Plein Sport’s Relaunch Starts From the Metaverse
Philipp Plein has bullish plans for the metaverse — so much so that the revamped Plein Sport line is being christened as the first “metaverse-native” fashion line.
Guests at the show on Thursday night couldn’t have expected that a humanoid robot called Romeo 1.0 would be the star of the night — no clothing or accessories in sight. Inside a video-walled venue, Romeo explained: “The metaverse does not necessarily refer to a specific type of technology, but rather to a shifting interaction we have with the virtual space as we move to integrate it with the real one.”
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On the heels of his $1.4 million acquisition of Plein Plaza, a 176,528-square-foot plot of land in the Decentraland metaverse, Plein is building one out of three skyscrapers to house M.o.N.A., or Museum of NFT Art, where digital artists will be invited to showcase their creative output.
Fashion-wise, the brand is dropping a see-now-buy-now range of 10 sneaker styles, each coming with an NFT counterpart. The latter can be treasured as an artwork or “burnt” — metaverse slang for traded — into a digital wearable to outfit avatars populating Decentraland.
Getty Images for Plein Sport
Plein said they sold 11 sneakers within an hour via an auction powered by NFT auction house Portion, which is also partnering with Plein on art auctions.
On March 3, the company is holding an auction to sell NFT art, including the Lil Monsters Plein unveiled at his main line’s men’s show last month.
The sneakers reflect Plein’s loud creativity and the brand’s focus on activewear. They boast chunky soles with a tiger’s head encapsulated in it. The entire collection was shared via look book images and includes staples of sportswear, including running sets bearing leopard prints, shimmering puffers and performance tracksuits.
Asked about potentially turning Plein Sport into an NFT-only fashion line, the designer said his “work is to sell fashion, I’m not speculating on selling NFTs, but we want to give an added value in the metaverse. I believe that this is the future of e-commerce, of internet and it gives you an upgraded shopping experience.”
He hinted that Romeo may be headed on a roving trip across Europe with a pop-up-in-a-truck throughout 2022.
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