The luxury fashion sector is gradually opening up in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. While crypto still has to go a long way to become a payment option, it’s certainly gathering momentum. While cryptocurrencies were shrouded in mystery when they first emerged, there is now more awareness regarding crypto, thanks to its adoption by Elon Musk and other high-profile entrepreneurs. In 2021, NFTs have become popular, particularly among artists and designers. As a result, several well-known luxury fashion brands are participating in NFT creation and trading. For example, Nike has created digital shoes that are linked to their real-world shoes. Louis Vuitton is another high-profile brand that uses NFTs for tracking luxury goods provenance.
While the use of crypto for completing mainstream payments is still a distant dream, luxury brands are not ignoring it totally. Great examples of this are luxury watchmakers like Hublot and Franck Muller. These brands have started to sell timepieces that are meant for Bitcoin purchases only. Hublot’s chief executive Ricardo Guadalupe said that the brand pre-sold 210 timepieces, which reflected the interest among luxury watch buyers and increased demand. According to Guadalupe, the brand is likely to start accepting crypto payments either this year or from next year onwards.
Many luxury brands are also relying on crypto to reward their fan communities. For example, in 2018, Lolli created a platform, which facilitates customer earnings through Bitcoin. Lolli collaborates with more than 1,000 high-profile brands such as Nike, Ulta, Sephora, and Saks. Every time Lolli’s customers shop through one of the platform’s partners, Lolli rewards them with Bitcoin. Bitcoins are sent by Lolli directly to the wallets of customers.