On Tuesday night in downtown Manhattan, crypto’s cultural elite celebrated conquering another corner of the luxury market, over sparkling wine and small bites at Swarovski’s glittering flagship store on Fifth Avenue.
They were there to kick off the launch of a new line of algorithmically designed, Ethereum NFT-paired and NFC-chipped custom hoodies, created by a dizzying web of contributors.
The 322 unique garments formed the second collection from mmERCH, a tech-focused luxury fashion brand, and were inspired by DJ Danny Maegaard’s punk-themed CryptoPunk, also known as Seedphrase. All came with NFTs created by prominent AI-wielding digital artist Claire Silver, and in a few select cases, Swarovski crystal cord ends. Five of those bejeweled hoodies would be sold by Christie’s, the legendary auction house.
Although there were almost too many chefs involved in the project, one key ingredient kept coming up again and again during a panel discussion between its creators: CryptoPunksthe “blue chip” NFT collection that served as the anchoring theme of the hoodie line, and the connection between Maegaard and Silver, both CryptoPunk holders.
“CryptoPunks are the quiet luxury brand of the Web3 space,” Colby Mugrabi, the founder of mmERCH, said to many nodding heads during the panel.
At this point, CryptoPunks may not just be the “quiet luxury” mainstay of crypto; the argument could be made that the set is the only crypto-native brand of any kind that has been able to meaningfully infiltrate the lofty upper echelons of the luxury industry.
Nicole Sales Giles, the head of Christie’s digital art teamtold Declutter that the CryptoPunks brand has managed to anchor itself in the luxury world in a way that other crypto brands have not.
“It’s respected,” she said. “Even some [crypto’s] more historical projects haven’t quite had the brand continuity or longevity that Punks has.
Colby Mugrabi and Daniel Maegaard, aka Seedphrase, speak during a panel at Swarovski Fifth Avenue. Photo: Kevin Czopek/BFA
CryptoPunks have graced the walls of some of the world’s most prominent art museumsand even featured in a collaboration with the luxury giant Tiffany & Co. While other once-popular NFT brands like that Bored Ape Yacht Club have fallen off about 93% in value since 2022, CryptoPunks have continued to rise several million dollars amounts.
To Seedphrase, whose infamous Punk inspired the hoodie collection – and whose DJ career is also connected to the NFT project; the difference with CryptoPunk comes down to the organic origins of the project. Initially the collection consisted of 10,000 pieces beaten for free in 2017, and has since managed to maintain cultural relevance without the involvement of a creative team.
“CryptoPunks never promised anything,” Seedphrase said Declutter. “Whereas with Bored Apes, Yuga Labs, in order to maintain that bottom price, was constantly dropping tokens or coins, or trying to incentivize the community to buy more Apes.”
Seedphrase believes that now, years later, artists and collectors – and luxury brands – have flocked to CryptoPunks because the collection is one of the few remaining emblems of the organic community that once defined crypto in its rise.
“People choose Punks for the right reasons,” he continued. “That’s a more authentic and organic message than what other collections have tried to imitate.”
(It’s worth noting that it was CryptoPunk’s IP address bought by Bored Ape maker Yuga Labs in 2022.)
The first five hoodies in the collection – the “ultra-luxe” pieces with Swarovski cord ends in sterling silver or 14-karat gold – were auctioned at Christie’s on Wednesday. Each of these also comes with a unique, one-of-a-kind NFT artwork by Claire Silver, as opposed to an edition work. The rarest of those hoodies, one with cords also studded with Swarovski diamonds, has already fetched a price bid of $8,500. The auction closes on October 1.
That same day, the eligibility list for the remaining 317 hoodies will open for exactly 24 hours, exclusively for mmERCH genesis hoodie holders and CryptoPunk holders. The pieces cost 0.269 ETH (approximately $693 at the time of writing) for members on the allow list; sales will then open to the public on October 2, for 0.317 ETH (currently worth $817) per hoodie.
The hoodies are randomly distributed among the coiners, each with different attributes. Only 17 of these pieces will feature Swarovski crystal ends, and one will also feature Swarovski diamond-studded cords.
Swarovski’s Elliot Greenfield embraces mmERCH founder Colby Mugrabi on Tuesday. Photo: Kevin Czopek/BFA
Colby Mugrabi of mmERCH, who has a traditional fashion background, says she expects the collection to appeal to both crypto-native collectors and traditional fashion consumers.
Christie’s Sales Giles agrees. Over the past year, she said, digital art and fashion collections that try to cash in on the loyal crypto crowd have faded, leaving behind what she sees as a mature field likely to be embraced by traditional luxury.
“We have more high-end projects coming out,” Sales Giles said. “There’s no rush to reach all your Twitter followers. That was a really welcome change.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward