onboarding NFTs and in the future the near future Augmented reality NFTs we're going to have some really awesome use cases and I think high in luxury fashion brands Well, it seems that they're you know, very up to adopting this technology quickly and I think that we'll see fashion Shift as one of the fastest industries out of all of them to actually implement New strategies around Web3 technology. So it's it's a really exciting time and we're still super early 100 percent and so well said Um and and so happy to have you here Megan as well as being a part of this conversation You're such a force Driving this forward as you said It's not a lot of people who

[7:27] are making this industry happen And I definitely see you and the folks at Red DAO being really instrumental In terms of pushing this along and being uh, you know Some of the driving forces to allow for the talents in this space to be able to thrive because you know It really it really does have to go both ways And you definitely you more than put your money when you're about where your mouth is and you do so much for the space So major flowers to you and really appreciate you being here today Um, I'd love to pass the mic over. Um, maybe move it into a little bit of a different direction But we shall see um pass it over to somebody who I had the pleasure of sitting down with alongside our mutual friend Krista Kim, I'm in New York not too long ago Matt Medved Matt., , I know that your uh background has stretched between music to culture to arts and beyond Um, but fashion is obviously a big part of culture and has been

[8:14] for quite a long time Um, and I'd love to get your pov because I'm not sure if I've heard you speak about it before In terms of where we are at right now And if you have any two cents in terms of how fashion is getting into this whole Web3 ecosystem from your pov Yeah, no, thanks for having me. Thanks to Farfetch. Um, this is great. Obviously some some incredible people up here Um, yeah, so like you said my journey has been kind of interesting before founding nft now I founded Billboard Dance and ran SPIN magazine as editor in chief and actually ran content at Modern Luxury the lifestyle publisher Right before founding nft now, so that was really my entry point into The luxury world into the fashion world et cetera And I think that luxury and fashion actually have very significant roles to play in this space, you know One thing I often say is like I know how early we are because people still still speak about

[9:02] Web3 and especially NFTs As though they're a as though it's a category when really like NFTs are a medium um that transcend every category and each of those categories have different creative and consumer priorities and You know the fashion world and the luxury world. Um, those consumers have very specific priorities that actually feel make Um, you know that I feel really kind of are in tune in a really interesting way with with the potential for Web3 You know, I think about um, you know how fashion and luxury consumers are drawn to specific brands Um because of the quality because of the storytelling because of that narrative and the history Um, which are all really factors that I think are key for success in in Web3 Especially when you look at things like verifiable provenance token gated access things like that Um, I actually think the utility element is particularly interesting.

[9:52] Um, you know my entry point At Modern Luxury was really um, kind of tackling the watch sector and and starting to you know Speak to these consumers who are huge enthusiasts around like luxury watches and watching their eyes light up talking about like having the opportunity to go visit like the Vacheron Constantin You know factory in in Switzerland like the experience of going through that that white glove service Like there's an opportunity now for an incredible opportunity for these brands to offer access to Their most loyal customers to offer them access these exclusive experiences to bring them into events Um and to reward them in a way that I think is quite in tune and now that everything is, you know transparent and and publicly Viewable on the blockchain. Um, there are all of those elements of of being able to kind of showcase Fashion as an extension as your personality and as your

[10:44] identity and also uh signal via the the brands that you like to support Um, I think it can reach an even wider audience than even what you would wear to a specific event And so, um, I'm really excited about the category, you know at nft now we are huge believers, um in the power of this technology to empower creators and also Um to really kind of redefine a lot of these different categories and and how creators and their communities create and share value together So I think fashion luxury are really important categories in terms of driving the mainstream adoption that we're seeking to support Beautifully beautifully said um and really excited to see how like you said, um, the The white glove service of the luxury fashion industry can really perpetuate into the Web3 industry because I think that one thing we're seeing with a lot Of marketplaces, you know as add this industry continues to develop Um,

[11:38] yes, we have had a lot of consumer type projects where you know, we these 10k projects But now we're starting to see more and more of these projects that are maybe a little bit more Catered a little bit smaller a little bit more Specific to a to a target group of people and I see that those those being some of the most incredible opportunities Um for you know The the elements of luxury that have been so Web2 for so long I mean like all these customer service elements really being able to Fully step up into Web3 and actually being able to use the technologies that we have here Um for for good and to make our customer experience is just incredible I mean that's that to me is exciting So really happy you brought that up and so happy to have you as part of this conversation here Matt., and and again I I really want to just encourage all of our speakers If anything that somebody says sparks your interest,

[12:20] please feel free to just chime in as I really do want to make this an open discourse Speaking of I'd love to pass things over to another one of my personal favorite voices in the space I'm really happy that you managed to take the time out of your day to join us. Um, It's Maghan McDowell from Vogue Business. Um been reading your work for quite some time We've had a chance to chat a few different times over the past few months, which has been a pleasure But would love to pass it over to you to maybe get a little bit more context as I do believe You've provided such beautiful context to the fashion industry in terms of the Web3 space and how to look at it From your perspective obviously seeing different brands and retailers approach Web3 from completely different perspectives How do you see the role of retailers such as Farfetch and these kinds of larger companies? Coming and playing a role into

[13:06] how this ecosystem can develop positively from your perspective Yeah, hi. Thank you so much for having me and I think you know what's interesting is like I think we're seeing two different groups that luxury fashion has spoken to thus far or created content and goods for and that's sort of been the early adopters and the very influential that you know as Megan previously said sort of relatively small group of enthusiasts who already are Fluent in cryptocurrency and NFTs and who already want these products and then there's the quote unquote average consumer The normal person who still is kind of wondering, you know Do people have legs in the metaverse or you know, does Facebook go in the metaverse? And so there's like these two camps Um that have very different needs and very different levels of understanding and curiosity Um about the space and I think what we are seeing what you all have mentioned,

[13:59] you know, looking at the Instagram news recently And and other brands they're starting to sort of educate and on board much larger scales of quote unquote normal consumers and their audiences to kind of help them understand The technology but not just the technology more sort of the quote unquote utility the the benefits and I think One one key example is obviously we saw Instagram. They're they're really, you know They're hoping that creators will start educating People and minting NFTs and selling them on Instagram to normalize it, which is very interesting But I think also when you look at a brand like Nike just yesterday they announced That they are embarking on a six city goodwill tour and education tour for their new Platform that they're calling .SWOOSH, which is their virtual goods platform And they are not even selling anything for at least a month.

[14:58] They're just starting on education So I think you know to get specifically to your question I think Farfetch plays a huge role in potentially normalizing this technology for for talking about the benefits and For showing how it can be cool and fun and exciting and glamorous and fashionable and not necessarily Focusing on the technology because I think once we get past explaining how the technology works and what it can do I think that's going to um Have major benefit to scale. So I think Farfetch has already done that. They've already created virtual goods They've already digitally dressed influencers They've already started accepting cryptocurrencies and they just quietly do it and I don't think that they necessarily necessarily have to map out all the technologies they're doing but they can show okay, we're using this It's quote unquote normal And I think that's a big role that Farfetch can play not

[15:48] only on its marketplace, but also Through Farfetch Platform Solutions and all of its partner brands Absolutely very very well said I'm curious ramona if there's anything you wanted to reply to that because I think that was a really fabulous point Yeah, definitely It's actually quite One of the things that we have here in our title What is luxury fashion's role in Web3 if we take over just the definition that we hold today for luxury? How is that changing when we're looking at? at the opportunity of Web3 and one of the things we look at in Farfetch and That notion of like you said Maghan of normalizing technology being some being there because we are Looking into recognizing a new community that comes with its own codes and economy And things should be obvious accepting the new currency is like recognizing A new a new a new community a new subculture and making it Just almost obvious to go into that space our also

[16:48] part of that definition of luxury is that We know how luxury right now. It's all about Going into a place where it is about cultural relevancy being part of the community Co-creation two-way dialogue being increasingly important having a social purpose being an activist Sustaining the right having a sustainable business model that doesn't grow only by product but grows by by movement by experience and I think What we like a lot and we're really passionate about is how do we bring in that long-term view? around the possibility of Web3 and collaboration and community to Create to be alongside the builders and the dream makers of this world by also bringing it to the existing Ecosystem that we have that is already connecting creators curators and communities all over the world So yeah, just saying we we are very we're very much in that space of creating something that is We're looking at and it's

[17:55] exciting to look at how does luxury evolve? And how does the definition of luxury evolve for the long term with this new space? Beautifully said Ramona beautifully said and I'm totally aligned and I think that that makes total sense in terms of also the Direction of the industry needs to go at least from my perspective And speaking of these dream makers who who you just mentioned I I have to bring him up because I know he's only here for a few minutes He was a very busy day ahead of him. But mr. Don Diablo just took some time out of his day to join us Thank you so much for joining Don Don's a good friend and a dear lover of fashion as well I have to say for people who know Don from his NFT and NFT work, let's say You you might not know what a fashion head Don is so Don I'd love to pass the mic over to you if you want to say hello And if you had any thoughts today on on where the world is in terms

[18:44] of NFTs and and luxury fashion Because you love fashion. I mean, I don't know if everybody knows this but don's uh don't make some He's a he's a great designer as well as everything else. Don. How are you? This is a great intro David? Thank you so much I'm good. I'm good. It's good to see the it's a good room out here I'm literally in the middle of studio session. So That's otherwise I would have stayed long. This is a very interesting room obviously Uh, yeah, I mean this kind of combines everything I love right? It's it's art. It's it's uh fashion and it's it's Web3 NFT Uh kind of all wrapped rolled into one um For me, I mean, yeah, I've been I mean I've been Designing and making fashion for the last 10 years. I think First it started out I guess as merchandise and then it became Bigger and bigger and now I'm actually I started collabing with uh with Disney and I did a Star Wars collection And now actually I

[19:36] think yeah this week we announced A new Stranger Things collection which is coming up. Uh early next year Uh, and I think there that's kind of where I have all the discussions at the moment like hey, what can I you know? Can I? Can I add an NFT element to it? I think a lot of it is, you know problematic for these bigger brands like Netflix and Disney that I work with Are you know, it's the secondary markets? Um, you know, they're a little bit afraid to to kind of uh, you know, see what's What comes out of that? What you know when obviously when you sold it and uh, the secondary market crashes crashes is not great for big brands like Disney and Netflix and and uh, and so on so that's a little bit of I'm fighting for it, but uh, Uh, it's not an easy fight because last year when I dropped the Star Wars collection Like the last minute we had to drop the NFT elements.

[20:26] Um, I actually did hide like an NFT somewhere in the jackets as a little easter egg, um But I think yeah, uh, actually bringing the product on the blockchain wasn't really uh happening at that time for me personally for for my For my products I'm you know, I'm creating Both a digital and a physical version. So when you buy Um something physical you will also buy the digital version. Um That's kind of how I've foreseen everything in the future and you can hopefully I think the next step will be you can also buy it as a filter so So you get the whole thing basically when you don't have the outfit with you could just use it on your phone as a filter Uh, actually for me that's easy because I you know, it saves me from packing Because I travel a lot. I have a very small case Uh, so yeah, there's a lot to be said obviously and uh, yeah, I'm a obviously massive fan of Farfetch And uh, yeah, it's where I kind of discover

[21:19] all of new brands and uh, yeah, it's uh, It's exciting. What's what lies ahead in the future? I love this. I love this and I and I also love you know You being a prime example of uh kind of one of these folks who's already in the digital future I mean you take it way beyond I mean you're getting 3D artists to create digital humans of you And uh, you know put your clothes on them But uh, yeah I mean I think you are right now where a lot of people are hopefully going in the next year or two in terms of Interacting with uh, you know digital and physical clothing normally, right? Yeah, it wasn't great, you know, right so I started doing that stuff like 10 years ago It was horrible. I'm looking back at some of the avatars I created 10 years ago Up to now like which is very close to to MetaHuman It took us like two years and then we kind of stranded on the hair It was too difficult to get the hair right and uh,

[22:08] you know Then I actually get you know, we kind of got it right and then I got a haircut So then everyone was kind of pissed at me Uh, and now you and now you go blonde and it's all over now. I went blonde. That's easy though So now I'm actually now involved with the company which hopefully I can talk more about next time Which will solve this whole problem And this will be a much easier way to transform and uh adapt and adjust Clothing and meta humans. So uh, definitely very excited to talk more about that next time 100 100 we should do a conversation on this sometime because I think that's super relevant to a lot of people right now Oh, yeah, but yeah look like absolutely Absolutely, you got a lot of amazing people here. I don't want to steal more time, man. So I appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining If you can stick around stick around if you have to go, I appreciate it But I gotta look

[22:54] at me very angrily like hey, we got a report right now You got to press the record. I'll let you go back for recording Okay, okay. We have some uh, we have some awesome other folks here that I'd love to pass it over to Um, I'm speaking of and next thing Oh No worries. No worries. We're good Speaking of and and speaking of how we interact with digital clothing I mean Megan already brought up this use case right at the beginning Megan Kaspar, but I'd love to pass it over Now if I may to Shashi from UNXD Shashi you've done so much in this space and so much to Push these digital clothing options out to the masses to people who are able to interact with them And uh, you know you you are a very global citizen yourselves I know you I know you work in many different countries and uh, you you are very much A perpetuator of this space and I've seen you at this point all over the world in person and virtually So I'd

[23:45] love to pass it over to you and hear if you have any thoughts in terms of The decentralized aspect of this of this Web3 community and how that pertains To the global luxury market from your perspective as you've worked in The space before and after this this introduction of Web3. Uh, Shashi I'd love to pass it over to you Cool. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here I know so many people here on the on the panel and so many people in the in the audience and I'll get to your answer I think I'll I'll take a quick step back just to give a bit of context on where we come from which I think influences Where we've gone so far and and where we think the space is going to go So basically UNXD sits at the intersection Of crypto and luxury which are Two previously unrelated industries, uh that I personally have been fairly deeply involved in for a number of years now So on the crypto side I've been active in the space

[24:32] as an investor since 2015 I launched a small fund in 2018 and had exposure to a lot of different token projects and got exposure to a lot of different teams Missed a lot of really big opportunities Which I guess everyone in who's invested in the space has had that happen, too But on the luxury side our background is actually much much longer. So in 2009 we started a media company Based in Dubai which has been very closely associated with Condé Nast And we launched their first publication in the Middle East in 2012, which was a digital fashion publication then in 2016 we launched Vogue Arabia and Over the last five six years have turned that into one of the larger editions of Vogue globally It was also incidentally the first digital first launch for that brand. And so Since then we've gone on to launch Vogue Man, Vogue Living, and also Wired in the Middle East and so really over the last 10 12 years we've

[25:25] kind of been sitting at this intersection of luxury of technology and of culture and I think culture is really the most defining word That we see here and as it relates to NFTs For a very long time. We were watching the space and just ignoring them because we just really didn't understand Why they were different and why they why they mattered and early last year I think we finally felt like we had a good enough understanding Of what NFTs were and the specific insight that we had were that NFTs were a product of culture and not a product of technology enabled by technology But the actual core product was culture itself and we felt that everything that we had been doing as a company for the last 10 12 years was really about creating and distributing these little moments of Culture and at the time I think outside of the small Echo chamber of people who were in crypto and specifically in NFTs.

[26:20] There was just a tremendous amount of skepticism around Whether NFTs made sense or had any longevity, but we felt that there was an opportunity In the luxury space and that it was just a matter of time before someone did it and we thought why not why not us? So at that point we approached Dolce & Gabbana, which is a brand that we'd been working with for for many years Uh and proposed the idea of launching a collection And got them excited around the opportunity and the opportunity as we presented it to them wasn't about crypto It wasn't about Web3. It wasn't about technology, but it was really about culture and creativity and that was What inspired them to jump into this very very? Ambiguous space with us at a time when nobody knew what was happening and there was no blueprint or playbook for what to do And so we put together a collection called Collezione Genesi, which is a nine-piece couture

[27:12] collection and there were a few aspects Embedded in what we created that I think was Particularly important. Uh, it was the first luxury brand to really put together a collection like this and there were a few aspects that I think Really made the difference one of the first aspects was Within the collection about half of the collection was actually backed by one of one physical product that was purpose built Specifically for this collection. So it wasn't items that were made separately or you could buy in store But it was actually the only way to get these very very unique Collectors items was to buy the NFTs and that kind of reinforced the value of the pieces the second aspect was from A visual perspective our studio produced this really really photorealistic set of animations and what we felt at the time was up until that point one of the reasons why people didn't really place a high enough value on Digital

[28:07] assets was because they just especially in the fashion space was that they didn't feel nice like they didn't resemble What people were used to when it comes to fashion and luxury, which is which is beauty And people just didn't make the link and so we spent thousands of hours Within our studio and within dolce gabbana's team to produce this really really beautiful digital work That just felt nice and that made a difference in how people perceived it And then the third aspect was putting together a utility framework that really expanded outside of the pure digital realm and so I think we were fairly early in Sketching out what we thought would make more sense from a utility perspective And it's kind of this three-pillar approach to creating utilities for the NFTs that that we've launched so far Which is digital physical and experiential and that experiential later layer mattered a lot And the physical layer mattered mattered

[28:57] a lot because one of the big beliefs that we have Is that while we're very much digital maxis? We're not digital absolutists So a lot of what we're trying to do is bring people from the digital world specifically into the physical world because there's a lot That you can do in the digital world. That's great and the digital medium is good for but there's a lot that you can't And that the physical world is just way better at and which the world of luxury really understands how to create these very Spectacular very intimate very purpose-built real world experiences and we wanted to embed that in what we were what we were creating So now we we produced this collection. We sold it on auction in september of last year Meghan and the team at Red DAO came together to purchase a few pieces from that collection but the overall collection sold for just about six million dollars and I think we were we were taken

[29:48] aback as well Like we thought that we might have a chance to be successful But we we just didn't really know that it would be it would be that successful But that convinces that there was more In the space and so we spent the next six months Signing partnerships with a bunch of other brands. Most of which we haven't yet announced But we'll be announcing in the months that follow As well as preparing the second drop with Dolce & Gabbana, which is a much larger community launch called DGFamily Which we very fortuitously dropped at the end of april Just a few weeks before the market went sideways and that drop was a collection of 5000 NFTs. That was a very Specifically created tiered membership program that sold for about four times the amount of our first drop. So in the low Somewhere somewhere around 23 24 million dollars for for that drop and under that umbrella We've launched a series of collections since then

[30:40] some of which are or one of which is digital only which is a collection called Disco Drip which was paired with wearables in Decentraland and one of which was a digital but physically forgeable collection called ralta parallella which consisted of A series of styles of t-shirt hoodies and sneakers that were also Purpose built just for this audience So items that you can't buy in store that you can't buy on e-commerce and the only way to to get these items was to have owned the NFT and physically redeemed it so I think Fairly long-winded answer to get to your point around decentralization and the globalization of it today We have an audience of thousands of holders of our NFTs and there isn't really Uh, there's there's not a geographically centralized location where they are.

[31:29] There is a big base in north america There's there a bunch of people in europe, but it's like 50 or 60 countries where this audience of people comes from and I think Given the background that we have across both of these spheres luxury and crypto I think we have a pretty good understanding of the intersection of these groups and the nuance around that and we understand more specifically The values of these two audiences and where they converge and also where they diverge And if I can summarize it in a fairly pithy way These audiences are different, but they're also the same and I think understanding where they're different and where they're the same has very much influenced What we've done so far and the types of things that will be will be doing in in the future So I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit more, but I do want to give time for other people to chat as well No, great great points and I think

[32:22] that definitely push the conversation forwards I think a few things that you touched on that are really important that I'm sure that we can we can continue to delve into you know, um the the importance of physical versus digital spaces and the intersection between and how we're going to navigate that space Um, and then also, you know the the ecosystem similarities, I think between Um, you know luxury consumers within Web3 and luxury consumers within the fashion industry I think they're you know, as you mentioned, there's a ton of parallels, you know, same same but different In this case, I think there are definitely more similarities similarities when differences than differences when we delve in deeper And to explore that a little bit further. I'd actually love to pass it over To Nelly who just joined us Nelly from LVMH really appreciate you taking the time out of your day I see you just popped up on stage

[33:06] I'd love to pass it over to you to hear if you have any thoughts Obviously, you're very much in the ecosystem world here building with with one of the largest luxury houses in the world would love to hear your perspective on how houses like LVMH can play a role in uh moving the ecosystem of Web3 and this Sense of co-creation and ownership that we've uh tried to build here forwards from your perspective Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me and great to see some familiar faces on Uh the spaces as well. I think from an LVMH standpoint I'm sure a lot of you guys have seen uh some kind of like early Early projects in the space. I agree with kind of what's been said so far around, you know Early adopters and the luxury consumer. There is some overlap, but it's still very very early Uh, and so from the LVMH standpoint, I think there's uh three things for us to keep in mind.

[34:00] So one is obviously Uh, how do you bring the same level of craftsmanship and savoir-faire to digital? Experiences and products that our brands have been doing for hundreds of years, uh in the physical space I think that is one of like the biggest things that uh our brands pay attention to and that I'm I'm watching Is kind of like the level of quality, uh, you know in terms of like 3D or experience or storytelling in the metaverse All of those things are I think evolving and we're coming from a place where everything was this kind of like very Vapor wave, you know 80s game are aesthetic to now we're starting to see some really really sophisticated projects out there and Shashi Congrats again Obviously your project is you know, so beautiful to look at and this is exactly the kind of I think evolution that you know LVMH and our brands are hoping to see in the space um, I think the second aspect is this

[34:53] idea of uh transparency and uh Authentication and this is something that's really important to the consumer today And I think in the future is going to become even more important Right as you have products in the physical space and it's equivalent into digital space You want to make sure that both of those things are authentic? Uh, and so we're, you know continuing to work with the Aura Blockchain Consortium on that use case as well And then the third piece is actually just supporting creativity and community All the LVMH brands are huge art nerds And I'm sure you've seen kind of like the LV Foundation Other brands are just huge supporters of art and artists. And so outside of any kind of I think business case, which today given the how early the tech is and how small the audience is I think uh all brands entering the space have to temper the expectation around Kind of what they can expect on

[35:52] the business side, right? You can't have huge revenues when majority of your clients are not like wallet holders, right? A lot of women in the space are still not comfortable with, you know, Web3 crypto NFTs So until we see kind of this huge groundswell of adoption I think it's actually more practical to think as a builder and a co-creator of the space first, right? So supporting artists supporting communities finding ways to bring in creators of color designers educating creators who currently are Maybe not familiar with digital 3D metaverse and inviting them To learn more about this space and really focusing on nurturing the space and community and creativity first Before thinking about any kind of, you know, kind of like revenue business So at a high level that's kind of how we're looking at this uh this space for now There's one there's one aspect that you mentioned that I think is is kind of Interesting and

[36:45] we've seen we've seen brands take different approaches when entering the space a lot of them. I think have entered the space with the idea that this is a marketing and Communications exercise as opposed to a business exercise and there's there's some merit to that But I think one thing that we've seen and that that we kind of talked to Our brands about is that there is an opportunity to align both of those objectives, which is actually very rare to see an opportunity to align both communications and commercial objectives because the one the one issue that we've seen with With brands that are entering just with the perspective of this being a communications exercise is the types of decisions that you make Around what you're launching is very different when you think it's a self-contained Campaign as opposed to something that is supposed to build on top of itself And that's where the commercial side of it and making

[37:38] it a sort of self-sustaining model that can Outlast just a single campaign or a single moment is really important Yeah, absolutely agree with that as well And I think this is kind of the other kind of like call to action to anyone who is a builder or creator in Web3 Is really start thinking like a brand right like what what do brands need it's things like basic reporting right integration into existing enterprise system its ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of users And so those are the types of projects that uh, I'm watching very closely to see then okay Then okay, if this is truly like a commercial venture How do you pull it into kind of like your existing processes and system so that you're able to Manage it right the same way that you do Uh kind of like your regular business A hundred percent.

[38:30] This is actually a perfect caveat to pass it over to uh, um, somebody from a little bit of left field But I think this is a perfect conversation. Um, Hannah Uh Hannah Siegel-Gardner from Art Blocks actually the CMO of Art Blocks, um She's here on a very unassuming account, uh, one of the last speakers, uh below but very happy to have you here Hannah Um Hannah, I think you've done a great job You and the Art Blocks team have done an amazing job of you know continuing to build through the bears and you know Continue to provide value to your holders and continue obviously to perpetuate, um many of the most, uh, you know Worthwhile collections, let's say for holders from their perspectives, you know, financially investment wise, whatever you want to say Um, I would love to pass it over to you because I know you just did a fabulous event Um over in Marfa, Texas Matt., , I believe you were there as well Um,

[39:09] I know your team's been working very hard and I believe some of your team members are actually now if you're not also In Mexico doing another event So you're all doing a million things, uh, would love to pass it over to here and hear some of your thoughts In terms of uh, yeah how Web3 projects can keep perpetuating. Um, their narratives despite the market conditions, I suppose Hi, thanks so much for having me and yes, um apologies for the unassuming account where um They don't trust me with the Art Blocks Twitter account anymore. Just kidding Um, anyway happy to have you So I'm the chief marketing officer at Art Blocks, um, I've been working there since Its inception a whole huge two years ago. Um, it feels like a lifetime ago before that I was doing um Really brand development for the last 20 years So I get to sit at a really interesting exciting place in the development of what?

[40:00] Web3 and art and creativity, uh means to just a delightful group of people, um I will say, you know like being in this, um panel of really incredible experience and people Art Blocks is really um interested in um proof of concept and Um retaining the magic that we feel is in the artistic and creative process and the minting process. So, um we we definitely understand the kind of like roadblocks of explaining the technology to people and um, so interesting to hear about use case about Nike, but um We I mean there's no greater delight than watching somebody meant something for the first time.

[40:48] Um, it's just so incredible and exciting and so you know, we are really in pursuit of those incredible use cases that exemplify what that means and I'm really interested to see what is happening in luxury fashion and with brands Beautifully said beautifully said and so appreciate you taking the time to join us I want to make sure that we have time to pass it to our our final guest that I see up on stage I think one other might be joining us in a moment But Elena you've been waiting so patiently and you have such incredible insights, um in this space I'd love to take a moment and pass it over to you Um, Elena, would you like to introduce yourself? And I mean just just to spark your your incredible mind I would really love to hear your thoughts. Um back on the point that Shashi was making in terms of this intersection between Um, you know purely digital activations and purely physical activations.

[41:38] I know you've done so much research and so much writing Um at this intersection at the intersection of you know, technology and culture Would love to pass it over to you and hear if you have any thoughts from today's conversation. Thanks Thanks, David. No, it's it's it's great to be here because um I mean I constantly follow All of you guys I have A background actually in hands-on wearable technology development hardware smart fabrics and so on But I started very early working on this. I was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, uh, europe And I was a researcher creating wearable tech, but that was like 2005 like so long ago And my career path has has shifted quite a lot since then Um, but I have always worked in hands-on futurism.

[42:27] So helping companies adapt and adopt emerging tech By creating MVPs, you know both hardware and software and now currently I'm the director of emerging tech at Dow Jones live And I run the monthly Web3 Twitter Spaces for Wall Street Journal plus and um, and I think yeah, I might have Some different points points of view and a lot of these because actually when we started creating or kind of mini metaverse experiments We created an NFT gallery. We have created other places for storytelling and immersive spaces and Inclusivity was was very important. So we started thinking that there will be no avatars And that way first there is less friction when people joins or experiences They don't have to like spend time creating that avatar and questioning how?

[43:23] You know, how should they present themselves and so on we wanted the spaces where like-minded people meet and discuss Um being Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. We wanted spaces for for discussion So we started like that. There is no avatars. So you don't have to think on this layer of the fashion element And it's interesting because I have always worked in the in the fashion and wearable technology industry, so I have this kind of double double Point of view that I want to discuss With with all of you as well And in the NFT gallery that we have created actually is an educational NFT gallery It's called iconic means by the Wall Street Journal And in iconic means as Shashi was mentioning we are focusing on On how NFTs go beyond the the You know the whole buzz about art How it's actually the utility what happens in the digital world in the physical world in the experiential exclusive access space

[44:29] So we are showcasing About 24 different kinds of NFTs from many many different industries So it's not just about art. It's the fashion industry the cinema music and so on. It's a great space And now we also started showing augmented reality wearable NFTs that you can see as it was mentioned earlier as well. I think it was it was Don Diablo who mentioned, you know How you can have these uh this wearable filter that you're just wearing yourself Over yourself. We're looking at the future of augmented reality glasses as a common Common device that we wear 24 seven and then in that case, yeah the NFT that is an air Wearable filter totally makes sense. Um, so yeah, I think further on I would love to talk more about this idea of craftsmanship And how that gets translated in the in the digital world.

[45:25] One of the things I wanted to discuss is I actually see that A lot of the things that luxury fashion has provided in the Web2 world. Let's call it or in real life world um It's um, it's not often talked about which is what we are talking about today is sustainability was always there and also, um This idea of community and giving back giving back to the artist has always been there and how that gets translated now In the metaverse is just uh, it just thought that it makes sense in the last Web3 discussion that we had on friday We had Ethereum explaining the merge and right now Sustainability wise it just makes sense that we can allow people in a digital way to express themselves But at the same why at the same way have a financial model that is sustainable and is providing companies and artists and communities Uh with with new with new revenue models that allows them to continue expressing themselves

[46:30] and experimenting And to not stand much more the last thing I will mention just to get everyone's opinion as well is There is that on one side how how luxury commitment to sustainability community and giving back gets, uh exponential in in Web3 from my point of view and then the other side is that craftsmanship can get translated to to um Innovation in other ways. So you have craftsmanship that is unique in a physical environment But to me the craftsmanship in a digital environment is the intelligence behind these utilities so it's the AIs that run these utilities is the the transparency that gets added to To these products that you own digitally the data that they track over time the sustainability impact the furnace of of the Financial revenues that get shared between everyone.

[47:28] So for me that is kind of the the AI intelligence of the craftsmanship how You know how that can run in the digital world and then how I see Since I was working in wearable technology for so long And frustrated that it didn't catch up properly in the in the physical fashion industry I see actually that now we have a playground to Explore the future of wearable tech and the utilities of what we wear in the most crazy Imaginable ways in virtual worlds to then translate it on actually what are these functionalities? That we want to bring to the wearable products that we wear and how we merge technology into physical garments Yeah, I see Web3 as the playground for the future of of wearable tech in physical fashion Very very well said beautiful Thank you so much.

[48:28] Elena I just saw Johannes up here, but I think he just popped down But I was going to pass it over to him Johannes if you're able to join back up again. Oh, here we are Yes, now he can speak fabulous. I was actually going to pass it to you because I think that was a lovely segue into the question I had for you actually Elena you mentioned such beautiful points Around how technology is influencing this industry and how we are Coming into our own within the Web3 space. Um, Johannes you you obviously come from the traditional fashion industry Let's say and have been very important in guiding Several of the largest brands in the world into this Web3 space through your work at Fabernovel Would love to pass it over to you and just hear your Two cents before we pass it back to our incredible stage and open it up to the audience as well but I would love to hear your thoughts on why from your perspective,

[49:20] um, all of these incredible brands are taking the time to Enter Web3 right now and why these next few months? Um despite the markets, etc Really the moment for us to be entering this this brave new world. I would love to pass it over to you Johannes are you with us? Yes, hi David Hello, lovely. Hello We managed no, uh great great to be here today Thanks for the invite and to connect with all these amazing people some of which we we know Um, so in regards to your question, yes, uh, EY Fabernovel So we we have a large Web3 practice I think we're the only company in the world also to have completed 450 blockchain projects.

[50:08] Um, and so we Having started obviously Web3 with a lot of the NFT one-shot communications from Many brands, uh, we feel that there's a big shift now into okay. How do we build a real strategy? What are the building blocks that we need to create something sustainable for the long term in terms of? The brand at a corporate level but also for the consumers and so in part of what we're doing is getting the the leaders the companies to understand What are the important elements of Web3? So it's interesting to see that everyone Having been naysayers or having seen one-shot communications now. Everyone wants to really build a sustainable business um, I think it's also interesting to see why are the luxury brands going because Uh contrary contrary to Web2 we can go a step further.

[51:05] It's all about the emotion Uh, so it's really creating this immersive space where people can interact and you can discover the elements of luxury which are Based on emotion also on savoir-faire like like Nelly said Uh, and the other elements of luxury such as exclusive exclusivity and community Um, but it's great to see all these brands getting on board I'm I'm calling from in from barcelona We're working here with another company Um who wants to understand how to do it and how to build it So we're working on different hackathons and and launching all these different brands into this new space Uh, which is now coming full circle. I find Fabulous fabulous and so happy to have you here Um, I'm conscious that folks are nearing the end of their allocated hour So I just wanted to take a moment and do some due diligence and uh pass the mic around our incredible panelists Especially the folks who spoke near the beginning Megan

[52:01] Megan and Matt., Would love to hear if any of you had any thoughts that came up As listening to other panelists speak as we um continue this conversation I'm happy to stay a little bit after but obviously, you know, everybody has their schedules. We're in the middle of a work day Um understand that people have to leave but uh Matt., Megan Megan would love to pass it over to any of you Who started and uh here if you have any other thoughts that came up. Um listening to other panelists Yeah, no, this is it was really really really wonderful, uh conversation really special Um, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't just say if anyone out there Uh will be at Miami Basel. Uh, we at nft now are doing a free five-day festival called The Gateway: A Web3 Metropolis And um this year it was really important for us to expand beyond just art and actually Include some Web3 native fashion brands like RTFKT, Gmoney's 9dcc as well as

[52:47] some legacy players like Porsche Instagram and more So yeah, we're taking over to city blocks 12 curated buildings. It's totally free to the registered public So, uh, if you'll be at basel, we'd love to see you You can sign up at nft now .com slash the gateway And we plan to do a lot more coverage in the in the at the intersection of Web3 fashion and luxury So, um, this has been a great conversation and um, really really enjoyed all the insights Fabulous. Thank you so much for joining Matt . We really appreciate you taking the time and uh, looking forward to many conversations in the future Awesome, um, we'd also love to pass it over to uh, Megan Which Megan wants to go first Megan Kaspar Maghan McDowell. I'll let you all pick Yeah, of course, this has been such a such a great conversation Um, so many awesome people in the space contributing their thoughts and perspectives. Um I just like to add I think

[53:35] it's really important too for um everyone in the fashion and luxury fashion community looking to Um use blockchain technology right now. Well over the last few years it's been mostly used around um speculative investment assets And we're seeing a lot of that proliferate And I think that those two the world between you know, um the speculative investment tool and actual products tied to On-chain smart contracts are going to become very different over the next few years and there's many companies including UNXD and 9dcc sort of harnessing physical hardware Implanting those chips into whatever physical products Um brands have and then creating mechanisms for transparency authentication Like Nelly alluded to earlier, but even more so around ownership Data data ownership and identity And I think that these are really big trends that we're going to see coming out of the next wave of innovation so in crypto,

[54:45] we sort of see these waves that come with terms and sort of fly by night ecosystems we saw it in 2017 with ICOs and I think we'll look back on this NFT boom As sort of a similar wave but out of that will come a lot of really awesome Products and brands really using the technology in a way that creates more than just communication and marketing channels But really as as Shashi said earlier, you know business and commercial objectives around products Um, so I think that that's what's really exciting and what we have to look forward to in luxury fashion So beautifully said so beautifully said I completely agree Um Maghan McDowell I'm curious if you have any thoughts on that point I mean obviously I think with everything that's been going on in the past few weeks Now not your keys.

[55:36] Not your crypto is something we're all saying within the space But hopefully now, you know through amazing use cases like we've mentioned today People can discover ownership for themselves Any final thoughts from you? Um, yeah, no, that's I think it's an interesting point. We're actually on deadline today Writing about what brands and the community and culture should take away from this chaotic week and you know what that means and I think initial reporting has suggested, you know to megan's point and um, you'll have to read the full article when it publishes, but I think um Some of the insights we're seeing are that This will bring necessary infrastructure so even though regulations might be a bummer because obviously NFTs and collectibles are different than cryptocurrency A token is a token.

[56:26] So we might see a little bit more infrastructure which might be a good thing and um I think you know a leveling out of Some of the the characters that you know might not be ideal for the space. I don't know the right way to say it but uh I'll just put it at that. So I think yeah, I think it's an interesting time and um I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next and I guess I will offer that Just a reminder for everyone Vogue Business Does a lot of reporting on metaverse Web3 and digital collectibles. We have A new Web3 and metaverse stream which we update daily with news I have a weekly newsletter called the Tech Edit that goes out to our members and we often hold events and Conferences and just a lot of coverage related to this topic.

[57:15] So Yeah, nice to talk to everyone. Thank you for having me Fabulous, so appreciate you joining me again And so appreciate everything you do uh for the space uh for for the fashion space and for the Web3 space in tandem So, uh very much very much, uh, please that you could join us here today Um, I see Johannes passed, uh, a message over to me. I would love to pass it over to you I think you had a a comment that you want to bring up Matt . I also see you you waving goodbye I appreciate you joining. Thank you so much Take care. We'll see you in the next one Hi, David. Yeah, I think also what's important to point out jumping on what what Megan said as well is Obviously Web3 is evolving and it's gone from as I was saying like one-shot communication to full-fledged strategy long term But also about ESG impacts We are now starting to see a lot of requests from Some of the major players pioneers in Web3 uh luxury Uh and consumer

[58:11] goods who are asking us to accompany them on seeing the impacts on ESG Um and seeing how we can actually, uh assist the community In having a positive impact. I think this is very interesting also seeing like how how the market is Reacted and all the the negative press that Web3 gets Um, I think a lot of the the brands are waking up to seeing how They can actually create something positive Uh, we're also seeing brands wanting to create NFTs with purpose Um, so it's very I I think it's fascinating. Um, and I think like a one one one Comment on that if we see Uh what Gucci has done also in terms of the gaming academy That they set up a big part of that is accompanying mental health Um, and I think one of the one of the major things I think in this space is the responsibility that we all hold Into making sure it's it's a positive environment fabulous Shashi, you had some thoughts Yeah, I mean I I think my take

[59:22] away from what Johannes was saying is it's really just about the changing Playbook like the the kind of things that worked six months ago or even three months ago or a year ago Just aren't the types of things that are going to work now One because of the bear market, but two because of these shocks to the system like what happened this past week with FTX I think the the responsibility Among players in the space that are serious is to try to make it less scary to people that might come into the space Because the more that these things happen the more people are just going to be fearful of entering especially More mainstream consumers that that aren't in it for the crypto or the technology But definitely don't want to be in it with the prospect of losing everything without realizing that that's happening in in the background so I think things around utility and trying to root it more and things that

[1:00:15] people can understand and Ideally that are more safe is definitely going to make make a big difference But as far as the changing playbook, I think one of the things that's going to be a challenge for Traditional brands and certainly for luxury brands that are used to being fairly Methodical about decision making and entering the space is that by the time they spend three months or six months studying what they want to do The playbook that would work when they started that process is not going to be the playbook that works anymore Because the space evolves so quickly. So I think that's going to be one of the challenges for Um for brands overall Absolutely. Um Nelly while we still have you hear any thoughts on that because I'm sure you have some uh, some ecosystem Perspective that you could potentially bring Uh, yeah, absolutely.

[1:01:02] I mean I started my uh, kind of like path in crypto actually working with developers and startups And so I totally understand kind of like the excitement to want to To want to build and then the hesitation on the parts of brands to experiment because things are moving really quickly I think one of the biggest things that I advocate for is uh For teams to not kind of try and bet on you know The winning use gaze the next big metaverse platform. You're never going to win because things are changing I think one of the biggest investments. Uh, I think any brand can Can make is actually in the just the soft scale of innovation. Like how how can you be agile? How can you be able to launch multiple experiments have kind of very clear KPIs and then scale the ones that win that has applied in any Innovation tech and applies in Web3 it's no different, right?

[1:01:54] Like we have no idea what will happen next week So it's really important to have smart people on your team who can work very quickly who are creative Find the right partners and then you know if something fails you just kind of learn from it Uh kind of like go back to your community, uh brainstorm some more ideas and keep going right? No one knows no one can predict the future But I think having that right team and processes in place to be as agile as possible is how I think brands can Basically kind of like ride this wave fabulous fabulous on the same page Uh very aligned in this conversation today Just because I see I see her commenting and and I love her thoughts Elena anything else you wanted to Add to what was just said before we start to I think wrap up today's conversation as we have Unfortunately come to the end of our hour But I appreciate all of our remaining panelists sticking with us for

[1:02:41] a few more minutes As we wrap up this conversation to its natural conclusion Elena would love to pass it to you Thanks. I mean, I think actually yeah with such with such incredible panel you have to Yeah, and sure you have like two hours to for discussion. We usually stick to four Panelists and and we also always go over the hour is crazy. I I mean, I totally agree These last few points are very interesting I actually think that Dow Jones have been very forward thinking by Having me directing emerging tech R&D because of my background in wearables and this idea that we're going to be moving From the mobile phone into wearable tech glasses and more biometrics and so on I think it's it's a very um, it's a very good angle for the company to be prepared for the future so I really enjoy I feel very lucky to be in that team and And actually on my personal work what I'm doing now is studying the ethics of all of this and

[1:03:38] I started Writing something that I hope to launch who if I don't know if next year a book about the ethics of uh, wearable tech and biometrics and What I'm looking into there is actually looking into not only the ethics of The data of or that gets gathered about everyone around And who through through wearable technology and who should own it and how thanks to Web3 It is every user who gets to own it So it's it's kind of an actually an optimistic outlook of different future scenarios of wearable tech and biometrics but I also worry about the ethics of um, if biometrics and the quantified self and wearable tech are going to Change our life dramatically what happens with those that don't have access to it and in a way it's similar to to Web3 and the metaverse Access is so important and there is an and an ethical responsibility to ensure Everyone has access to to these technologies wearable tech by biometrics and beyond

[1:04:44] and and knowing oneself So much more than before and the impact on health and and I know we're talking about luxury fashion But I just believe that fashion and what we wear not only It's not only about the aesthetics obviously and the craft that goes behind it. There is going to be so much more thanks to technology It's um, yeah from the utilities that we have from the data That gets gathered from how much we know more about ourselves and connect with each other Um for me, it's a very very exciting new new era in a way So yeah, I'm looking into the ethics of all of this now Anyone gets in touch if they want to be part of the book obviously and a shout out for that Thank you. Absolutely. I mean, I love what you're thinking about and I love what you're writing about Elena You know, it's always a pleasure Um to speak with you about this, you know, it's it's one of my favorite topics as well And I think you know as

[1:05:37] we're as we're winding today's conversation down to a close I think that this is a perfect place to end You know as we consider Web3 and how it can affect luxury fashion I really think it's how technology can affect luxury fashion and how the worlds of technology and luxury fashion come together Which I know is one of the core tenants that Farfetch talks about all the time in terms of what this company is all about So I think this is um, it's a perfect segue to to wrapping up today's conversation And in in vain in that vein of thought I would love to if if you are still with us Pass it over to Ramona who's just been listening and and being so lovely this entire conversation wondering if you had any Final thoughts you wanted to share with us before we bring this conversation to a close Sure. Thank you. Thank you. David. I'm echoing a lot of what was said today amazing insights. Thank you for everybody

[1:06:22] that participated It's definitely what what comes to me from our conversation is that it is a very exciting space of opportunities there is a new playbook and one thing I take away is that For us we're not limited by today and today's capacities But today's buzzwords or terminology everything is still to be built and disruption happens at all levels Web3 for us, we see it as a transversal topic that impacts Everything about the luxury of fashion business from the way that we look at augmenting the reality as it is today augmenting Looking at how reality goes into the virtual space how we can bring people product and places into the virtual space How does the virtual impact reality to look at those sustainable practices of those?

[1:07:12] Those different ways of creating and bringing authenticity and so many things that were discussed In our talk today. So all of that how does the virtual can Inform reality and then I think it's so exciting to see what everybody's building in terms of creating the virtual Only and the virtual first experiences for luxury and fashion and who are the new creators the new Business models and the the new ways that this industry can celebrate individuality Which is one of the core Missions of of luxury fashion is to celebrate individuality and with Web3 There is a whole new opportunity of making it sustainable And also a new business model that can play with the long tail and can support new creators Micro communities in ways that we couldn't see it before as we didn't have necessarily the technology to build this on So just saying that it's super exciting to hear everybody's opinion.

[1:08:08] Thank you so much for being part of Of our Twitter Space and thank you. David for being an amazing host It is my absolute pleasure. I also want to thank you Ramona for for the Trust to launch this series very excited to be Doing this together and also again huge. Thank you to all of our panelists who've joined us today I know many of them had to hop to meetings But Megan Elena Johannes Shashi and everybody else who joined us here today. It has been such a pleasure I have news for everybody if you are listening right now and you joined us later in this conversation Good news is this is recorded and we are going to be sharing clips and recordings of this conversation after the fact We will also be transcribing this conversation to be released in an article coming very soon, which you can all see Um, and we are excited to share this content with you Um, if you are not yet, please do make sure you

[1:08:56] are following the official Farfetch page, which is to my immediate left Make sure you're following all of my incredible panelists And uh, yeah very much appreciate everybody who took the time out of their day to listen We very much want to engage the community more in these conversations in the future I see so many incredible leaders fabric and DRESSX uh, ouroboros, uh and nara I see so many of you listening right now who have just been so lovely and just hanging out with us shumi Uh hanging out with us for the extent of this conversation and really want to get the community on board so if you are interested in being a part of a future conversation, please do feel free to reach out to me if you're part of the Virtual fashion community Web3 community and you would like to share some thoughts Please do reach out and we would love to chat about having you in a future conversation Once again,

[1:09:38] thank you everybody for joining. We're going to close this room out for today And we will hopefully see you again same time next week. Thank you all again. Take care. See you in the next one

David Cash https://www.davidcash.ca