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Luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton has returned to the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the introduction of a phygital jacket — “Varsity Blouson.”
Designed by Pharrell Williams, the limited edition jacket crafted from calfskin leather made its debut on the Autumn/Winter 2024 men’s runway.
Available exclusively to VIA Treasure Trunk holders, the jacket will exist both physically and digitally as an NFT minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Holders can claim the physical version starting November 2024.
The jacket comes with a maximum supply of 200 units, each priced at €7,900 (approximately $8,400), as listed on OpenSea’s official page.
This recent launch adds to Louis Vuitton’s Web3 journey, which began in 2021 with the release of “Louis: The Game,” offering players the opportunity to complete missions and earn historical postcard NFTs.
The introduction of the Via Web3 project in June 2023 featured Treasure Trunks NFTs, paying homage to the iconic Louis Vuitton trunk, with each NFT priced at $39,000 ($41,500), including a physical version.
Later in November 2023, Louis Vuitton introduced a limited-edition Mini Trunk NFT, inspired by one of the mini trunks from its latest fashion collection, exclusively available to Treasure Trunk NFT holders, with each unit priced at approximately $6,500.
Louis Vuitton’s Web3 journey also saw the opening of its first official Discord channel, aimed at building a Web3 community and maintaining direct communication with fans and holders. The channel also includes threads exclusively dedicated to Via holders, who are required to connect their wallets to access them.
These endeavors reflect Louis Vuitton’s effort to align with the digital revolution, a movement observed across many luxury fashion houses. Maison Margiela, for instance, recently unveiled MetaTABI NFT boots, offering digital renditions of iconic Tabi boots with unique perks for holders.
NFTs offer brands the opportunity to provide customers with new experiences while reinforcing loyalty, a trend projected to grow significantly. According to a 2023 report by Dune, a blockchain analytics platform, the fashion NFT sector has already amassed over $245 million in sales since its market launch. Morgan Stanley forecasts the virtual fashion market to exceed $55 billion by 2030.
