The Lakme Fashion Week 2021 witnessed the successful debut of the Indian fashion industry in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with Manish Malhotra’s first fashion NFT on an Indian crypto exchange platform, WazirX. This collaboration came following the growing craze around NFTs in recent months. Manish Malhotra’s timely debut has paved the way for other designers to jump on the bandwagon of capitalising on what seems to be a paradigm shift from the Web 2.0 world to the decentralised world of Web 3.0. This transition can be a total game-changer for the internet and its users. The Indian fashion industry seems to agree too, which is why designers like Raghavendra Rathore, Anamika Khanna, and Pankaj & Nidhi can be seen following suit, dropping their designer collections as NFTs. What are NFTs? Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are essentially non-replaceable tokens of ownership of an item. NFTs are traded for the transfer of ownership of an item from one person to another through blockchain technology. Any item can be represented digitally, including online-only assets such as digital artwork and music, as well as real-world assets like real estate. The emergence of a decentralised internet is one of the selling points of NFTs. This is the inherent nature of transactions hosted by blockchain technology – publicly monitored transactions as opposed to a centralised exchange. This enables peer-to-peer transactions in an attempt to democratise the art world without relying on a centralised authority. The Future of NFTs in the Indian Fashion Industry Who doesn’t like an extra revenue stream? The collaboration in 2021 between FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week and WazirX is India’s first foray into digital assets, paving the way for the integration of IT advancements and fashion through blockchain technology. It serves as an additional source of income and also encourages artisans by offering access to marketplaces like WazirX where they can sell their work as NFTs for a handsome amount. While some feel optimistic about the development, there are others who remain critical about the risks involved in making such sizable investments. In India, NFTs are gaining momentum despite the latching ambiguity. Although digital artists exploring NFTs and Web3 may not strictly be fashion designers, they may help level the playing field as more and more artists take interest in dabbling in this fresh space. It is the earning potential of NFTs that has sparked interest, with everyone vying for space. Coming to consumer behaviour in the Indian fashion industry, there is still a lack of adequate understanding of this domain, particularly among the older generation. While the younger generations are more digitally aware, they do not have the same purchasing power as the older generations, which is why a lot of fashion proprietors are seen waiting for the market to mature in India before entering it.
10 May 2022
Nandita Singh Rattan
