By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 17th, 2024
What Balmain is planning to do is to focus not on NFT drops and their trading but on immersive experiences and long-term relationships with customers.
French fashion house Balmain has been the first luxury brand to pursue multiple NFT projects. Earlier in May, Balmain announced a long-term global partnership with an NFT marketplace MINTNFT as a part of its strategy to get into a much larger decentralized dimension. Together, they introduced a one-of-a-kind NFT defined as a “Non-Fungible Thread.” Now, Balmain aims to become a leader in the next age of NFTs and Web 3 business, seeking “omnichannel” immersion.
Balmain and MINTNFT
Speaking on Balmain’s Web 3 strategy, MINTNFT co-founder James Sun said:
“It’s omnichannel. Because in fashion, when you actually submit clothing lines, you’re creating an identity […] A personality that the brand is giving you access. That’s how we see it too. You are creating your own experience with Balmain, where you now own it.”
What Balmain is planning to do is to focus not on NFT drops and their trading but on immersive experiences and long-term relationships with customers.
Sun stated:
“[Balmain] knew they couldn’t go with OpenSea, Rarible, [and] do a bunch of drops. It wouldn’t be unified. They need […] a unified strategy.”
In other words, any Balmain customer will be able to join the Non-Fungible Thread. As a result, they will be privileged to get early access to Balmain product drops. Besides, they will get exclusive access to unique physical and digital items, as well as invitations to events like the Balmain Festival at Paris Fashion Week every September. Notably, the events might be exclusively digital as Balmain is now in talks with four Metaverse platforms to create a purely digital Balmain footprint.
According to Sun, it was expected that high fashion would become the most prominent non-Web3 native industry to integrate blockchain:
“Scarcity and exclusivity […] defined the original NFT space. High fashion runs by a beat of creating long-term premium scarcity, and collective experience.”
However, Sun also noted that there will be a few obstacles on the way to the ultimate goal. They include limitations of the current technology as well as interoperability issues.
Balmain’s NFT Projects
For Balmain, partnership with MINTNFT is not the first NFT experience. Previously, Balmain launched several NFT projects, the latest one was in December 2021. Its NFTs included two pairs of trainers, a black and a white digital version of a BBold Dogpound collab and a digital membership card, launched in conjunction with the physical drop of the trainers.
Besides, Balmain partnered with MINTNFT before on unique NFTs. They included those tied to Rousteing’s latest designs for Mattel’s Barbie and Ken avatars.