Money, but make it fashion: How digital currencies are changing the way we dress
As we have mentioned before, some sectors are friendlier towards digital currencies than others. One of our favourites is fashion. The mentality and culture are particularly accepting of disruption, and innovation is a tool of the trade.
But are the runways ready to forego traditional means of payment and embrace digital currencies?
Here’s all you need to know:
People are already buying clothes with digital currencies
There’s many misconceptions about digital currencies and the usage people make of them. We’ve all heard how they’re used for speculative purposes, or for shady illegal dealings. Research, however, indicates that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Food and clothes are the two categories of goods that people spend the most digital currencies on. With 34% of all digital currency usage going to clothes, one would expect the fashion industry to be going crazy for it.
The fashion industry is abuzz
Which it is. Blockchain is increasingly being seen as a means to fight fraud and forgery. Louis Vuitton and Dior owners LVMH are unveiling a new blockchain solution that will verify their unique pieces. It will be called AURA, and it will run on Ethereum with support from Microsoft’s Azure. This places blockchain technology in the center of high fashion’s concerns.
But verification and fighting fraud aren’t the only ways in which the fashion industry is being affected by blockchain.
Startups like HUUB are providing fashion brands and creators with entire logistics suites that will allow them to manage their whole activity, from suppliers to customers, from wholesale to ecommerce. Other products, like Arianee, are also helping creators keep track of their products’ life cycles. The idea is to create permanent relationships between goods and consumers, between brands and customers, changing the way we interact with luxury goods in a meaningful way.
The innovators of the fashion business are integrating blockchain technology into the way they manage their business, from top to bottom.
The runways are feeling the inspiration
It’s not just the business part of fashion that’s getting a much-needed boost from blockchain and digital currencies. In 2018, Ovadia & Sons created a Bitcoin inspired outfit that featured the New York Fashion Week. Melanie Shapiro, Omura or Rebecca Migirov all have digital currency inspired and powered pieces available in their collections.
These are very diverse offerings, and even on the lower-end of the fashion spectrum, brands like Bitcart are producing wearables that seek to bring this kind of product to an audience that isn’t interested in luxury wear.
This diversity is the key to mainstream adoption, and fashion can very well be one of the harbingers of change.
Payments are inevitable
While there aren’t too many brands accepting digital currencies yet, it’s a matter of time. Luís Onofre is leading the charge, and his pioneering brand is the first in the luxury shoe segment to accept digital currencies, with Utrust or otherwise.
They are already reaping the benefits by having their payment fees slashed by 80%.
Digital currencies as a major means of payment for luxury industries is a revolution waiting to happen. And it won’t take long. Social distancing practices enforced by the COVID19 pandemic are already boosting ecommerce immensely, and that change in consumer behavior is not only becoming permanent, but affecting luxury goods more than average.
We are a part of this process, and we are committed. You should be too.
Now is the time for businesses in the fashion industry to empower themselves and get ahead of their competition. Adoption waits for no one, and this untapped market won’t remain that way for long.
Head here and join us now — Make sure you don’t miss this opportunity!
