Fashion brands are dipping their toes in a virtual pool of digital wearables, 'phygital' runways and online collectables. But what about the environmental impact?
Non-fungible tokens are quickly gaining momentum in the fashion industry. In 2021, Gucci helped kickstart the trend among high-end fashion houses when it created its first NFT in partnership with Christie’s, while more recently Paco Rabanne has been selling a range of digital assets to fund improvements to its physical archive.
Yet as brands and designers rush to explore the possibilities that come with developments such as adoption of the blockchain and the expansion of the metaverse, how much thought is being given to such moves' environmental impact?
What are NFTs and how do they work?
First, let's look at what we're talking about here.
At their very core, non-fungible tokens are transactional. They function through being sold and collected, and in some cases they are used as currency. Like art at an auction, an NFT’s value is determined by scarcity and desirability.
The anatomy of an NFT is rather unique. The skeleton consists of data which is used to prove ownership and track movement on the blockchain. On the surface, the digital asset possesses a unique visual identity and often represents real-world objects. From music to real estate and, you guessed it, fashion.
Gucci blurred the lines with digital and physical with SUPERGUCCI. The pieces blended the aesthetic codes of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci Aria collection with the style of synthetic artists Janky and Guggimon through a collection of 500 NFTs. Photo: SUPERGUCCI
Why did fashion enter the metaverse?
NFTs are “another selling tool like social media,” says Peter Dundas, one of Norway’s pre-eminent fashion designers who, alongside the likes of Tommy Hilfiger and Ellie Saab, virtually presented a collection at the inaugural Metaverse Fashion Week earlier this year.
For fashion brands, entering the metaverse is like entering a new market or opening a store in an unexplored area. As the market grows the profit follows, or so the logic goes. Blockchain technology can ensure a fixed percentage of an NFT's original sales price is passed on to its original creator, paving the way for creativity and capital. This is one of the greatest strengths of non-fungible tokens according to their advocates.
Together with the Crypto.com app and DressX, Peter Dundas took his iconic performance looks from Mary J Blige's HalfTime show to the Metaverse. . Photo: Courtesy of Dundas
“We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, fashion is going to face digitisation at full speed in the future,” predicts Lars Rahbæk, creative director of Copenhagen-based NFT creator Mojomoto. “It’s incorporated into everything - from design to sales and especially marketing,” he says, arguing that it provides another facet to a brand’s community.
So do NFTs have an environmental impact?
Cryptocurrencies, another blockchain-based technology that is often closely linked with NFTs, have been widely criticised for their environmental impact, with most of those currently available using up huge amounts of energy when they are mined (though there have been attempts at more sustainable alternatives). But what about NFTs?
To put it simply, an NFT's environmental impact is dependent on the form it inhabits. The sustainability of a non-fungible token depends on the blockchain and whether it exists as physically as well as virtually.
If an NFT is accompanied by a physical asset, the environmental impact can be significant. Textile factories often rack up a high carbon footprint through their mass production methods. Dyes can contain toxic chemicals that seep into water supplies, deadstock fabric from the factory and retailers are regularly thrown into landfills, and on top of that, there is also the environmental impact of shipping to consider, from packaging and printing to transportation.
It’s perhaps no wonder that brands are therefore seeking refuge in the metaverse, yet even if an NFT is a purely digital offering, it doesn't mean it's automatically eco-conscious.
Christina Neustrup, director of Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF), points out that while “the NFT is sustainably produced, the technology behind it has a carbon footprint”. Computer usage can make up a big part of your carbon footprint, and if we get into the nitty gritty, non-fungible tokens also come with the incentive for cryptocurrency miners to invest in more computer power. If the power is taken from sources that emit harmful gases, it can have a hugely negative environmental impact.
As it stands, the most sustainable NFTs exist as digital assets on an energy-efficient blockchain. This is more environmentally-friendly than combining the carbon costs of creating physical and digital assets and is something that brands in Scandinavia in particular are increasingly looking at.
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For her latest exhibition, Danish artist Ditte Ejlerskov turned her 3D printed sculptures of two wrestlers into NFTs. Through a QR code at the exhibition, viewers were able to infuse scale into the sculpture via their phones. She told Vogue Scandinavia that while she’s fascinated by the technology, it is always “a compliment to the art, part of it, but not instead of it.”. Photo: Jan Søndergaard
Sustainable fashion NFTs in Scandinavia
With carbon emissions rising at an unparalleled rate, we have become more ecologically-conscious than ever. But gauging the exact carbon footprint of any given NFT is not always as straightforward as it could be. As Neustrup puts it, there is “no quick solution”, but, she notes, NFTs provide “an exploration of what a tangible future could look like”.
In an attempt to “showcase the future of fashion” and “how to be less wasteful and more conscious”, CIFF and Mojomoto teamed up to create a virtual clothing collection in March. Based on the design of two jackets, the collection consisted of 1,200 pieces in six colour variants.
“The NFTs use Concordium, the most sustainable blockchain on the market,” explains Rahbæek. “It is based on proof of stake technology which consumes 95 per cent less energy than the traditional proof of work blockchain which the well-known Etheram runs on.”
Rave Review made a move into the metaverse with a collection of cryptopanties earlier this year. Photo: Rave Review
Stockholm-based label Rave Review are another Scandinavian brand helping pioneer relatively responsible NFTs. Their series of 'cryptopanties' were released on an energy-efficient blockchain network called Solana. To put it into perspective, one Solana transaction uses the same amount of energy as two Google searches, which, in comparison to producing a physical garment, is extremely low.
It's a reminder that NFTs and other technological developments can help a notoriously wasteful and environmentally-damaging industry strike a more sustainable note as we continue to face a growing climate crisis.