Swagger DAO is Preparing to Launch On NEAR: Bringing Fashion NFTs to mainstream
Fashion has always been a trend-conscious industry at the forefront of creativity and innovation. In fact, the fashion world has historically shown dexterity and acceptance, in recognising the potential of new technologies and predicting their future impact on consumer preferences.
In this context, it comes as no surprise that the fashion industry has been interested in exploring the new world of crypto and its many innovative technologies that may revolutionize the future of fashion. Not only does crypto offer fashion companies entirely new channels of value (i.e. NFT’s) but it also has the potential to accommodate consumer demand for participation in the growing ownership economy as well amore transparent, socially conscious, and sustainable products.
Swagger DAO is a new initiative on NEAR Protocol, led by Fashion Industry veteran Frederik Hansson. Indicative of a new generation of fashion entrepreneurs, Swagger DAO is positioned to provide merchandise services to NEAR Protocol projects, expand the scope of non-fungible tokens into the fashion industry, and build out a foundation fo platforms for sustainable traceability, consumer platforms, and management of fashion industry products.
The Full Swagger Guild Proposal Can Be Accessed Here.
Swagger DAO’s Value Proposition and Vision
Swagger DAO originated when the NEAR Swag store was tapped for an expansion and enhancement in order to offer quality ecosystem swag for crypto and other financial payment systems. As Frederik explains:
“I got the gig of updating the NEAR Swag store two months ago by Gus from the NEAR Foundation who was in charge of it at that point. I looked at it a couple of weeks before, and complained about the state of it from product to user experience, and thought I could do it much nicer, so the NEAR Foundation agreed to let me do it.”
Once Frederik started looking into updating the product design and product’s selection and ameliorating the e-commerce system he soon realised he could do much more for its improvement by founding Swagger DAO.
Frederik Hansson is a Director of Operations & Concept at Revolver Copenhagen, where he is currently based. He represents over 300 fashion brands and has been working for several of the most known menswear clothing brands in Scandinavia.
The first project that Swagger DAO is implementing is focused on realising NEAR SWAG 2.0. That means introducing better print-on-demand apparel, provide quality sourced goods, and make sure they are logistically handled and manufactured in the most environmental and cost-efficient way possible (Swagger DAO, 2021). Additionally, NEAR SWAG 2.0 will develop processes that will stir cooperation among the various communities within the NEAR ecosystem to create graphics and products.
“Shortly, In terms of designs of NEAR SWAG, I have done it so far based on NEAR official brand design, to make a kind of official collection. From here, we will start to generate products from the community and through collaborations with other partners, to make much more crazy stuff going in other directions. We will continue to develop NEAR Swag too though with bounties, contests, workshops etc.”
An Ambitious Roadmap At the Intersection of Crypto and Fashion
Swagger DAO starts off by revamping NEAR SWAG, however, its roadmap goes well beyond it: In the medium term, Swagger DAO aims to establish an international network of fashion and NFT professionals determined to gain ground on the world of digital fashion collectables and contribute to the acceleration of their mainstream adoption. In addition to establishing this network, Swagger DAO will also function as a go-to merchandise store for projects within the NEAR Ecosystem.
In the short term, Frederik is looking to launch Swagger DAO as a mechanism for promoting NFT’s in the fashion industry: The DAO is laying the foundations for the development and promotion of Swagger NFT’s in partnership with leading fashion and NFT stakeholders, with the intention of bringing projects into the NEAR ecosystem that challenge the current pitfalls of today’s fashion industry.
The integration of NFTs is expected in the next four to six weeks, and will soon allow buyers to claim and receive NFTs to their NEAR address after having placed an order in the NEAR SWAG store. The coming weeks will then see exciting developments coming up that will encourage community engagement within NEAR guilds, communities and dApps in the development of content and material to achieve a full-fledged NEAR community brand.
Digital fashion distribution through NFTs has significant advantages. It allows a direct return in financial power to designers and creators boosting individual agency in energy and consumer goods purchasing and increasing the value of any physical product linked to NFT purchases
— Greta Jelen, 2021, Why NFTs Could Mean Windfall Profits for Fashion
While much of the fashion industry is still operating with mechanisms and practices that are quickly becoming obsolete; a new generation of entrepreneurs and brands are driving the industry to become more sensitive to environmental, ethical, and technological issues. The rise of prosumption (a term that describes the phenomenon of consumers fulfilling the steps in the production process themselves), and a new found interest in scarcity and individuation is on the cusp of bringing a much needed breath of fresh air to the industry.
Swagger DAO is leading the charge into the future of Fashion on NEAR Protocol. If interested, don’t hesitate to get involved, help design new products, or help brands better understand the value proposition of NFT’s!
The Telegram for Swagger DAO can be found here: https://t.me/swaggerdao, to read the full proposal check out the post on the governance forum here: https://gov.near.org/t/proposal-announcing-the-formation-of-swagger-guild/1356.
