As we all know, Fashion has been around for ages.. longer than anyone currently alive on this very earth we stand on. This goes as far back as the day a human decided to wear something, whether it was to cover their body or to show a trophy of their battles (bones).

This very act of picking something and deciding to wear it or carry it is a form of our very own individual self-expressions of who each of us are, and what we identify our personalities with.

This self-expression has evolved throughout time and ranges from a load of factors such as our culture, beliefs, preferences, imagination, creativity, and even our environments.

This is why cultures all over the world have such vast differences in their appearance and what they wear, from Japan, India, China, Kenya, all the way down to even France. It’s all unique and distinct in their very own ways.

The marvelous act of taking one thing and finding another thing, then combining those two to create another thing..

Fear Of God | 7th Collection

Taking that concept of using 2 things to make another thing is what allows us to take pieces of fabric and thread, and utilize those to create a sweater with it. Then, we can take it a step further by slicing through the middle and adding a zipper to turn it into a completely different wearable.. This is the beauty of utilizing our own imaginations to create the very things we see in our minds, whether it’s by making things from scratch completely, or by modifying already existent objects.

Fast forwarding to our present day is a whole new world of possibilities with all of the resources we currently have available to us..

100's of fabric mixes just waiting to be utilized by the next creative that sparks an idea to use them for.

Tons of talented designers are popping up everywhere in the world in this current age…whether young, middle aged, or old, they are never restricted from the space inside them which manifests their creativity.

Taking into account where our current state of technology is at, this is where things start to take a turn, a turn which takes us from this world of possibilities and has now allowed us to enter into a new UNIVERSE of possibilities and opportunities.

Things that were only able to be drawn or thought of can now be sculpted, textured, animated, and recorded to your EXACT liking.. And to top it all off… you can add physics, gravity, and all other elements with the click of a button. Mind-blowing right? This allows you to bring WHATEVER idea it is you may have to LIFE and visually be able to see it. This allows for benefits stretching across many industries such as architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and many more.

However, in this post we’ll be sticking to the industry known as Fashion, or how I like to call it, “The art of expressing yourself through appearance”. Specifically, how the industry will be heading towards a digital takeover in time. Though if I’m wrong about this and the industry doesn’t move its reaches into the digital world, then no worries.. Because VOC will, because I believe in this 100%.

Now, let me unravel a quick disclaimer for you. You might not know about some things such as Web 3, NFT’s, and the Blockchain just yet, so I highly recommend that you search on google about what it is so that you can gain a deeper understanding about where I’m coming from and how this all ties in together. Lets Begin.

Though I do agree that physical clothing will forever be a thing and will never lose its shine because we all need clothes, I do however see that we are hitting a point in time known as the Digital Era.. and that’s where the interesting part comes into play. Right now, we are all already interacting with the digital world every single day, by looking at social media, playing games, educating ourselves through videos, and even by you reading this right now.

But, if we take a closer look into this industry that is currently growing every single day known as the Blockchain.. we get to see a whole ecosystem of other digital areas that come as a result of the blockchain and its decentralization, such as: Crypto Currency, NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens) and a new expansion of the internet known as Web 3.

Just a quick throw of numbers to keep you from thinking who would even put money in any of that: “According to SkyQuest Technology, the Global Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Market was valued at USD 15.70 Billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach USD 122.43 Billion by 2028”

(We’ll mainly be talking about NFT’s only so don’t worry, I’m not gonna overload your brain with too much unknown topics.)

NFT’s are used as a means for proof of ownership of a digital asset. Think of it like a digital certificate that shows information such as who created it, when it was created, and who currently owns it now. That token can also display whatever you want it to show once uploaded (if you’re the one who created it).

Meaning you can create an artwork and upload that artwork as an NFT, then list it online on an NFT Exchange such as OpenSea for anyone to buy it using Crypto.

Companies such as the Sandbox and Decentraland have used the power of NFT’s to sell them as PLOTS OF LAND for their digital worlds. The owners of these plots of land can log onto the game with their digital wallet and gain access to code or place already made objects on their plots of land to create experiences for other people like you and me to go explore, hang out, play games, listen to music, and more, on these plots of land.

Gathering of players on Decentraland.

Now, why this is important or even related to fashion is because what do ALL of these companies that own games have in common where you can create an avatar to fit YOUR liking and move around/interact with other people?

Its the CLOTHING and ACCESSORIES that they WEAR!

The same way we tend to express ourselves through our appearance whether consciously or subconsciously in the physical world, is the same way we express ourselves in the digital world. Starting with our avatars who represent our digital identity, down to the clothing, which explains who we are, what we like, or even how we feel.

Use Cases

Digital clothing won’t be as big and exciting if it were just something to do and then have it sit and collect dust in your hard drive (unless you’re a clothing designer for digital characters in games). BUT, the whole idea of NFT’s and the utilities/uniqueness behind them give a whole new breath of fresh air to the space. It allows fashion houses to build a new layer of loyalty and even exclusivity for their businesses.

What I mean by that is, Louis Vuitton could announce an NFT Release of lets say only 100 NFT’s (Since their big on exclusivity as well), and it could be of a never before made dress. The utility part comes into play when that dress is optimized for lets say a platform such as Decentraland, where you could actually wear the dress on your character and use it.

If they wanted to take it a step further, lets use this fake scenario: LV announces that owners of the Dress NFT will get FREE SEATS to their 2023 Fashion Show with VIP access to meet the house’s current Creative Director and get food. Now I think we ALL know what type of hype and situation this would cause online because of how big LV is and how cool it would be to get access to those things just from owning that digital item.

To get the tickets to the show LV could just create a token-gated page on their site where the NFT owners would connect their wallet and because they have the NFT, it’ll allow them to get to the checkout page where they add their information to either get sent the ticket or print the ticket.

Do you see where this is going now?

This will all be huge in the digital space. Games won’t be leaving, digital hangouts won’t be leaving anywhere, and for that reason, **digital fashion wont be leaving anywhere either. **It’ll be consistently growing each and every day. Offering lots of new careers, creative paths, and inspiration, to not only big design teams but even to individuals who know how to use the software’s to create digital garments and build their own portfolios of amazingly creative twists to fashion because of the fact that you are no longer bound to things that “make sense” or that are “possible” in the physical world, whether that be geometrically, through laws of gravity, or even by the material that is being worn.

The Radical Idea

That previous statement is one of the reasons I love the idea of digital fashion so much. It really stretches your mind a bit and makes you think “Wait…I can create anything?”, the answer is yes, you can.

My top statement I tell people when I’m speaking about this topic is this next sentence, and it always blows their mind when they think about it. You ready? Okay, think about a shirt that is made out of glass. I mean it, pure glass. Like how your car windows are. Now think about it laying on your skin as easy and smooth as if it were *cotton. *Boom. I’ll give you a moment to process that sight in your mind.

Crazy right? What’s even crazier is that it’s possible. I was on like day 2 or 3 of learning how to use Marvelous Designer when I did it and realized how funny it was but at the same time how out of this world that was to make. That’s when I realized that there were no limitations on what could be made, it just needs to be thought of.

These very examples are some of the reasons that make me passionately feel that fashion will end up playing a big role in what is known as the Metaverse. Now, like I said earlier, before this turns into a book, I’ll give you time to process everything I spoke about today before I release more info for you. But, just know, VOC is immersed and is in full support of Web3/Blockchain Technology in the fashion industry.

Conclusion

Now, I hope you enjoyed this very detailed yet long but nonetheless exciting and informative piece of writing. This offers a small insight into what is in store for the fashion/web3 industry, why it will be important/inevitable, and some breadcrumbs of the vision I have for VOC, the 1st physical/digital fashion powerhouse born in the city of Philadelphia. I can’t wait to see you on the next post, enjoy the rest of your day and thank you for reading til the end.

Sincerely, Nicholas Reyes — CEO