Rebecca Minkoff dives into NFTs

For her NYFW Spring/Summer 2023 show, designer Rebecca Minkoff turned to, wait for it…a CGI presentation. Across several large rooms in an event space in Chelsea were life-size projections of models sporting her brand’s latest collection. In the other room, the real-life models stood by a wall, wearing the same looks.

Minkoff told Retail Brew the presentation was tied to the brand’s NFT partnership with Mavion. The idea behind integrating NFTs to such an extent in her collections is both to promote and introduce the brand to her customers.

• As part of the partnership, Minkoff dropped 55 NFTs in July, and five of those included access to Minkoff’s recent show. Others granted opportunities to have design sessions with Minkoff, among other experiential perks.
• These were preceded by another NFT release in September 2021.

“We are promoting it now because it takes time for people to understand what the eff an NFT is,” Minkoff told Retail Brew at her show. “I want my customers to embrace NFTs in the future and [understand] what that means for design as well. So we’re doing a lot of education, and a lot of messaging to my consumer to get her on board, because it’s not like you send one email, you put up an Instagram post, and people convert.”

Coming up: Minkoff joins several other designers that opened NYFW with NFT drops—including Altu by Altuzarra, Jonathan Simkhai, Kim Shui, AnOnlyChild, and The Blonds—all offering varied experiences and gifts to those who buy them.

While the metaverse and NFTs are becoming increasingly integrated with fashion, Minkoff believes it has some serious potential beyond attracting a younger set of consumers. “With anything new, it swells first and then settles,” she said. “But I think that NFTs are here to stay. It’s a way to build community loyalty, to get an entirely new customer, and it’s a way to offer something of value beyond the physical.”

She added that while she doesn’t see NFTs replacing fashion, they’ll act as an added pillar to brands who can use it to grant access. “I think I view it as a ticket to utility,” she said.—JS