The fashion industry is always trying to be ahead of the next big trend, but the most critical trend for fashion brands to keep up with these days is not a particular style or look - it's a medium to create in. Each day, more and more fashion brands are beginning to embrace the metaverse as a venue to craft revolutionary new styles, including Toronto-based luxury fashion brand Aria Noir, which is pioneering a new fashion NFT program in partnership with Centennial College.

Fashion in the metaverse

These programs are part of a movement among fashion startups of using the metaverse to make an impact in the digital sphere. "Fashion has always been an artistic and visual medium," explains Vivian Ramírez, spokesperson for Aria Noir. "The metaverse is now enabling our virtual lives to become more visual. As such, the opportunity has opened up for exciting new voices in the fashion industry to bring their unique visual flair to a space whose influence continues to grow."

Part of the goal of connecting the fashion industry with the metaverse is to help businesses have a more substantial online presence and build a community. One of the keys to success in an NFT project is building a community following around it, something that luxury fashion brands excel at doing. The metaverse is another platform where fashion brands can expand their reach.

The potential in the metaverse for the fashion industry can be seen in the high-profile "metaverse fashion week" event that happened last year and is due to return in 2023. Fashion brands from around the world convened to showcase the different ways in which they embraced digital fashion. These "digital wearables" are quickly becoming a significant part of the future of fashion.

NFT digital wearables

One way in which fashion brands can embrace the metaverse is by creating NFTs featuring their apparel and accessories. For these NFTs, fashion brands already have a built-in audience of their customers. Since the purpose of an NFT is primarily as a digital collectible of sorts, the people who would want to collect the physical assets are those who purchase physical products from that brand. For luxury brands, the NFT adds a dimension of exclusivity to their product line.

The most exciting opportunity of programs, such as those offered by Aria Noir, is the potential to bridge the gap between the present and future of fashion. By pairing the physical fashion item with its digital counterpart, fashion brands create a unique value proposition for their customers. 

"Once our program is in place, our customers can wear their Aria Noir sunglasses on the town and then use their NFT as a digital wearable in their metaverse experiences," Ramírez explains. "This rewards our customers who value brand loyalty."

For Aria Noir, embracing the metaverse revolution is a natural next step for the growing company. The luxury fashion brand is known for using high-quality and exclusive materials, such as Peruvian gold and single-sourced alpaca wool. They are on the cutting edge of fashion, and with this NFT program, they also hope to position themselves at the forefront of technology. 

"Our NFT project represents an exciting fusion of the familiar and the unknown," says Ramírez. "It combines the comfortable elegance of Aria Noir's designs and the ground-breaking innovations of the metaverse."

Partnering with up-and-coming artists

In addition to these programs' benefits to brands and their customers, they also create tremendous opportunities for artists. Through minting their work as NFTs, artists can leverage their creative capital in conjunction with a powerful brand and use that partnership to create future opportunities. 

"Aria Noir takes pride in empowering the next generation of creatives," asserts Ramírez. "Our NFT program will allow us to discover and partner with exciting up-and-coming talent."

One of the main benefits to artists working in the NFT medium is that they can make royalties whenever the NFT is sold in perpetuity. Since the artist's information is permanently and immutably encoded into the NFT through the blockchain, the smart contract can be set up for artists to receive a percentage of any resale of the NFT. This benefit is unique to NFTs over other mediums of artwork - even digital forms.

The Aria Noir team is excited to partner with Centennial College to offer a program to source local Canadian talent for the design of their NFTs. Through this partnership, students will be given the opportunity to have their artwork minted into an NFT every time someone makes a purchase with Aria Noir. "This is a great way to grow our brand while allowing exposure and promotion to young artists," says Ramírez.

This collaboration with Centennial College will allow Aria Noir to continue to pioneer up-and-coming voices in the fashion industry. "Our program is a win-win-win situation," Ramírez explains. "Aria Noir benefits from greater exposure, artists get a fantastic opportunity to showcase and earn money off of their work, and customers get a digital collectible that is valuable in the metaverse. We truly believe that this is the future of fashion."