How This Premium Sneaker Brand Partnered With Luxury Retail’s New Favorite NFT Marketplace At Metaverse Fashion Week In Decentraland

Together with luxury NFT marketplace Exclusible, luxury Italian sneaker label Hogan hosted one of the most buzzed about after parties of Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week. Headlined by French superstar DJ Bob Sinclar performing live via a screen, it involved a dance competition interface where avatars could throw shapes with the help of a bespoke created dance move generator application.

Sinclar himself is well-practiced in playing a digital set. When the world was on lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic he did hour-long Instagram Lives every day at 2 p.m. from his Paris studio.

Prior to the event, Exclusible posted links on its Twitter handle inviting its community to earn 10,000 free limited edition Decentraland (DCL) wearables like hats, glasses and T-shirts for their avatars to rock at the party. To unlock these, users had to perform certain actions like joining the brands’ Discord channels. Said wearables were delivered to their DCL backpacks via airdrop.

“We liked the idea to invite people to get involved with Hogan, to embrace the brand’s attitude and ultimately have fun, said Hogan president Andrea Della Valle of his brand’s Metaverse approach of combining community driven entertainment with retail.

Speaking via email, Della Valle who is also vice-president of Hogan’s Tod’s Group parent added that it’s important for the business “to keep innovating and transcend the usual boundaries to explore new opportunities.”

Hogan has set up shop in DCL with a pop-up store that launched over Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) and is set to remain in situ for six months.

On sale are NFTs redeemable for physical versions of its new ‘Untraditional’ sneaker, a re-edition of the very first model it ever made which was based on a traditional cricket shoe. The updated versions incorporate sustainable elements such as recycled rubber and canvas.

This exchange of digital assets for physical ones is made possible by Boston Protocol enabling technology which connects blockchain based smart contracts to real world assets without need for a centralized intermediary.

While the Untraditional sneaker collection is also available in Hogan’s physical stores, the advantage of buying a piece in DCL is that purchasers also receive its digital equivalent in the form of a DCL wearable.

As for many brands like fellow Metaverse Fashion Week participants Philipp Plein, and Dundas, such a 360 approach was important to Della Valle. “Hogan became famous for its products, its unique lifestyle, its workmanship so it is therefore crucial to make things, tangible somehow,” he said.

He chose to extend his retail set-up in DCL beyond MVFW in order to better understand the Web 3.0 playbook: “Rather than a quick presence we opted for a longer period of time to measure, read and react.”

Next phase in the roll-out of his brand’s Metaverse roadmap will be the April 3 launch of a limited run of 500 NFT artworks on the Exclusible marketplace. Exclusible is making a name for itself with its innovative Web 3.0 activations in the luxury arena and in the last month alone has partnered on NFT projects with Asprey Bugatti, Amedeo jewelry and Louis Moinet timepieces.

The Hogan NFTs have been created in collaboration with five digital artists curated by the Braw Haus creative studio: Silvio Rondelli, Yoann De Geetere, Linear, Vincent Ghiotti and Finn Berenbroek. They have transformed the ‘blank canvas’ presented by the Untraditional sneakers into mesmeric multidimensional art pieces with an innovative range of augmented reality functions.

Hogan is no stranger to the power of a well-placed collaboration to reach new audiences and has previously partnered with Karl Lagerfeld and London based stylist and editor Katie Grand to reimagine its sneakers.

Della Valle is confident that this latest Metaverse based endeavor will have a similar outcome. “Let’s say that this is certainly a good opportunity to engage a rising community of young digital-savvy consumers,” he said.

He believes that the Metaverse presents the chance to “to communicate in a different, more pervasive manner” which “may have a positive impact on retail.”

However, he also admits that Web 3.0 is not without its challenges, citing its reliance on cryptocurrency as an example. The solution, he concludes, is “to educate not only ourselves but also our fans – present and prospective. Time will tell.”