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Daria Shapovalova And Natalia Modenova Of DressX, Plus: Bored Apes Falls Below $100k
In many ways, the concept of digital fashion predated the time when NFT became a big thing. DressX is one of those brands that picked this emerging trend early on. In this podcast episode, co-founders Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova created DressX as a meta closet of digital-only clothing, NFT fashion items, and AR looks. Together, they seek to transform the fashion industry by integrating with the metaverse, Web3, AR, and other cutting-edge tech. They aim to demonstrate that some clothing can exist solely in digital form, promoting a more sustainable approach to fashion consumption. Find out what’s in store for DressX as you move through this conversation. Plus, BoredApes has now fallen to below $100k. Find out if this is a great time to get one to start your entry to the space.
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Daria Shapovalova And Natalia Modenova Of DressX, Plus: Bored Apes Falls Below $100k
This is Natalia Modenova from DressX, which is your meta closet of digital-only clothing, NFT fashion items and AR looks. I’m here on Edge of NFT Podcast, the one that brings you the cutting-edge in looks and listens. Stay tuned.
Stay tuned for this episode. Learn how the DressX ecosystem is creating and utilizing Web3 digital fashion, allowing you to create and share your meta closet of stylish threads.
Plus, how the first purchase of a disposable camera led to a life of creativity in the fashion world.
Also, Blur and OpenSea are in a battle for NFT marketplace supremacy. All this and more in this episode.
Finally, Outer Edge LA, our awesome community-centric gathering returned to Los Angeles from March 20th to the 23rd of 2023. If you missed out, here’s a way to catch up on all the interactive experiences, discussions, presentations and more. Simply go to Watch.OuterEdge.live. Register with your email address to get a full recap of over 60 captivating conversations and performances. Binge watchers are welcome. See you inside.
This episode features Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, the dynamic duo behind DressX, the largest digital fashion store showcasing collections from renowned brands and 3D designers. Daria, the Founder and CEO, has fifteen years of experience in fashion and is known for putting Ukraine on the global fashion map. Prior to DressX, Daria established a fashion TV show, Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days and the showroom, More Dash. With an MBA under her belt, she moved to San Francisco to launch DressX alongside Natalia. Daria has been recognized in the Forbes Under 30 Europe and BOF or Business of Fashion 500 Most Influential People list.
Natalia Modenova is the Founder and COO. She has over ten years of experience in the fashion industry. She has cofounded the showroom as well called More Dash in Paris and the international conference Fashion Tech Summit with Daria. Natalia has been a curator and expert in various fashion and tech events. Her achievements have been recognized by numerous media outlets including CNN, Forbes USA and the Financial Times. She is included in lists like America’s 50 Greatest Disruptors by Newsweek and The Vogue Business 100 Innovators: Tech and Web3.
Both Daria and Natalia are highly sought-after speakers at prestigious conferences sharing their expertise on the metaverse digital fashion and fashion tech. DressX is revolutionizing the fashion industry by integrating with the metaverse, Web3, AR and other cutting-edge tech. They aim to demonstrate that some clothing can exist solely in digital form, promoting a more sustainable approach to fashion consumption. Their motto is Don’t Shop Less, Shop Digital Fashion. Guys, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here.
Thank you so much.
I’m so glad we could finally do this show. We’ve known each other for a long time. Daria and Natalia were part of the original NFT LA Genesis Version 1.0. We have been fans of all the great work you guys have done in this space.
Thank you. We’re also your fans.
We appreciate that.
We are super happy we had the chance to make the wearable NFT for this conference in LA. There were a lot of people who collected it but for someone who missed it, you missed it.
That’s how it goes. DressX is at the forward edge of everything that’s happening in digital fashion. You are pushing the envelope and driving it. There are so many good things to dive into about that side of things but we want to start more at the beginning and talk about the origin story or the foundation of this concept. You guys are making ways and moves and pushing the forward edge of physical fashion. What inspired this shift toward digital fashion and everything that DressX has become?
We both were in the fashion industry for a long time. There was a previous project we did together which was the showroom. We’re interacting with lots of brands who understood that there will be an entry category for all the fashion brands. We saw it in digital goods. Digital goods were a part of all the game vocabulary for so many years. We understood that there will be a need for our digital closet.
A physical closet is amazing. Every person in the world almost has those. We want to move this experience online. We started before NFT became a big thing. We started in a pre-metaverse world but still, we have the vision for your digital wardrobe on what DressX is, what it has become and what it will continue to be.
With the advancement on the metaverse side, Web3 side and the notion of the NFTs and the blockchain, it became easier for making this concept for people to understand it. It makes subtle sense as we all lived in an online environment during the pandemic. It’s understandable that some of our habits will stand. Those will be spending time on social media. When we spend time on social media, we want to dress ourselves. Some of the clothing can exist for social media dressing. Some of those NFTs will dress people and their NFTs as well. That’s fun and cool too.
This is very different from the concept of the NFT we are selling. That’s exactly what Natalia mentioned. That’s exactly what we did with NFT LA. There are so many other partners who we did it with. That’s the thought process behind DressX but it evolved as well. The good thing is that we are very consistent in our approach. We said from the beginning, “DressX is your digital wardrobe. It will continue to become one.” We elevate the experience.
That is very forward-thinking. It’s fascinating to have these new markets and domains. The digital world is offering us all sorts of new ways to conceptualize the economy and everything that we do. It’s both fun and intimidating to jump in there, try to trailblaze and create a new domain. Congrats to you for seeing that coming and being a trailblazer there. Speaking of all that, with 2023, I’m curious here. Natalia, we’ll kick it over to you. What technologies are you seeing that are new on the horizon? Given that, how can our audience maybe get involved in the experience firsthand?
Everyone would agree that 2023 is a year of AI. Here we go. We started in January 2023 with our community-driven AI contest in our Discord. We opened a special channel where everyone could create and co-create with us and the majority. We already released some of the items that were co-created by the community with us. It’s available inside the DressX app.
We already held two seasons of such a contest. It’s amazing because people can create and all vote. The community decides what goes into production and what’s being launched. We don’t call it DAO or anything like that. People engage with that. We prototype self-governance in this way. We also involve and engage with different partners for it. We launched items co-created with the Tommy Hilfiger fashion brand. We co-created with the community and DressX.
This is amazing because it’s available as AR skin but also as a skin for Decentraland. We take it even further because this is something that we’ve been working on since day one of DressX. Soon, we will be releasing this DressX AI tech which instantly changes your outfit on your pictures for social media. This is exciting. You can already go to DressX.ai and sign up to be an early tester with us. It is in the early days. It’s going to be developing and improving but this is something that is, in 2023, coming from us.
We’re already getting the alpha at the beginning of the show. I love it. Daria, I’d love to learn more about your perspective on how digital fashion is shaking things up on a macro level. In particular, how is it redefining sustainability and the purchasing decision process? What are some of the other aspects of the overall fashion industry that digital fashion is disrupting?
That’s exactly what we see in digital fashion. Fashion and digital brands are becoming entry-level for some of the new consumers. For example, in environments like Roblox and some other Web3 environments, there is a new generation that is discovering brands through digital goods. It’s fascinating to see. I see it at my home. I have a son. He’s not very exposed to Web3 but he’s playing a lot of Web2 games. That’s how he discovers brands. It is through digital games. I’m sure Web3 will be on his horizon as well pretty soon.
Also, the way how digital goods started to influence the runways, that’s what we see. Traditional fashion sometimes lacks this innovation. It is because of digital fashion that it started to take the industry by storm. Designers picked it up and started to implement it even on the runways during the fashion weeks. They are adding more innovations.
We’ll see even more generative designs inspired collections, something that Natalia has mentioned and that we at DressX are using in a lot of capacity. We see how brands are approaching us at DressX. They want to find their way in the Web3 space and the NFT space because they understand that moving forward for the new generations will be an entry-level of how they discover those brands first and only then they will discover the physical goods. That’s the major change with digital fashion and fashion and digital and how it is influencing traditional fashion. It becomes a new entry point for a new generation of customers and that will continue to be so.
Especially also on the advancement of the arbitrary side and how we started to use them on social media, this is also pretty big. That will only continue to evolve. In 2024, it will continue to be an even bigger trend. In Web3 and Web2 environments, we use a lot of avatars. We’ll continue to use more and some companies will double down on that. That’s something that we only see as a future but we, at DressX, already see it as a present because we’re building it. This is forthcoming. This also will influence traditional fashion.
Let me ask you something. I’ve been doing a little bit of online shopping, fortunately, the good type. I’ve lost a little weight. I’m trying to figure out some new spring clothes. I’ve noticed that the recommendations from sizing to fitting have improved on a lot of websites. Is there a relationship there with the digital fashion world that’s a little bit more connected where some of that data around what people like or how things fit on them will translate to the physical fashion world?
There are two clear distinguishments between the use case of size recommendation and the recommendation of how it’s going to look on you. We solve the issue of inspiration and also evaluation of what it is going to be like wearing a certain outfit. This is something that helps conversion if we talk about traditional fashion retail.
Also, it helps to make a more conscious decision for you as a consumer about what you want to have, what you want to wear and how you see yourself with a certain item without the need to order it, process a payment or process a delivery and then find out, “It doesn’t look like what I was imagining.” You can do it without any friction in the physical world by trying on the item in the digital format. If you like what it looks like on you, it is your style or you feel like that, you can order, see it and make the final decision.
That’s helpful because Eathan’s in Chicago and Jeff is in Florida. I was having these guys fly to LA to join me as I was trying on clothes. This is going to be good.
We talked about a few different macro concepts here but let’s drill down a little bit further and talk more about DressX’s meta wardrobe. What’s coming? What does the future look like here? Over the next few years, how do you see this truly evolving? Natalia, let’s start with you.
We see that everyone will have the meta closet or the wardrobe of digital fashion. We see that every brand, luxury brand, must-market brand, fashion brand and non-fashion brand as well will have a category of digital fashion. It will be like an introductory category to the world of the brand to the universe of the brand. Every fashion brand is trying to sell you a dream. These are bricks on that this dream is built. You can have it, own it and wear it.
There will be some interconnectivity with the physical items as well through the NFT chiefs as a technology. Some of the items will leave as digital prints. Some of them will be digital-only outfits. Some of them will be complimentary digital and physical items to each other. We are moving there slowly but surely because it’s not just one technology that helps getting closer to this future. It’s multiple things happening at the same time. We are excited to be at the forefront of this and help others to onboard into the idea of digital fashion and start building it already.
What I can add is an opportunity to share your closet is amazing. That’s what fascinates us. It’s unlikely that you can invite everyone to see your physical wardrobe but you can share your digital wardrobe with anyone in the world. It’s fun and cool. There is also the opportunity to gamify this experience. This is something that we’re working on. That’s exactly what we see as your meta wardrobe or digital wardrobe. It can be even more fun and a good complement to your physical wardrobe. Some things will coexist in both. Some of them will only exist in either of those but will be nice gameplay in between.
**It’s definite. It’s a fact and we all agree on it. A lot of people might be like, “Is it going to happen? Is it not going to happen?” Everybody on this show can say very definitively the train has left the station. It’s going to happen. Continuing to build the technology out while we’re still early in the process is so critical. Kudos to you for doing that because it’s important. **
We love the process.
There’s certainly a handful of people beyond us that think this stuff is important and going to happen. You guys have a fundraising amount of $15 million to advance the interoperability of DressX as a platform. That’s a big deal. It shows a lot of support and momentum for what’s going on here in digital fashion and sends a strong foundation for the future here. I’ll kick it over to Daria here. What does this raise unlock for you to be able to create?
It’s a great achievement and a big milestone for the company because it is a Series A. Especially given the market situation, that’s amazing that the company has proven that it’s a very prospective player to be able to raise. The fund that led our Series A is Greenfield Capital. They’re the biggest early-stage blockchain fund in Europe. They’re based in Germany. They invest in various companies.
Series A is still considered to be the early stage but more to the middle stage because we already built a lot of things in the process. Here is a nice click between the opportunity between the fund and how they research for the companies and DressX. There is already an ability to evolve from zero to where we were at the time of the fundraising. We want to continue to invest in our infrastructure and all of the technologies that Natalia has mentioned previously.
We want to continue to build the DressX community. The biggest idea for the company from day number 1 is to sell $1 billion in fashion digital goods. That’s exactly the aim that we want to continue to be achieving. We are building everything to achieve that finally. We working with lots of partners in Web2, Web 3 and different brands.
The fundraiser will support all of the partnerships and the infrastructure first and foremost. It’s something that we’ve reviewed here together in the show. Building the meta wardrobe is still about the future but the future is now. It’s not evenly distributed. That’s exactly what we managed to do with the new fundraiser. We’re very happy with all of our partners that participated.
Digital Fashion: Building the meta wardrobe is still about the future, but the future is now.
The question is who’s that quote from? Do you know who that quote is from, “The future is now?”
There is a scientist who told us. I don’t remember his name. If you’re sitting in front of your laptop, you can google.
I’ll figure it out.
You can also ask ChatGPT. Either of those.
It is William Gibson. I’ve googled it. Sorry, ChatGPT. Old habits.
ChatGPT is behind a year so for any new data, we have to wait to be loaded up anyway. Sometimes, Google’s still going to win out. Google’s coming up with its product, which will be interesting to see how that faces off. We would love to talk a little bit more about some of these partnerships that are being unlocked here.
We’ve worked together for two years. That’s one example of the many partnerships you’re doing with different companies in Web2 and Web3 with artist collaborations. Are there any specific collabs coming up that we should be on the lookout for that you can share at this point officially? Natalia, do you want to kick us off there? Is there anything up your sleeves that we could talk about?
We are the type of company that prefers to build something first and then announce it. I remember so many times us coming to rejecting to announce a partnership until we build something. We still look at this mode. We expand our partnerships with blogs, meta and all the avatar fashion that is coming. We continue our partnership with Snap and deepen it, especially considering their Snap Partner Summit announcements.
We already integrated the mid-journey tools in our internal and external pipeline. This is super exciting. In 2023, we started with multiple collabs with brands like Tommy Hilfiger and IPSA, which is a beauty brand. We will do more in the beauty space in 2023 so watch out. It’s going to be fun. Continuing partnerships and collabs is an important part but also developing our product is a very big priority for 2023.
Digital Fashion: Continuing partnerships and collabs is an important part, but also developing our own product is a very big priority for 2023.
That is very cool. You have to balance both things. By the names of the partnerships you’ve done so far with some of the juggernauts in space and technology, I’m sure we can look for more big news to come. Congrats on all that success.
Thank you.
We got to look beyond the world of DressX. You have lots of partnerships and collaborations with other folks. Let’s go beyond even what we talked about here. For each of you, what projects have you been keeping an eye on? What inspires you or gets you pumped about the Web3 space outside of even the people you’re directly partnering with? Daria, let’s start with you.
It’s probably the opportunity. We’re creating this Web3 together. DressX is one of the first companies in the space. The ability to create an industry that is not in the moment of giving birth to itself and the major stakeholders is the most inspirational part. Also, to be able to bring those brands that Natalia has mentioned and that we all know that are coming from the traditional world into Web3 is an inspiration on its own because we can create a lot of things. Life is all about creation and co-creation. That’s what continues to inspire us. We can navigate the market and tell the brands, “This is the best way for you to enter this market.” That’s how we would see this brand entering Web3 and the metaverse space.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
It was a camera.
You’ve given it to this person?
Yeah, I guess. It is a baby shower present.
It is not quite for sale though.
Can you buy out a public company?
It would be never stopping.
The lazy never-stopper. That’s a new one.
That is another part of the Inception movie.
Is your term FOMO No? Is that it?
It is UH-OH NOMO or something like that.
It’s FOMO OH NO, I got it.
There you go.
I’ll let you do the honors.
That’s the move.
Let’s roll.
No worries.