What Dior’s NFT sneakers say about luxury’s Web3 future

Louis Vuitton took a different tact when it launched its Via Treasure Trunk NFTs in June. The Treasure Trunks cost €50,000 and were introduced via a number of high-profile influencers in the fashion and Web3 community, and the first available exclusive product was revealed during a runway show that shut down the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris.

What they have in common is a rejection of flippers (LV’s Treasure Trunk NFTs are also soulbound), and luxury hand-holding as purchasers were vetted, curated and guided through the process. Dior’s mechanics have a similar traditional e-commerce ethos. Maher, for example, wanted to exchange his sneakers for a different size a day after he bought them; a Dior associate was happy to accommodate this with no delay in shipping. This type of customer service isn’t typically built into the Web3 ecosystem.

One key detail of being soulbound is that Dior can’t earn royalties on secondhand sales the way it could if the NFTs linked to the shoes were not soulbound. Nike-owned Rtfkt, for example, has earned millions in revenue on secondhand sales of Rtfkt’s NFTs, and Web3 native brands Cult & Rain and 9dcc have built-in product transfers designed to facilitate these types of transactions.

“Everyone is doing soulbound, and I get it, but there is an inherent tension on anything soulbound,” Maher says. Not being able to transfer the NFT to a more private wallet is one potential future security risk, he points out, adding that many of the crypto whales, including founding members of Red Dao, don’t hold most of their assets in their public wallets. “It’s like, ‘Here is my wallet!’ and thus, ‘Here is who I want to steal from in the future!’ I can’t move it from one wallet to another.”

However, there are still benefits to Dior in the way this drop has been structured: the certificates of authenticity help mitigate fakes and enable the brand to maintain communications and promotions with future owners if the shoe ultimately changes hands. Plus, Fvckrender says, there are already workarounds to this among collectors who’d rather not share revenue with NFT creators.

It’s yet to be determined how Dior, and its new Web3-enabled customers, will embrace the new potential. But the (Trojan) horse is out of the barn.

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