Fashion designer Philipp Plein (pictured above) has big plans for the metaverse, as guests discovered last Thursday at the launch of his new Pleinsport collection.
The star of the night was a humanoid robot called Romeo 1.0 who performed inside a video-walled venue.
“The metaverse does not necessarily refer to a specific type of technology, but rather to a shifting interaction we have with the virtual space as we move to integrate it with the real one,” said Plein, somewhat cryptically.
Designer is no stranger to crypto and the metaverse
The German designer is no newbie to crypto or the metaverse. Last year, he announced his label would accept over 24 different cryptocurrencies as payment.
So his creation of a metaverse fashion line should come as no great shock.
He joined forces with blockchain auction house Portion to drop a range of sneaker styles each with a non-fungible token (NFT) companion.
The NFT can be displayed, or, of course, traded.
Plein said they sold 11 pairs of sneakers within an hour. Also, other digital wearables were on display with rewards for early collectors.
The sneakers feature chunky soles with a tiger’s head. The entire collection was shared via lookbook images and includes staples of sportswear, including running sets bearing leopard prints, shimmering puffers, and performance tracksuits.
Asked about potentially turning Plein Sport into an NFT-only fashion line, the designer told WWD his “work is to sell fashion, I’m not speculating on selling NFTs, but we want to give an added value in the metaverse.
“I believe that this is the future of e-commerce, of the internet and it gives you an upgraded shopping experience.”
German designer has bought into prime metaverse real estate
In Feb this year, Plein bought $1.4m worth of land in Decentraland. Plein Plaza covers 65 Decentraland parcels (about 17,000sqm) and includes shops, a hotel, an art museum, and residences.
Plein said he was proud “to have seized this opportunity to own a portion of the Metaverse so early on in the development and establishment of this new universe.
“We are there to stay and to develop and share the creativity of all our brands — Philipp Plein, Plein Sport, and Billionaire — also in this new dimension of human interaction in which I personally believe a lot,” he added.
And if you missed out on Romeo 1.0’s appearance, worry not – the rumor is he will be heading to Europe this summer in a pop-up truck.
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