Digital and Generative Fashion Arrive

Is digital fashion the next big web3 sector to take off? Is generative art about to expand into the physical world? Some major players are betting yes, on both accounts. Find out more.

TylerD

Oct 13, 2023

TylerD's Market Summary

GM!

👚 Are Digital and Generation Fashion Next Up?

This week has been a major one for web3, digital fashion and generative design.

Headlines have poured in from tech brands, fashion brands and top artists.

In the past two days:

thirdweb debuted their Connect Wallet component for onboarding brands into web3 (ft. Louis Vuitton)
IYK introduced its Fuse Module allowing merging of digital fashion items, capable of turning a jacket into a wallet
Tyler Hobbs showcased generative tattoos via Blackdot
Snowfro announced his Velocity Series mint will be his 1st-ever generative physical drop (an embroidery-ready file + embroided cap)

A little more on each one below.

thirdweb Debuts Connect Wallet

This product isn't new, originally used with the Louis Vuitton NFT and physical sale from months back.

But it seems they're rolling it out now to a larger audience of brands.

How it works is that brands can add this web3 wallet component to their site, enabling crypto payment, and integrating it to their style.

Brands can:

add styling and brand theme
change fonts & colors
add web2 onboarding components like email gathering, social media, etc.

Why it matters: it's setting the stage for broader adoption of crypto as a currency. I for one know I would've spent more ETH with my favorite brands in 2021 had wallet connect existed - and now it will be there for the next cycle (if it comes).

IYK Introduces Fuse Module

IYK is bringing accessorizing garments into the digital world via web3 tech.

Their new Fuse Module and Patchwork campaign allows customization of digital clothing (i.e. a jean jacket) with connected patches.

It uses ERC-6551 tech to allow the foundational garment (jean jacket here) to "hold" other NFTs, effectively turning the digital jean jacket into a crypto wallet.

The team has lined up a big roster of artists for its inaugural patches, including OSF, Mad Dog Jones, Olive Allen, Jen Stark and more.

Why it matters: crypto infrastructure like ERC-6551 is finding new use cases, and its pushing sectors like digital fashion forward. Are patches for digital jean jackets going to revolutionize the space? No, but it's another step forward. And it's fun (my daughter loves patches on her jean jacket).

Tyler Hobbs Showcases Generative Tattoos

Perhaps the most controversial announcement of the day came from Tyler Hobbs.

He has debuted generative tattoos via a company Blackdot.

Tyler and a selected group of tattoo artists have created initial design sets for the Blackdot patented technology to execute. Tyler has even created a "project" overarching the individual pieces called Flyway.

How it works is an interested buyer selects an artist and/or tattoo design, the output is generated, and then a robot (the Blackdot tech) does the actual tattooing.

The controversial aspect has been the price points. The cheapest tattoos on the site are $2,800, and a Tyler Hobbs Flyway tattoo (his genesis collection) is priced at $9,800. Tattoos include a Design Fee and an Execution Fee (varying by size).

The other main concern - can the robot match a human tattoo artist's quality? Especially at this price. I guess we'll find out.

Why it matters, putting those concerns aside, is it's a new use case for generative art / generative coding in the physical world. Very similar to this next one.

Snowfro Announces First Generative Physical

Snowfro's Velocity Series mint has long been anticipated and widely expected to be the "best" in their season 1.

Well now there's a twist.

Yesterday Snowfro announced his "/// #0, Algorithmic [Embroider-able] Edition of 2000, 2023."

It's going to be a generative physical mint (with a digital and physical component), Snowfro's first-ever venture into this style.

How it works is each NFT will come with a unique embroidery-ready file "constructed one stitch at a time at the algorithmic level." The owner can apply that file to embroider anything they like, and the mint also comes with one embroidered Oracle Red Bull Racing Hat.

The NFTs themselves are Snowfro's artistic reinterpretations of each embroidery file. There will be 2,000 available, first for Velocity Series holders and then a public Dutch auction for the remainder.

Why it matters: Snowfro is taking generative art to the physical world via generative production and creating "1of1ofX physical goods with cost parity to producing identical items." That's the key - cost parity. And the physical products can in a way serve as a top of funnel for digital products (i.e. digital & generative art).

Conclusion

Each of these breakthroughs is in the very early stages of adoption.

There aren't huge markets for digital jean jackets with patches, for generative tattoos or for generative racing hats.

But some of the best minds and artists in the space are innovating, experimenting and trying to find what works. And that's exciting to see.

Product market fit remains to be found for both digital fashion and generative physicals, but many are making the bet that they will boom - we'll be watching.

👥 Friend Tech Trend Tracker

Another quiet day in the Friend Tech market while the Stars Arena team dropped another major announcement.

Here are some of the core Friend Tech metrics for 10/13 and their day-over-day change:

Return users: 4,588 -> 4,543 (-1%)
Daily Buy volume: $1.5M -> $2.1M (+40%)
Total Volume: $2.96M -> $3.6M (+22%)
TVL*: $43.54M -> $43.87M (+1%)
Highest key: Vombatus 8.33 -> 8.37 (+1%)

*TVL in ETH terms 28,117 -> 28,346 ETH (+1%)

Volume rebounded on the day but still came in below the $4M level. Buyers showed up though leading to a small uptick in key prices.

CBB was a big winner on the day, now at 5.7 ETH, after announcing the debut of his mascot @CBBuuull who will go live next week using the CBB WL tool.

CBB holders will have first shot at buying the mascot's keys.

The big news of the day once again in SocialFi was from Stars Arena which shared news about its exploited funds. The details included:

They've secured 87% of the funds needed to close the gap
Fees generated so far in app will be used to help fill the 13% remaining gap
And they received a bridge loan for the rest

Immediate takeaways - the funds seem to be there now to fix the gap, but it does not seem like they will be providing any extra bonuses or incentives for users to return.

We will see how the market responds if/when they turn it back on...

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

Trading volume jumped 8% to $6.6M (4,200 ETH) on Thursday; the leaderboard was all red, with most leaders down 1-3%
The Gutter Cat Gang ecosystem led top movers after GCG formally backed their new owner; Dogs and Pigeons were both up 30%+
A Blur investor formally proposed the team "turn on the Blur fee switch," calling for a 1% fee on all transactions (with proceeds used to buy & burn $BLUR) and a tiered discount structure for $BLUR holders ($BLUR holders pay lower fees based on how much they hold)
Yuga revealed HV-MTL prizes as a part of its Season 6 update announcement; top prize is just 3,950 $APE ($4,100) and 11th place drops to 237 $APE ($246), leading to disappointment
Punk6529 introduced a new allowlist tool called EMMA, designed for managing multiphase allowlists (based on the Memes team deep experience)
DraftKings Reignmakers is running 2 more contests this weekend with $100,000 top prizes; prepare for the slate with our preview guide

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

The crypto market fell and then rebounded on Thursday after CPI came in slightly over expectation; BTC +0.3% at $26,830; ETH even at $1,550; SOL +0.3% at $21.42
The BIGTIME web3 gaming token fell 22% yesterday to a $37M marketcap ($1.2B FDV) after tripling up the day before
Yuga Labs shared more details about its debut Yacht Club Open House in Hong Kong on Nov 5, with tickets sold first-come, first-served

🚀 NFT Total Volume

BAYC (2703 ETH, 25.2 ETH Floor)
MAYC (614 ETH, 4.84 ETH)
Pudgy Penguins (434 ETH, 4.88 ETH)
Milady (324 ETH, 1.8 ETH)
DeGods (248 ETH, 3.23 ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase

Gutter Dogs (33%, 0.2 ETH Floor)
Gutter Pigeons (31%, 0.14 ETH)
NFT Sensei (29%, 0.11 ETH)
Genuine Undead (25%, 0.1 ETH)
Rug Radio Genesis (24%, 0.11 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is another slower day of drops. Harvey Rayner likely has the highlight, sendin the first batch of 320 marfaMESH mints to those who used the app (for free).

See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.

PHIBI (10:00 a.m. ET)
Fight Me! (12:00 p.m. ET)
Harvey Rayner - marfaMESH (6:30 p.m. ET)

Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.

For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.

For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's NFT Calendar page.