How the Fashion Industry Can Leverage NFTs with @FashionweekNYC

11 min readMay 2, 2022

Spotify Podcast Episode: How the Fashion Industry Can Leverage NFTs with @FashionweekNYC

In episode 22 of Freedom with NFT’s, our guest @FashionweekNYC shares with us how the fashion industry can leverage NFTs.

[00:00:00] Lauren Turton: On this episode of freedom with NFTs, we have Nathan from fashion week NYC. How are you doing today?

[00:00:06] Nathan NYC: I am doing awesome, exhausted, exhilarated and can’t believe that we are almost on what looks like the most successful NFT conference up to date, you know.

[00:00:19] Lauren Turton: It’s been a wild week. I can agree with you on that. And I’m curious to know what’s been one of your biggest takeaways from this week?

[00:00:28] Nathan NYC: The biggest takeaway, that we’re all very early.

And at the end of the day you have this feeling like oh my gosh, I missed the punks. I missed the apes. I miss the cool cat. Let me tell you there is so much more opportunity. And everybody who thinks that they’ve missed. Well, one hasn’t even looked back yet. So that’s so much more to go. To me that’s the biggest takeaway I can give you.

[00:00:50] Lauren Turton: That’s such a wonderful golden nugget.

The boat hasn’t even left the dock. Tell me a little bit about your past experience.

[00:00:57] Nathan NYC: I was literally one of the first people to ever live fashion week Twitter. I guess I’m considered the OD. I started 10, 11 years ago. And for me it was like it’s fashion week, it’s in New York. This new platform very much called Twitter. I want to take photos and share with what’s happening on the runway.

Let that out to anybody who would be interested in that time and one thing led to another and it just started viraling and snowballing. The followers came and then I just had to figure out, okay, who is my audience? What kind of content do they love? How can I bring the most value to them every single day? Because that’s really, to me the true definition of social.

It’s not about how many followers you have. It’s not about how many people you know, or how much money you’re making through shoving links down people’s throats on your Twitter. What the real value of social is are you adding value from the time you wake up to the time to go to sleep because it’s your kingdom. If you’re not taking care of your kingdom, you can end up like Henry Daysh and we know how that ended.

[00:02:00] Lauren Turton: Yes. Thank you for all of that. You’ve had an incredible journey and the space that you’ve been in. And so I’m really curious to know, when did you first find out about NFTs?

[00:02:10] Nathan NYC: I think it was like in March or April and I was on Clubhouse like everybody else where we were stuck in lockdowns and whatnot.

And I want them to see like, hey, if I missed this, I’m going to have to play so much catch up. And so I figured I’m going to take dive and understanding it and hearing from other people in the clubhouse and Twitter spaces. And Clubhouse people and Twitter space people, they’re just so amazing I think 99% of them are amazing.

A lot of them are honest and who is a great experience to be there and you learn so much, most parts you have amazing people out there. And to me, being able to bridge that well, fashion week and club, always have done on our daily basis to NFT. I think it’s quite fascinating but I will say also at the end of the day that I think Peter Parker said it best great power comes great responsibility.

And to have such a large audience like this, it feels great to be able to use my insolence and use my audience for good, but also to be able to know if 80% of my audience is women that I can also do that for NFT, I’m going to probably start doing a NFT spotlights pretty soon, where I’m going to be spotlighting female artists, female led teams, because up until now its been if you want to call it a sausage dress.

And I feel like more women needs to be a part of fold not just have a voice, but also a seat at the table. And there’s a ton of wonderful female artists and tons of wonderful generative collections everything from the crypto chicks, Sad girl bar, to the vine girls and the glitch girls. And there really isn’t that much of a platform where they’re able to put themselves out there and more people are able to know about them.

And so I feel like it’s great that I did do that. So I’m probably going to start doing that once or twice a week where I put NFT files, of, you know artists and take it from there and see how it goes.

[00:04:07] Lauren Turton: That’s amazing. Thank you for doing that. It’s true that females in this industry are doing amazing things.

Fabulous projects with great intentions behind them. And for you to use your various establish platforms. I like them is very, very special. I know I appreciate that. And the other women in this space, do, I’m curious to know what tips would you give someone who’s in the fashion industry now and they want to explore NFTS.

What advice can you give them?

[00:04:36] Nathan NYC: First take the onboarding process, very serious. Update account, the MetaMask, whatever digital wallet want to use, get that all put together and don’t be afraid to fail, you’re an NFT artist, if you’re an illustrator, you do fashion sketches and you just feel like my stuff is not good enough. Why should I put it up?

Put it up the longer you wait, the more you’re going to miss out and you should never have this fear of failure. The other thing is also don’t try to be first. Never focused on trying to use first was an idea. Focus on trying to create at the execution of that idea, because first to market doesn’t always win first to execution, always wins cause everything that has a great strategy blows backed up at the end of the day.

So to me that’s the best thing, understand the onboarding process, but also don’t try to be first, try to have a great execution strategy, when it comes down to that, and I would say that, you probably know, like DTC usually stands for directed to consumer, but I renamed it and to see is actually to me, the three letters are that are so fundamental to how one can be successful in NFT..

That is discord, Twitter, and clubhouse.

[00:05:55] Lauren Turton: DTC. This discord, twitter and clubhouse. Yes, absolutely. Immersing yourself in those spaces. When you first enter the NFT community is so important. Those are the connections that you’re making, who you’re learning from and what you gain in those spaces will take you to the next level that are unimaginable.

I love that love, love, love that. Are there any fashion projects in the NFT space that are on your radar right now?

[00:06:24] Nathan NYC: Not really, I think like last month, Delching about it did one. I think they ended up making like 5.6 million in ether if I am correct. I know it was done through polygon or one of those. But honestly, I feel like fashion is usually late to adaptation. Always the last to adapt. This is going to be different people who are going to be able to execute correctly and adapt the quickest are the ones who are going to be able to bear the fruit and have the reward. And I feel like you’re going to start seeing the luxury houses, figure out how can we be a part of this? How can we do a right? Let’s be honest, you could be a celebrity and have 3 million followers in Twitter. Well, people don’t understand is that maybe 98% of those followers, maybe 99, have no idea what an NFT is, be like one of the most well-known celebrities, if all those or part of all followers don’t know an NFT is and they’re not going to have that education. It’s probably will be a fail, if you come out with some half NFT collects and that didn’t put any time or thought into, because you’re so and so automatic where you think it’s just going to celebrate. Everybody needs NFT even if you are a celebrity, a streamer and influencer at the end of the day, it’s really all about community. We’re about connecting with that community and understanding who the community is and then once you’re in that community, you’re golden, you’re connecting, you’re networking. I think the best thing is that everybody likes to help each other. And to me, that’s amazing because you really haven’t seen something like that in any type of industry at any time and it’s great to see that. Also can be the best thing about NFT is that web two, now we’re moving into web three. Web two, always has been about renting. And now web three is about owning, you get to own your content. Get in right away, even this year, consider freelancer. You don’t have to run after people to get paid.

You don’t have to chase them down or call them three times a week. Like you still reminded me. I’m waiting for my money. No, you make a sale. It comes right into your wallet. I feel like we’re just beginning web three and possibilities are going to be endless.

[00:08:41] Lauren Turton: So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that and while you are going through that answer. What came up for me is I’m curious to know with the transition from web two to web three for someone like you, who has been in the Twitter game for over a decade, and you’ve seen a decades worth of time on a space. How has that transition going for you into web three?

[00:09:09] Nathan NYC: I’m seeing different because I’m able to connect with a lot more people and be more human.

And like, I remember when we were in lockdown, we were on clubhouse. We were geared toward faces. I would come across a lot of amazing people and I actually was able to finally meet them this weekend. Let me tell you IRL hugs are the most amazing thing ever. And I feel like changing landscapes. It’s changing dynamics, paradigms have shifted so much so quickly, and yet we’re still in the infancy stage.

We’re still all so early. And I feel like for me, some things have changed. Some things haven’t. And at the end of the day, it’s just business as usual. And I feel like there’s going to be more discovery andI think that’s going to be the most exciting thing moving forward, more discovery of eventual, fashion, and NFTS, and more discovery of different things happening every single day for the NFT universe.

That’s why I don’t think anybody out there should ever call themselves an expert. No one should ever call themselves an expert.

[00:10:14] Lauren Turton: I’m so glad you brought that up because when I was thinking of the tagline for this podcast, freedom with NFTs, I had a hard time describing who it is that I bring on this podcast. And at first I was saying NFT experts. And then I was like, no, that doesn’t make sense because we’re not experts yet. So I went with the word gurus, because at least with that. It’s like, okay, they’ve been in this space for some time. They have a lot of experience and they can share, what it is that they’ve been doing, their tools and their tips, et cetera. So thank you for sharing more knowledge on freedom with NFTs. Before we wrap this episode up any last golden nuggets that you want to share with our audience.

[00:11:00] Nathan NYC: Something that I just want to tell your audience was so I actually went into my first NFT. And I’ve been working on a 3d digital ceramic NFT. And essentially I really wanted to find a way where I can give back and help others at the same time. And so I made Pink Ceramic for breast cancer research, and I didn’t know how successful it was going, but I knew that if I didn’t do this, I would’ve been missing out.

And so fast-forward, I’ve already raised over $10,000 for breast cancer research and everybody loves the ceramics. And I think also as you move forward more, whether it’s generative arts or brands or one-on-ones ones, artists overall, more who are going to have a social cause of grit are probably going to be more successful. Because it’s great to be able to have financial freedom and make a good amount of money, but what’s the whole point of making all that money. If you’re not giving back and helping others in the process. That’s the other thing about web three, it’s that now we have a chance to also make a difference for others, with the new found financial freedom that we are having.

And so from now on every single ceramics that I’m going to making 50% of that are going to be going towards social cause like October and first part of November has been breast cancer research. Next month, I think after Thanksgiving, until January focusing on food hunger. So I’m hoping to be partnered with like no kid hunger and Robin hood.

And I just feel like I have this huge audience, I can then help make a difference in. I’m excited because it’s going to be candy cane ceramics. And it took me a long time to get candy cane surrender, but I finally pulled it off and I know it’s probably going to be a shift and people are gonna love it. And I also wanted to quickly touch on that, I feel like where I am is in a total different phase and a lot of more of one’s gender to collections in terms of thinking of NFTs as gifts because as Christmas approaches think about how many people don’t have NFTS or don’t even have a wallet yet. Now they’re going to get a wallet and probably somebody wants to buy a family member or friend that person, NFT, and that is going to be their Christmas gift.

So if you could think of NFTs as a gifting process, I guess where the price point here, it has high and it can be for a family member or friend. I think gifting comes into a whole new type of role when it comes to NFTs. Lastly, I like to say that NFTs can actually stand for never ending freedom together.

[00:13:39] Lauren Turton: Ooh.

[00:13:41] Nathan NYC: But, we’ll just let it stand for a non-fungible token for now.

[00:13:45] Lauren Turton: Wow. Thank you for that. How do we find your project? Is it on OpenSea?

[00:13:50] Nathan NYC: Yes. So my project is on OpenSea. You can find the piece Pink Ceramics at opensea.io/collection/pinkceramics and the holiday ceramics collection are going to have some Christmas and can’t forget the blue and white.

That’s probably going to be under opensea.io/collection/holidayceramics and 30% of the proceeds are gonna be going to food hunger for the holiday ceramics. And so if you’re listening and you want to give back and help, now is a great time to.

[00:14:23] Lauren Turton: Now is a great time to.

[00:14:24] Nathan NYC: And thank you for having me.

[00:14:25] Lauren Turton: Thank you for being here on freedom with NFTs.

And one last question, before we wrap up, how can we stay in touch with you? What’s your Twitter handle?

[00:14:35] Nathan NYC: Fashion week NYC.

[00:14:36] Lauren Turton: Thank you so much, Nathan, for your time. That’s all for this episode of freedom with NFTs.

Connect with @FashionweekNYC:

NFT Collection: https://opensea.io/collection/pinkceramics

NFT Holiday Collection: https://opensea.io/collection/holidayceramics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fashionweeknyc

Connect with your host, Lauren Turton:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenTurton_