Welcome back to Now Runway, where we report from the front lines of the digital fashion and luxury revolution. Earlier this week we shared the news about the collaboration between The Manufacturer And High snobit on our Twitter. We couldn’t be happier to own our very first varsity jacket (digital or otherwise).
Prada TimeCapsule releases a new floral sweater in time for our European summer, Charlie Cohen takes us into the next evolution of gaming and fashion, Snapchat Bitmojis just got an upgrade in the form of a Band T-shirt and Chromie Squiggles are coming now in the form of a sweater courtesy of Tribute brand. Read on to see what else you missed last week.
Tribute Brand x Chromie Squiggles
Tribute Brand partners with Waste Yarn Project – an initiative that creates unique, 100 percent zero-waste knitwear using excess yarn – and Chromie Squiggles, generative art platform’s genesis project, Art blocksto create ODDS.
ODDS is a generative sweater collection derived from Chromie Squiggle’s on-chain source code. A digital script converts the Chromie Squiggle source code into distinctive physical and digital wearables, each associated with a specific Chromie Squiggle and instantly recognizable to anyone as 1of1ofX.
The script uses a seed input to manipulate various variables in each Chromie Squiggle, generating an on-chain token with instructions for creating physical jerseys and virtual experiences in the form of digital skins. These tokens can serve as blueprints for future production and editions.
The primary variable that affects the look of the sweater is the Chromie Squiggle type – regular, bold, fuzzy, slinky, ribbed, pipe – terms typically used in knitwear to characterize the yarn’s appearance or knitting pitch. The Chromie Squiggle type, along with three additional variables (color spread, steps between and segments), dictates the colors and their arrangement through the knitted panels.
Due to the excess yarns and blends used to ensure a consistently soft texture and durability in the finished product, the jerseys occasionally bear a quirky resemblance to the actual Chromie Squiggles colors, resulting in unique compositions for each sweater. This controlled randomness adds to the beauty and distinctiveness of each ODD sweater. Handmade by artisans, each sweater takes about twelve hours to complete, passing through the hands of two or three artisans in the process.
Embedded Tribute Brand NFC chips are included in the sweaters, which connect to the Tribute app. This connection acts as an authentication mechanism, provides maintenance instructions and allows users to change the look of the digital jersey through AR technology.
This limited quantity project, priced at $550 per sweater, is scheduled to launch on June 8, 2023 on the Tribute Brand website and will be available to everyone. Chromie Squiggle owners have the exclusive ability to generate jerseys with their Chromie Squiggle, while those without a Chromie Squiggle can still create unique jerseys based on the Chromie Squiggle code.
The Fabricant x Highsnobiety
The Fabricant has teamed up with Highsnobiety – a global fashion and lifestyle media brand – on a limited edition collection for Not In Paris, the media brand’s showpiece taking place IRL during Paris Fashion Week. The drop contains three digital varsity jacks, The Parisian mirage, the pursuit of the Eiffel Tower, And The echoes of Parisdesigned by The Fabricant to be worn in augmented reality.
The Parisian mirage possesses an illusionary effect of a surface that sometimes appears realistic and at other times is a mirage of the surrounding environment. The pursuit of the Eiffel Towera digital twin of the timeless varsity jacket, it features miniature Eiffel Towers whirling around you as you stroll through the city. The echoes of Paris is adorned with patches that present a mesmerizing visual spectacle thanks to their slow-motion effect when you are moving.
The Not in Paris collection, priced at 33 Flow ($24 USD), drops June 21 at The Fabricant.
Prada’s Time Capsule Collection
Prada launched its thirteenth exclusive Timecapsule collection, a physical piece of clothing accompanied by an NFT of a corresponding time capsule. For Drop #42 of the Timecapsule collection, Prada presents the third and final unisex tank top, inspired by basketball jerseys and made with upcycled materials from the Prada archive. The June design is made of cotton, decorated with a floral design reminiscent of a tropical environment, Prada’s enamelled triangle logo on the front and the word “June” on the back.
Prada Timecapsule, first launched on December 5, 2019, unveils a new item in Europe every first Thursday of the month – available exclusively online for just 24 hours. The NFT grants membership to Prada’s Crypted NFT community and provides access to upcoming projects, releases and invitations to fashion shows and special events such as Prada Mode and Prada Extends.
Charlie Cohen X Diablo IV
Charlie Cohenthe designer behind Nextwear, has announced a collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment’s highly anticipated game, Diablo IV. Launching on Monday 19th June via a pop-up event at Selfridges, this experience aims to bridge the gap between fashion and gaming and open up a new dimension of potential. Combining Cohen’s longstanding commitment to blending technology and fashion with the support of the gaming community, the duo aims to create a unique fusion for the most passionate fans from both realms.
Cohen shared with us: “Video games have taken the lead in creating a world where both digital identity and digital exploration of identity carry as much weight as physical self-expression. We are so excited to partner with such an iconic IP as Diablo, forging the essence of the game in the physical world through our limited edition collection of garments and then back into the virtual world via AR and NFC.”
The collaboration delves into the intersections of gaming and fashion by incorporating advanced AR activations, NFC chip authentication and the integration of physical clothing. Merging the tangible and virtual realms allows the community to participate in live events, enjoy augmented reality encounters, and purchase physical clothing that offers opportunities for digital integration.
Mercedes-Benz drops NFTs
Mercedes-Benz joins the growing list of luxury car makers dropping NFTs Mercedes Benz NXT, the automaker’s latest Web3 division that focuses on digital collectibles and virtual experiences. In the debut core collection Maschine, the automaker collaborated with a Dutch artist Harm van den Dorpel And Fingerprints DAO, a platform dedicated to collecting and creating art built on blockchain technology with a high curatorial bar. This generative art series delves into themes of movement, speed and perception.
For Maschine, van den Dorpel selected movement, speed and perception as central motifs. Each of the 1,000 distinctive artworks showcases a captivating radial design made up of intricate and ever-changing illusions created when specific objects spin and gain momentum. This is influenced by the so-called wagon wheel effect, where spoked wheels appear to rotate in a way that contradicts their actual speed and direction.
Over the course of the project, Van den Dorpel developed and trained a neural network to recognize and choose generated outputs that match his artistic taste. While he has incorporated AI into his work before, this is the first time he has used a custom neural network. It’s also his first foray into full 3D artwork.
The Mercedes-Benz Design team participated in every facet of the collaboration. Gorden Wagener, who has held the position of Chief Design Officer at Mercedes-Benz since 2016, worked closely with van den Dorpel to creatively shape the concept and synchronize artistic directions. Maschine will be accessible exclusively through Fingerprints DAO’s website during a discounted Dutch auction on June 7.
Snapchat’s Band Tees Collection
snapchat launched its inaugural Band Tees collection, giving music lovers around the world a new way to support their favorite artists and showcase their fandom through their bitmoji clothing. For this first line of merchandise, Snapchat partnered with Republic Records to unveil six new digital merch tops from some of today’s most popular recording and touring artists: Greta Van Fleet, The Jonas Brothers, Kim Petras, Lil Wayne, Subway BoominAnd Nicky Minaj.
To access the Band Tees collection, Snapchat users can go to their profile screen, choose Bitmoji, then tap “Change Outfit.” The Band Tees collection can be found under the Outfits, Tops, and Outerwear tabs in the Bitmoji Fashion section of the avatar builder.
Snapchat shared in a press release, “With the launch of the new collection of Band Tees for Bitmoji, we are broadening the overall music experience even more by providing an exciting new opportunity for artists and record labels to reach a highly engaged new audience on Snapchat. and all other apps that integrate Bitmoji.”