Could digital garments revolutionise the fashion industry and our wardrobes?

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have dominated the art world, trickled into the video game universe, and are now making a beeline for the fashion industry. With big names like Dolce and Gabbana embracing the new fashion phenomenon by selling ‘The Glass Suit’ NFT and ‘The Mosaic Impossible Jacket’ NFT, each for over £263,473, digital fashion is officially en vogue.

To fully grasp what digitised apparel is, it is imperative you understand what NFTs are. They can be anything digital, right from tweets to pictures or videos of clothes. NFTs are unique and irreplaceable because the details of provenance – like who created the outfit and who it has been sold to – is available on a digital ledger called ‘Blockchain’.

This provides proof of ownership and ensures the creation is legitimate so no dupes can be produced and sold. Using this concept, a company called DressX has crafted outfits that can be purchased as NFTs. All a user needs to do is pick out an outfit they would like to wear from the catalogue, snap an Instagram worthy picture of themselves and proceed to pay for it.

The company promises to edit the outfit onto your picture in just one or two working days so it’s ready for your feed. The outfits range from everyday t-shirts to Avant-Garde gowns, which some may not be bold enough to wear in public but confident enough to flaunt on social media.

Utilising NFT garments could also tackle clothing consumption and fast fashion, especially amongst celebrities and influencers – who are often spearheads of consumerism as the burden of staying on trend and having each Instagram square feature a new outfit falls on them. They could recycle their tangible outfits but post pictures in e-clothing. The positive impact e-fashion has on sustainability is evident as DressX even measured the difference in the impact of creating a digital outfit versus a physical one in 2020.

“The production of a digital garment emits 97 per cent less CO2 than production of a physical garment," said DressX. “On average, it saves 3,300 litres of water per item."

You may be wondering about the large amounts of energy used to mint the NFTs, but this is a dissipating problem as people are now shifting from the Proof-of-Work model to the Proof-of-Stake model which consumes less power – making e-fashion efficient too.

Besides its eco-friendliness, NFT wear is also promoting inclusivity among high-end retailers. Most luxury brands are not exactly plus-size friendly so having non-tangible outfits, which can be altered to fit all body types, means plus-size individuals can sport designer looks if they wish to.

While the concept of digital fashion is appealing and has several advantages, it may be ahead of its time. Not everyone is familiar with NFTs and not everyone is open to change, especially after being forced to adapt throughout the pandemic.

I cannot imagine a world where the Met Gala is filled with celebrities in black tops and tights, who have to wait two days to get their digital outfits edited onto their pictures. In a fast-paced world, even viewers will not have the patience to wait two days to judge celebrity outfits.

Albeit, if the MET 2022 does pan out like so, it would be a powerful statement as the fashion

industry would no longer be paying lip service to sustainability. It could even become the yardstick that all future celebrity-led events are measured against.

Edited by Maddy Burgess