Yesterday morning my fiancé forwarded me an e-mail from Kith. Why would she send me an e-mail from a brand I already subscribe to? I took a peek at the e-mail and instantly understood why.
Kith getting into NFTs?! Oh lawddd. Also, happy that my fiancé has been geeking out with me about this space a little more ;)
The fashion brand partnered with Invisible Friends, a 5k NFT collection to auction off nine 1 of 1 (aka unique) Kith NFTs.
WAIT, TPan WTF is Kith?!
My bad, thought everyone knew. Kith is a fashion brand founded by Ronnie Fieg based in NYC. Heard of Supreme?
Slap that logo on anything and it’ll sell
Think of Kith as the older, more refined brother of Supreme. Less loud but arguably cooler. Maybe something a hip dad would wear without looking like they’re trying too hard.
I myself have some items from Kith and love them. However, what I’ve always appreciated about Kith was the founder, Ronnie Fieg. And don’t take it from me, he’s had collaborations with Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Lebron James, Team USA Olympics, New York Knicks, BMW and more.
Badass
I was always drawn Ronnie Fieg and the Kith brand, but it wasn’t until I purchased the KXTH 10 Year Anniversary Book that I realized how brilliant he is.
I was able to read through and better understand Ronnie Fieg’s approach, interior design philosophy with his stores, how he came to collaborate with all these legendary brands, and more. The cherry on top with the reading experience was a detail that was probably overlooked by most.
What gives with this dumb insert? Everything, dear reader :) Let’s break it down:
If you purchased the book, but never read (aka interacted) it, you wouldn’t have come across the insert.
“As an owner of this book, we have created a special digital experience for you.” If you don’t own a book, you don’t get access to this experience.
This QR code is entirely unique to you and permits for a one-time purchase. Once the code has been used to make a purchase it will be terminated.
Could you argue that this insert is similar to a…NFT?! 😮 Of course it’s not the same, but there are elements of non-fungibility and token-gating that NFT projects employ.
Great, now that we all have a basic understanding of Kith and Ronnie Fieg, let’s explore why the Kith Friends NFT release is visionary.
Level 1 - Applying best practices as a brand
So what did Kith and Ronnie Fieg do to ensure that this release was successful?
Limited edition 1/1s: These 9 Kith Friends NFTs were 1 of 1’s, meaning there was only one of each. This creates less of a frenzy vs. a standard 10k project.
A charity component: The proceeds from the first 1/1 that was auctioned off went to charity. Can’t hate on that.
Collaborative approach: Kith didn’t create their own collection. They worked with a Web3 native project that has experience navigating this crazy space. Plus, Kith is an expert in collabs as previously mentioned.
Level 2 - But what does it DO?
A common question with NFTs is about utility. What do you get from it besides a membership to a community or possible rights to a jpg? In the case of Kith and fashion, it’s much more clear cut.
Physical utility: “The winners of these auctions will be given all of the physical wardrobe the NFT is wearing.” Not bad…
Story: “Each Friend will be wearing a different look from our upcoming Summer '22 collections and inspired by our store locations.” Each of these Kith Friends has a story and is inspired by the store location, adding to the Kith brand lore. The clearest example is the Hawaii Friend on the right with the surfboard and flip flops.
Some auctions are still in progress at $60k 😵
Future access: In addition to the 1/1’s, there are three larger editions of Kith Friends available for Invisible Friends holders to mint. For these editions, the physical utility applies as well. Additionally “Multiple times per year, this Edition will evolve to be wearing different clothes, shoes and accessories from upcoming Kith releases. The evolved Friend will act as an early access pass, allowing holders to have the ability to purchase limited product before any other Loyalty Program or the general public launch.”
This is the digital version of the KXTH Insert I mentioned earlier.
Level 3 - The future of fashion
I’m unqualified to make big statements about fashion, but I couldn’t help to think about this since there are levels to anything Ronnie Fieg does. For me, it comes back to why Kith did a collab with Invisible Friends.
Who knows, it might be as simple as they’re friends IRL. However I think it was more carefully thought out based on the detail-oriented nature of the brand.
Let’s take a look at Invisible Friends (the non-Kith ones).
Nice, the collab makes sense. But what else is notable about this NFT collection aside from the clean fits?
The silhouette of course. It’s in the Invisible Friends name after all :)
GET TO THE POINT DAMMIT. Sorry, it’s fun. Creating suspense is an art.
When we think of fashion what do we think of? Something like this runway, right?
Over the years, fashion houses have been criticized with models always looking a certain way and a lack of body diversity. And changes have been made for the better embracing physical diversity.
Winnie Harlow for Nike
See where I’m getting at? The Kith Friends NFT collab is redefining what a runway looks like, but also redefining what a model is.
Also, what do models do on a runway? Walk. What are the Invisible Friends NFTs doing? Walking (they’re GIFs!).
As the world continue to be more digital, NFTs and brands like Kith are going to push the boundaries of what fashion can be and how it can be portrayed. With the push to Web3, we’re going to see Fashion3 emerge as well.
