For more on Maison Margiela, Tabi shoes and fashion NFTs, sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts. To become a Vogue Business Member and receive the Technology Edit newsletter, click here.
Maison Margiela’s most iconic offering — the split-toe Tabi shoe — has eclipsed fashion-insider status to achieve mainstream notoriety. Now, it’s making its metaverse debut.
Later this month, the Parisian haute couture house will be releasing two styles of the “MetaTABI”, a version of the Tabi boot sold as both a physical product and an NFT. One style, in white, will be limited to 15 units and will come with a physical replica; another digital boot, in black, will be available in 1,500 units and come with a physical custom-made leather wallet. Collectors will gain benefits including token-gated access to to-be-announced games and metaverse worlds, and an augmented reality wearable of the MetaTABI. They will also receive priority access to future Margiela Web3 collections.
While it can be tempting to consider adding fantastical flourishes to digital products, such as wings (Rtfkt), fire (Balmain) or iridescence (The Fabricant), this first wearable from Margiela is firmly rooted in the design of the physical heritage boot, says Stefano Rosso, chairman of Maison Margiela and CEO of Brave Virtual Xperience, the Web3 unit of Margiela parent company OTB Group.
“For Margiela, we are trying to speak as much as possible to real life,” Rosso says. “We have very strict creative directions and we want to stick to it. Whatever [creative director] John [Galliano] wants to do, we want to do. And for this first step, we prefer to be more close to real life rather than define a new version of Margiela design for the virtual space. It’s a first step. We didn’t want to go crazy with it, yet.”
The Tabi’s signature style makes it recognisable, even in digital worlds. It was first introduced in 1988, inspired by Japanese socks. Since then, it has become a signature of the brand, often appearing on its runways. (In 2015, AnOther Magazine quoted the brand’s founder Martin Margiela on calling the Tabi “the most important footprint of my career”.) A favourite of fashion-industry veterans, it recently reached pop culture virality when a TikToker accused a Tinder date of stealing her pair. Given the recognisable status of the product, it makes sense for Margiela to reinforce that heritage for a new community of collectors.
“Everything needs to breathe the brand identity and DNA, and it is not simple for our creative directors to play with the space,” says Rosso, who has also worked with OTB Group’s Diesel and experimental Web3 watch brand D-Cave on Web3 and metaverse launches. “They are not used to it — the tools and capabilities and the opportunities that are there — it’s a process also for them. They tend to play it safe initially.”
Building a community
While this is the first NFT fashion product from Margiela, it is not the first time the brand has engaged with the Web3 community. In October, it unveiled a “numbers game”, which challenges players to collect 24 token-linked numbers with the promise of claiming a free soulbound NFT, which refers to an NFT that people cannot trade on open marketplaces (the MetaTABI is not a soulbound NFT). This game, quietly introduced during the crypto downturn, not only fostered a community around the brand, but provided data into potential future collectors, because the soulbound tokens that it awards players grant Margiela visibility on the other collections they have in their crypto wallets.
The game awarded 18,000 unique wallets (people can own and operate more than one wallet) and distributed 170,000 NFTs. Five months after becoming available, the game still sees 1,000 people playing it daily; these people will have a 14-hour head start to purchase the Tabi NFTs. “Now we have a community within the Web3 space that we can talk to, who are waiting to see the next step,” Rosso says. “It was the perfect tool to engage with an interested audience. We realised there is a natural and healthy interest for the brand within the Web3 community.” He says that anecdotally, it seems the audience is largely from the tech and crypto crowds rather than those who collect fashion-specific NFTs, meaning that this is a new audience.
The Tabi is the first step in a bigger roadmap, Rosso says. He points to devices such as the recent Apple Vision Pro as a sign of the direction of travel. “It’s something to build on — AR is really going to change our industry, but we are not there yet. We are opening a gate where fantasy and real life can be mixed, and it’s quite fascinating and scary as well.” It’s OK if not everyone, especially in fashion, buys in, he adds; after all, some people prefer simple mobile phones.
The digital Margiela products were built in partnership with digital fashion house The Fabricant, which is known for designing and selling the first fashion NFT. The MetaTABI Collection will be sold on The Fabricant’s platform, using a smart contract utilising the Ethereum mainnet via the Aura Blockchain Consortium, a non-profit luxury blockchain group whose members also include LVMH, Richemont and Prada Group.
People can buy using fiat or cryptocurrencies, and don’t need to create an individual crypto wallet to mint. Maison Margiela’s VICs, The Fabricant’s community members and those who signed up for the presale newsletter and Discord channels will also get early access to the drop. VICs are top-tier customers that tend to be particularly responsive to new and innovative products, and will remain loyal to iconic products like Tabi boots, says Rosso. “The aim is to involve the Web3 community, but at the same time to try and engage our traditional customers in such an innovative drop.”
After collectors have minted the NFT, there will be a redeem window a few weeks following the drop, during which people can claim the physical product via a token-gated website. Holders can trade their physical-linked NFT until the opening of the redeem window, but after the physical product has been claimed, any NFT trades will no longer come with the physical.
The price will be announced closer to the drop date, as the crypto market is notoriously volatile, Rosso says. He adds that he expects it to be in line with the physical product’s price (styles generally range from $600 to $1,000), plus a bit more to account for the additional digital perks that the purchase grants. The timing could be worse: the value of Bitcoin has surged to more than $64,000 (essentially tying with its previous record high in November 2021), and the value of Ethereum is rebounding with its highest value since April 2021.
Back in the fashion world, Margiela’s January couture show was considered a highlight of the season, and of recent memory. “We witnessed John Galliano conjure a world of characters and couture that was a more staggering, shockingly 100 per cent Galliano experience than fashion has enjoyed for years,” wrote Vogue’s Sarah Mower.
“We had the feeling the moment it finished that we really saw something that will mark the history of fashion,” Rosso says. “It was a very good, strong energy I have never seen at a show, with people clapping and stomping and wanting to see more.” The fact that this drop is riding this recent wave of positive Margiela momentum is just a coincidence; it was originally planned to take place before the show — but it was delayed. “Sometimes luck helps,” Rosso says.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
