SPIN by lablaco, Fondazione Sozzani and the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA), have found like minded partners in each other to activate the future of circular fashion in Web3. Together, the players are releasing a phygital NFT collection of former Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief Franca Sozzani’s personal couture archive. The phygital element enables shoppers to purchase Sozzani’s garments in person but also as digital twins on SPIN, lablaco’s phygital NFT metaverse for fashion, art, and culture.

The partnership displays the practicality and utility of NFTs and blockchain beyond hype. Due to its decentralized blockchain foundation, SPIN creates a transparent and secure avenue to trade, own, and trace the phygital garments in perpetuity. This establishes a new circular product life cycle, shifting the user experience from consumption to ownership of garments, and re-writing the possibilities of retail and resale.

All profits will go to The Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics at Harvard Medical School, which leverages research and advocacy around preventive genomics so that everyone, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic background, may discover personalized strategies to promote health.

However, the aid of this partnership is not one and done. SPIN’s circular business model gives back a 10% royalty fee in perpetuity to the original NFT creator every time it is traded on the secondary market. In this case, that revenue will continuously further cancer research progress through The Franca Sozzani Fund.

An industry-first phygital experience

A unique selection of outfits and accessories from the Franca Sozzani wardrobe will be on display and for sale in the form of phygital NFTs powered by SPIN, in collaboration with NABA at Fondazione Sozzani – Via Tazzoli 3, Milan, starting September 15th to October 30th, 2022. 

Franca Sozzani had a very personal style, beyond fashion. Sharing her ethos will inspire consumers to think about the impact of their clothes on the environment and encourage them to support sustainability and participate in the circular economy. On sale are Sozzani’s designed by Azzedine Alaïa, Prada, Gucci, Valentino; shoes by Manolo Blahnik; and accessories by Fendi, Louis Vuitton, and more.

Working with the students of NABA Master of Arts in Fashion Design, each of the 50 physical luxury garments will be digitized into 3D models, minted on the blockchain, and authenticated as phygital NFTs. Each garment connects to IoT labels verified on SPIN and created by SPIN’s NFT label printer.

“For NABA students, it is a great opportunity. It propels us into a dimension where we raise awareness of our heritage and skills in making. A new approach in dealing with the idea of the archive as a tool for innovation,” says Colomba Leddi, NABA Fashion Design Area Leader

Guests will be able to scan the NFT smart labels on each product with their phones, which will transport them to a portal for the phygital NFT. They will have the option to purchase 25 limited-edition digital NFT twins of the full phygital item — which includes the physical garment and its digital twin.

Each purchase will grant guests access to the garment’s provenance and ownership timeline, including memories, in the form of photographs depicting iconic moments of Sozzani wearing the garments.

Promoting circularity in fashion through Web3 vintage resale

It’s been several years since the fashion community lost an international icon, former Editor in Chief of Vogue Italia, Franca Sozzani. In her role, Franca Sozzani was never apologetic when using the pages of her publication to champion causes such as environmental protection.  

The iconic editor was a vintage enthusiast, stating, “The beauty of vintage is to be able to mix the old with the new, pieces from the past and the newest designers, and shake them together, creating a style that is nobody else’s. To find a unique vintage piece is a magic moment. You become the owner of something which is only yours, automatically you are different, you create your own style, and you are inimitable.”

SPIN by lablaco previously touched on the concept back in 2019 when they launched their first phygital NFT retail system with Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, selling items from Stella McCartney’s closet. 

“The concept of transforming celebrity vintage into Phygital NFTs is really cool,” explains SPIN co-founder Lorenzo Albrighi, “because you get to see and honor the timeline of the product. And with purchase you will receive digital ownership on the blockchain’s smart contract and be able to wear this unique Chanel piece from the ’80s, not just physically, but also digitally, on your avatar.”  

“Thanks to this amazing partnership with Fondazione Sozzani and NABA, we can finally have people experience in person what a “digitized circular fashion” really means and how it works, showcasing the full potential of applications in implementing new business models and product storytelling through Web3 circular retail technology – SPIN,” adds  Eliana Kuo, Co-CEO and Founder of lablaco & SPIN 

About SPIN

SPIN by lablaco is the world’s leading phygital NFT metaverse for luxury fashion, art and culture, designed to accelerate the transition to an end-to-end digitized and connected circular fashion system. SPIN’s rapidly developing technology is leading the digitization of fashion retail from Web2 to Web3, creating a new reality for retail. Due to its blockchain foundation, SPIN creates a transparent and secure avenue to trade, own, and trace phygital garments in perpetuity. SPIN’s initiatives include creating the industry’s first NFT label printer, digitizing iconic cultural landmarks like the Grand Palais in Paris, and Franca Sozzani’s couture archive.

About NABA

NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti is an international Academy focusing on arts and design: it is the largest private Academy in Italy, and the first one to have been recognised by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), back in 1981. As a recognised Academy, NABA offers in its two campus in Milan and Rome academic diplomas equivalent to first and second level university degrees in the fields of design, fashion design, graphics and communication, multimedia arts, new technologies, set design, visual arts. NABA was selected by the QS World University Rankings® by Subject Art & Design as the Best Academy of Fine Arts in Italy and among the top 100 universities in the world. 

About The Franca Sozzani Fund

The Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics was established by Francesco Carrozzini in his mother’s honor in 2018 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Carrozzini co-founded the initiative with artist D.A. Wallach and Genomes2People director Dr. Robert Green. Central to this research is the commitment to social justice and ensuring that the future of medicine is an equitable one. The Fund has secured multi-million-dollar NIH grants to address the racial and ethnic disparities within the field of genomics and is actively seeking philanthropic support to accelerate this critical work.

About Fondazione Sozzani

Fondazione Sozzani was established in 2016 by Carla Sozzani and is dedicated to the promotion of culture through photography, fashion, the fine arts, and applied arts. The Fondazione has assumed the patronage of Galleria Carla Sozzani and continues all relevant public functions that the Galleria has supported since 1990.