Fashion Brand Launches ‘Phygital’ Metaverse Experience
The luxury fashion brand founded by Chinese American entrepreneur Jonathan Koon, Mostly Heard Rarely Seen, teamed up withretail-focused web3 metaverse platform Highstreet to launch a unique experience that merges the physical and digital worlds.
Highstreet and Koon’s collaboration aims to connect streetwear fashion consumers who may be new or unfamiliar to the crypto world with the web3 metaverse.
On Aug. 1, Mostly Heard Rarely Seen launched its “phygital” retail store within the metaverse platform and concurrently rolled out its latest physical apparel collection dubbed 8-Bit online and at select department stores and designer boutiques.
Each 8-Bit by Mostly Heard Rarely Seen garment in the latest drop includes a QR code for an NFT via a special security label from Highstreet. Consumers who purchase the streetwear collection can detach the label and scan the code, which will “digitally clone” the shopper and the newly purchased 8-Bit garment into the Highstreet metaverse.
8-Bit’s apparel can be found in globally at retailers including Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Harrods, Bloomingdale’s in the U.S., Fred Segal and Beymen, both in-store and online.
Once in Highstreet, users will be granted $HIGH tokens (the native currency of the platform) to help get them started and explore exclusive digital experiences. Shoppers can also establish a permanent record of their ownership of the 8-Bit drop by minting their apparel into NFT's, establishing a provenance behind this drop and giving access to resale markets in the digital world from OpenSea to LooksRare.
“Just like how Supreme is a lifestyle brand that represents the perspective of a skateboarder from downtown New York, 8-Bit is a lifestyle brand that represents the perspective of a modern-day tech kid," Jonathan Koon said in a news release.
"With this launch, we aim to welcome more traditional, non-blockchain consumers to the web3 world,” Jenny Guo, co-founder of Highstreet, said in the release. “Every step of the process is based on something we all already do: buying physical products we already love."
8-Bit apparel is priced between $120-$275 and will soon launch limited-edition collaborations with other brands, celebrities and cult following NFT creators, according to the release.