Discover How High Tech Is Changing Fashion

Space Runners, the first NFT Metaverse fashion brand and the largest independent fashion project on the blockchain, prioritizes both design and portability (to any Metaverse you like). Co-founded last year by former McKinsey consultants Won Soh and Deniz Ozgur, the company deftly capitalized on sneaker culture by partnering with NBA stars to offer owners game tickets and signed merchandise. This year, thanks to a major funding round co-led by Polychain and Pantera Capital, the goal is to round out the physical and digital clothing offering (Space Suits!) and become the reference market for fashion brands in the world. Online shopping experience.

Creative director Rohan Chhabra, a Nike and Ralph Lauren veteran, “is always very excited because designs are limitless in the metaverse. You are no longer limited by physics,” says Soh. “Some of the wearables we currently have in our rocket- Boosters are designing for their second and third generation collections, like sneakers designed to fly. Others become pets.”

The AI-Designed Label That Takes Over NYFW

Two years after Hanifa designer Anifa Mvumba revolutionized fashion month with her 3D digital show, designers continue to explore new ways to push the boundaries not only in terms of how they present their work, but also in terms of their creative processes. keep. Enter Younhee Park from Korean brand Greedilous, who teamed up with LG-created AI and virtual human artist Tilda to specialize in pattern design, for their Fall 2022 show at New York Fashion Week. , There was no overflowing moodboard, just two words: Flowers and Venus. From there, Tilda created hundreds of patterns that shaped the collection’s eye-catching prints and have piqued the interest of Miley Cyrus ever since. Park gave another nod, giving her models brightly colored cropped wigs that resembled Tilda’s hair and were an extension of the metaverse’s vibrant, futuristic aesthetic. “I saw potential in Tilda’s artwork immediately when I was introduced to it,” Park said. “It fits like a glove within my fashion philosophy. And I’m so excited about how it turned out.”

The Wonderkind Upcycling Jurassic Tech

Like many pandemic-era graduates, UK-based Tega Akinola wasn’t sure what the near future would hold in terms of job prospects. But over the past year, the upcycled items of her dreams, often made from vintage tech items and made at home with the help of her seamstress mother, have led the unlikely designer (who studied sport and exercise psychology) to given job. , “I wasn’t consciously thinking about stability,” Akinola says. “Recycling was something I had to do because I didn’t have money to buy new things.” Among his earliest and most challenging pieces were a bucket hat and a pair of chunky-heeled sandals made from obsolete cables, which attracted the attention of APOC store founders Ying Suen (who also served as his primary consultant) and Jules Wollberg. did.

Requests for custom pieces poured in via Instagram, and Swedish singer Snoh ​​Aalegra is a fan of bags that Akinola is made from vintage wool fabrics, logo. Given that many of Akinola’s raw materials come from sustainability-minded brands like Nike and Patagonia (not to mention their interest in the sport), the collaboration seems natural. Without a doubt, there is hope here.