Diesel’s Milan Fashion Week shows are buzzworthy events guaranteed to grab the attention of its Gen-Z fanbase, with last season’s runway backdropped by a mountain of 200,000 co-branded Durex condoms. And when the Spring 2024 collection bows on September 20, there will be up to 300 extra guests—thanks to NFTs.
The Italian label, helmed by creative director Glenn Martens, is teaming up with Web3 culture and music platform Public Pressure for Metamorph, a limited edition run of 300 digital collectibles minted across the Polkadot and Polygon networks.
Among the various utilities listed, access to the upcoming Diesel show gets top billing, letting holders attend the upcoming runway and mingle among the typical ranks of buyers, editors, and influencers.
The countdown is on⏳
In less than 30 hours, you will have the chance to mint your own METAMORPH NFT and join the phygital revolution 🚀
Don’t forget that holders of past Diesel NFT collections, will have priority access to the mint, starting today at 6PM CET 🔥
Let's… pic.twitter.com/f7CnCPH9hZ
— Diesel (@DIESEL) September 12, 2023
The collectibles, which derive their name from one of Diesel’s timepiece models, will additionally afford allowlist access to purchase one of 300 limited edition Metamorph watches designed by Martens. The physical watches will have some sort of digital element, as well.
The Diesel NFTs also come with an exclusive soundtrack from composer and brand fashion show sound architect Senjan Jansen, access to music events organized by Public Pressure, plus a virtual experience by media-tech artists Artificial Rome starting November 2.
The collectibles, priced at $60 apiece, are available via Public Pressure’s marketplace Tuesday at 12pm ET for people on the allowlist, while the public sale begins Wednesday at the same time.
The NFTs will be minted both on Polkadot and Ethereum scaling network Polygon. A Diesel representative said that the multichain approach was taken so that users can pick which ecosystem they prefer and spend more time in.
“Diesel aims to be at the forefront of the intersection between fashion and technology,” Stefano Rosso, board member of Diesel parent OTB Group and CEO of OTB’s BVX division, said in a statement. He added that the partnership lets Diesel “continue to push the boundaries of the ways that fashion brands interact with their communities.”
Public Pressure is an NFT music marketplace that promotes its artists by leveraging blockchain technology. Its goal is to remodel the music industry and give artists a fairer revenue share than they currently receive from streaming platforms.
This is the third drop in an ongoing partnership with Diesel, and according to CEO and founder Giulia Maresca, the first two drops sold out in less than a day when they were released earlier this year. “Both generated revenues that artists would have needed over 11 million streams to match,” she said.
Diesel started its Web3 journey in spring 2022 with the launch of NFT platform D:VERSE, followed shortly by a NFT collection in partnership with streetwear collective HAPE. Each drop included a limited edition physical crossbody bag.
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication with additional details about the multichain approach.