NFTs are rapidly transforming the fashion and art landscape because they help artists and designers to create collectors’ items and sell them widely. Since NFTs are non-fungible, they can’t be exchanged. Artists and designers in the art and fashion industries are enjoying the NFT space because it allows them to create original collectibles and earn royalties every time they sell. These art pieces bring in lots of profits from collectors and luxury consumers who are looking for unique pieces.
How exactly do NFTs help artists and designers?
NFTs are non-fungible tokens – a unique string of characters that were first developed in the cryptocurrency space to authenticate transactions.
It is this very ability of NFTs to verify transactions that has made them valuable in other industries, including fashion and art. Thanks to NFTs, collectors and buyers can now verify the authenticity of a rare art piece or fashion accessory before they buy it. Additionally, NFTs enable artists to bypass the traditional gatekeepers like by publishers, art galleries, retail chains who would normally determine the prices of their art. NFTs put power back in the artist’s hands, allowing them to determine the price as well as distribution channels for their art pieces.
What’s more, NFTs allow artists to program royalties into each sale of a unique art piece. Traditionally, artists would get their payday when they first sell a new piece but miss out on any profits when it is later traded on a secondary market. Since the true value of an art piece isn’t realized until years after its creation, the lack of royalties has historically left artists with a fraction of what their work is worth. In contrast, collectors and speculators have gotten rich.
Many people are surprised to learn how little even the most famous artists have made during their careers. Instead, artists can now receive 10% or 20% of sales of their work as soon as they start making sales. For example, if a work is first sold for $10,000, then for $100,000, and finally for $1 million, the creator who made $10,000 in the traditional market now makes $120,000 with a 10% royalty or $230,000 with a 20% royalty in the digital market. This can be easily accomplished by incorporating these royalties into the NFT from the start, resulting in far better conditions for creators and artists. The ease with which digital artwork can be traded on the secondary market and how active that market is magnifies the effect. Regardless of how much their work appreciates, each new sale means more money in the artist’s pocket.
How are luxury fashion brands using NFTs at the moment?
NFTs have brought a new level of exclusivity to the fashion world. This is especially important at a time when millennials, Gen-Z and generation alpha are getting more invested in creating unique online personas. Until now, the idea of selling digital fashion clothing and accessories was unheard of. However, luxury brands like Gucci are already creating their own NFT products that allow consumers to own both a digital and physical version of a rare fashion piece. This way, luxury consumers can show off their unique outfits both online and in person. NFT products quite literally rely on a digital asset that is the real-life twin of a physical product.
Luxury brands thrive not because customers desperately need their products, but because customers crave the status that comes with owning their products. NFTs offer these luxury consumers the status they want, in addition to offering investors and traders a new market to tap into.
A new hybrid industry
Before the NFT space exploded, no one could conceive of a world where you could buy digital art or fashion pieces. People preferred to be able to see, touch and wear these products in person. NFTs are changing the fashion and art industries by creating a hybrid world where you can own both a physical and digital version of an asset. Buyers are already purchasing unique physical art and fashion pieces that are modeled after a rare piece of digital art or an exclusive design.
How Catharsis Design is using NFTs to build an NFT-driven jewellery and accessory brand
Catharsis Design has released a collection of unique rings in a pre-launch offering for their NFT-driven jewellery and accessory brand. This pre-launch [Drop 0.1] will build up to [Drop 1.0], the first major release of NFTs by the brand. With digital, collectible artwork connected to physical wearables, the goal of this project is to build a global design brand that incorporates a community of like-minded people — called the Catharsis Collective.
Before COVID-19, Catharsis relied on popups and live venue events for their revenue, so sales dropped drastically when governments started imposing lockdowns. With people spending more time online and the NFT space growing, the team at Catharsis saw an opportunity to change the way their brand operated.
Catharsis Design was inspired to introduce jewelry and accessories into the world of NFTs. They’ve released a collection of unique rings in a pre-launch offering for their NFT-driven jewelry and accessory brand. This minor collection will include 25 NFTs per day, for a total of 1400 pieces over two months. Their mission is to fuse the physical and digital worlds of fashion and art. Holders of these first NFTs will receive physical rings of their chosen finish, size and design. Originally a physical brand selling fashion accessories, the company was forced to rethink its strategy after the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Creating a design brand that incorporates a community of like-minded people was extremely difficult before the NFT space existed. Owners of Catharsis Tokens will not only have a say in the company’s direction, aesthetic, and pieces, but they will also directly benefit from their input, whether financially or otherwise. The brand will also allow creatives and artists to connect with and collaborate with people they might not have met otherwise. The Catharsis Design team also wants to provide resources, funding, and support for new and young artists trying to break through the clutter of the art world. Their long-term goal is to create open-access communal art studio spaces around the world.
To view the new NFT [Drop 0.1] ring collection from Catharsis Design, you can connect with them on Instagram.
