Metaverse: German e-tailer About You launches virtual fashion marketplace Hypewear
Nicola Mira
It was bound to happen sooner or later: German fashion e-tailer About You has decided to take advantage of the trend for NFT-based virtual fashion. Two weeks after the end of the first Metaverse Fashion Week, About You has launched a virtual fashion marketplace called Hypewear. The Hamburg-based e-tailer intends to democratise access to the metaverse, and is making fashion NFTs available to its main target, Gen Y and Z consumers.
It is not necessary for Hypewear users to be familiar with cryptocurrencies, since the site accepts payments in euro, and will do so in U.S. dollars in future versions. To mark its status as a pioneer in this sector, Hypewear is offering each new customer a voucher for a free NFT product upon registration.
About You has built Hypewear’s product range in collaboration with leading designers of virtual fashion and 3D digital graphics, as well as with established brands from the fashion, sports, music and gaming sectors. Each week, Hypewear will introduce new limited-edition virtual collections featuring unique, exclusive NFT items.
Customers will be able to personalise NFT items via virtual fitting rooms, and wear them on social media.
“The metaverse will continue to develop in the years to come, and we see a great potential there. We believe that augmented reality is entering a transition phase. Real people will be able to wear virtual fashion on social media, making it possible to break down fashion’s current barriers and reach an even wider audience,” said Marius Bingener, team leader in charge of content development at Hypewear.
“We believe that in future most physical fashion items will also be featured in our virtual product range,” said content director Julian Jansen.
His colleague Chris Nickel added that “we chose Algorand as a blockchain partner because its technology is fast, scalable, safe and, moreover, with zero CO2 emissions. Unlike Ethereum for example, Algorand is able to handle thousands of transactions per second with costs of the order of micro-cents. This enables us to offer NFT mining to our customers free of charge, with no carbon emission tax.”
Hypewear’s customer registration phase began on April 12. Those interested can register for free by email on Hypewear.io, and receive a voucher for a limited-edition NFT available once the site’s alpha version will be active, within the next two months.
“The metaverse has opened up a new and exciting landscape for fashion labels to explore, a world we want to help shape,” said the co-CEO and co-founder of About You, Tarek Müller.
“With Hypewear, we are bringing our brand into the virtual world, enabling everyone to become part of it right from today. In future, we believe that all physical fashion items will also be available as virtual assets. We aim to become the ultimate destination for virtual fashion, showcasing the metaverse’s mainstream collections,” he added.
