BBW23 – Day 1 – Web3 & FashionTech

[Music] honored to be on the the de with these guys um we had a we had a uh prep call uh earlier or later last week that was fascinating uh I've kind of dived into the idea of fashion Tech as it relates to web 3 I'm my background is in defi but there are a lot of commonalities between decentralized finance and fashion Tech and I think hopefully that'll come out but I just want to throw it over to these guys have them introduce themselves maybe give a background about your companies and maybe briefly how you uh came into uh the uh web 3 space yeah sure uh thanks everyone for coming Alex webs Mason I guess I'm docs now uh most people did not know my last name but that's fine and I'm I'm now corporates because I work at Puma now um working on all things web 3 we Define web 3 really broadly but my primary focus is everything blockchain related uh prior to that I had uh my own Boutique agency in the web 3 space working with early stage crypto companies on go to market strategy uh and traditional Brands looking to enter a web 3 um I'm stoked to be here I uh know you guys all had a break so hopefully we keep the energy up uh before I get into like what we're doing like if at any point in the conversation I think it's important to say like what we're doing is in my opinion very Leading Edge and very interesting so if anybody has a question at any point like we'll pause the conversation and address that I think that's really important um my name is David F as introduced I head up product at endstate um which is a boston-based uh company that does sneakers and apparel that ties digital physical and experiential altogether and so uh Ian thank you for wearing our sneakers Greg is here in the crowd wearing our sneakers Greg owns like three of our different drops so he is arguably one of our best uh consumers so I appreciate you um I came from eight years of corporate Footwear design so outside of nfts and web 3 um but I left a year and a half ago to join Nate um because I was fascinated with what the technology can offer to physical Goods so while my background and education is in physical design I get really stoked about designing experiences for the customers and what the blockchain can offer in terms of perks and utility which are words that get thrown out a lot but nobody's really actioned them until in my opinion what Alex and I have been able to do in our different respective companies so that's a little bit about myself we could get into it more but I'm stoked to be here great awesome so this is going to be conversational and to Echo what David said any questions please just raise a hand we'll we'll reach out um so I think one of the things that really jumped out to me uh in speaking to you guys in particular is the is the level of customer interaction brand customer interaction and I think it's been taken to a level never seen before and I was wondering if each of you could discuss what what customer interaction brand Loyalty means to you and your companies and how web 3 has basically turned turbocharged that activity throw it out whoever wants to start yeah sure I I'll uh I'll take that one um I think most brands especially apparel Brands entering the web 3 space have loyalty uh and like consumer interaction that's the center of why they're doing it um we definitely see nfts as a way to have a closer more direct relationship with our consumers for those uh consumers that really want to have um an elevated experience and get high quality Early Access to things we think nfts are a really good way to distribute those items to our most loyal and uh eager fans yeah and for us like the engagement and what we can offer to our customer base is the most important I mean the the best example that we've been able to exhibit and like I'll call it a proof of work is we signed Devonte Smith of the Philadelphia Eagles for any football fans he's their number two wide receiver uh we signed him last year we developed a signature sneaker for him um and so really we want to be able to partner and collaborate with artists athletes musicians creators of any kind and be able to elevate their story so Devonte was known as the most fashionable guy in the NFL he was voted that by GQ last year so being able to partner with somebody like that bring him his own signature silhouette I'm actually wearing his sneaker and basically offer their fans and for anybody who's from Philadelphia who knows Philadelphia Adelphia Phillies fans are nuts um we learned that and so what was really interesting is we got to offer all these extra perks that were built into to kind of the utility of the sneakers so throughout the season when Devonte performed on field if he caught a pass for over 40 yards we air dropped people a cheese steak because they're primarily from Philadelphia it was an Uber Eats gift card for those who did not want a cheese steak or had dietary restrictions but it happened three separate times during the regular season and once in the postseason so people got four times $15 Uber Eats gift cards throughout the season based on the Athletes Performance right so that's perk one then we got to host a watch party down in Philadelphia where we got to meet a lot of the sneaker owners um so they got to interact with our brand they got to learn about us we got to do some giveaways whether that was socks or whether it was backpacks or whatever it is and really just engage ourselves as a brand which again doesn't happen that onetoone relation rate relationally that often and so we were really excited to do that and really the cherry on top was that anybody who purchased a sneaker got to meet the athlete so we held a meet and greet so today you can take xstar athlete from any of the Legacy Brands and you're not going to meet them and so we offered that accessibility where people brought their babies to get their jerseys signed and they got their boxes signed they got football cards signed you know so you build in like we're not telling them to flip anything right like they could do what they want but being able to offer that access and having the sneaker be that token in is super important to us all of our products are chipped so basically your sneaker or your jacket can be you know tap a smartphone to it and it'll pull up the record of authenticity and basically be your form to get in yeah fascinating and and you you see this Beyond The Apparel industry too with Brands entering the web 3 space uh like Starbucks their loyalty program is one of the most revered in in the world in general loyalty programs and with their Odyssey uh nft based loyalty program they're seeing engagement levels that are like blowing away the traditional loyalty programs uh levels uh like in real life showing up like butts and seat activations that are really working for them so it's it's obviously moving the needle for huge Brands wow wow not to start a debate but I think as a New England Patriot fan we could make the argument that the Miami Dolphin fans are a little bit crazier than the Philly fans at least last Sunday night they were but I won't go into that um no but that's fascinating and that that brings up a very interesting point because I went into this and trying to learn about it with a big misconception and I think this misconception related to web 3 and fashion stems from the old days when uh a static nft embedded in a JPEG uh was the extent of you know nfts related to a brand they're obviously much more comp complex now but based on that model you had all these people coming out saying oh my God the margins are massive the margins are huge for companies that adopt nfts it's like incredible for the company but then I think I think David it was you on the call that said well not really the you do have to pay the athlete and Entertainer for his or her time so yeah I mean so every every relationship structured a little bit differently um and so what's interesting about nfts is obviously there is a secondary Market there are royalties obviously there's a whole debate about you know openc and royalty fees and all this other stuff which we're not going to get into but you have the initial agreement with them and and some of them are just royalty based obviously like what we do and what we want to partner with these these people on is promoting themselves as their brand right we we are an engine and we have the expertise between myself and the co-founders you know Stephanie Howard who was here last year we have over 35 years of you know Footwear design experience and apparel experience and so what we're able to do is lean on their brand and Their audience and their communities and be able to provide the engine to support and story tell what they want to dictate to Their audience and be able to engage with their fan bases that way and so every deal is structured a little bit differently and and obviously the there is a money like we're not a nonprofit We Do charitable drops uh Ian was wearing a charity based sneaker but like at the end of the day like there is there is enough for everybody to play and I think that's what makes it exciting there's a question too oh yeah hello hey so you actually touched I'm Rob Rob nice to meet you nice to meet you man you actually touched on a point that I was thinking in my head a little bit that though accessibility of the consumer is awesome in this I think what's really cool is that it's accessib accessibility on the athlet side as well cuz a huge push for like college students being able to make money and kind of Market themselves because the digital revolution in that regard I think the ability that it's not just specific players getting specific shoes or specific apparel it's like if you want to go out and make your own line in theory you can do so and be involved and Mark yourself in that way which I think is a much bigger construct than you know the Legacy brands in which they pick a certain person for year is that kind of where we're headed or is it it's still kind of like no we kind of want to pick and choose who's showing off our brand or is it more like hey if you want to be involved you can be involved I I speaking then I'll let you kind of touch base on it cuz cuz Puma also did a really cool collaboration recently you know with lamelo ball who's an athlete too so um from our perspective it's it's not about just highlighting our brand like the Legacy Brands a lot of time you'll just see an icon or as many stripes as you want to see or whatever it is for us it's their brand right so on Devonte Sager you see his logo and you see our logo they're proportionate to one another every Situation's different we want to make sure that we're elevating them their story their brand because it's Their audience audience right like their product has their name on it right there should be more meaning behind it right like you're trying to educate your customers on who you are whether it's a musician or whatever and then be able to provide all these perks whether it's meeting you and building that onetoone relationship that consumer is more likely I don't know about anybody else if I bought an athlete sneaker and I got to meet them and I got a signed piece of memorabilia I'm probably going to root for them for the rest of their career right regardless of I'm a a Philadelphia fan I live in Worcester Massachusetts right I'm not a Philadelphia fan but I'm going to root for Devonte for the rest of my life right I'm obviously biased I work for anate blah blah blah but there is a inherent tie that I think makes it really really special and that's why I believe in what we're doing so much time just hasn't caught up yet at a mass scale but I know that this type of work and like us 50 people being in this room talking about this subject matter really matters because it's going to become Mass adopted eventually we're just here today right yeah I'll add one thing to that um obviously in crypto we talk a lot about interoperability um and there definitely is a lot of interoperability unlocked at the technical level but I think it also enables Community interoperability so that the drop that we did with lamelo ball that involves our existing nft community at Puma it involves lamelo's fans that got attracted to it and we also did it in collaboration with another third nft community gutter cat gang um so we attracted all Their audience as well and so now gutter cat gang members are fans of Puma nfts Puma nft people are fans of gutter cat gang and of lam ball and vice versa um so like Community crossover and interoperability is definitely a huge benefit for for brands for sure yeah yeah that that was a great question we have two questions now sure oh wait hold hold for the mic thank you so much uh good you look awesome thanks so much you should be on stage with us are those Sanders shades are those neon Sanders the ones that he gave to the team oh forget it uh I'm not going to dox anything anyways like my main question is how are you planning to engage you know participants maybe in the voting system while the whole nft like Dow style uh cuz I'm I'm a part of a lot of Dow including Boston Dow um you know AP out um and like I'm wondering like is there any plans maybe even like creators or Builders of 3D nfts to participate in design or just you know customers itself on the voting system can you tell me more any of those plans if there is any uh I mean we definitely take Community feedback and um incorporate that into our future projects and into our road maps and there's definitely a lot of uh opportunity to bring holders and fans in even more in the actual creation process I think a lot of Technology even outside of web 3 uh like AI makes that a lot more possible as well to engage uh community members in the creation of of assets great um from from from our perspective I love that idea right like I think we we floated it uh on our drop to sneaker you know we worked with four individual artists from around the United States to get a oneof one essentially so they get to design um the background of the nft and so bringing in different aspects and creators into the project where people could get excited about potentially minting a oneof one right was really exciting for us in terms of like voting um we've thought about you know comp you could do design competitions the whole nine yards it's really a matter of finding the right partner and the right release structure around that it hasn't happened yet but we've definitely talked about it and it's definitely on something that we think can be really engaging for people to participate in it's e the I think the one realistic challenge is like everybody thinks they're a designer until it's time to actually design uh especially like a sneaker or a Jack or whatever it is um it becomes more challenging but I think with the right guidance and with the right kind of set of structure uh it can definitely happen but I I just don't think it h it's happened yet but it's a good question great just just real quick uh before we go to the next question um huge NBA Top Shot fan um I I purchase rookie cards primarily when I purchased that rookie card for the team that I support LA Lakers I know not popular um but I'm following that rookie throughout his entire career right between that and fantasy football you're right the the the rooting for these individual players is at the micro level which is fantastic I think I'm sorry go ahead howdy what's up hello what's up what's your name I'm Ben Ben nice to meet you nice to meet you I love your pants Ben thank you fashion game recognize fashion game you've got always got great questions it's a two-parter so one I teach at Berkeley College of Music and the first question is are you doing anything working on fashion with musicians you know I think like Lady Gaga is kind of like an iconic fashion source so uh is that I mean I hear a lot to talk about sports is is there anything going down the realm of musician and two you talked about the importance of aligning Brands so aligning brand between your brand and the artist Brand and I'm wondering if you think about blockchains in terms of brand and which blockchains you align yourselves with great question do you want to answer you want me to go uh I will speak to the brand question um uh yeah I'm not comfortable answering the first one right now but uh yeah we definitely look at blockchains um and like uh the the brand that they hold for sure um speaking in general knowing how like traditional brands in apparel and Beyond look at uh like the nft space in which chain to deploy on I think brand definitely matters when it comes to blockchain uh if you look at polygon like there's a lot of brand recognition there and with that comes like a sense of security and safety uh to larger Brands when they decide what chain to deploy on that makes them feel more comfortable if they see their competitors or other peers of theirs in this space uh that they they're essentially able to Outsource due diligence things like that so brand definitely matters for chains yeah and I'll answer the first question um so yes uh we definitely um will share I'll I'll share this in the next couple months there will be a signature sneaker for a musician through end State and so we are really excited there will be a launch party about it um she is amazing she is literally the perfect collaborator she's excited she's collaborated on the design with our co-founder Stephanie um and the again the utility and the perks that we can offer from the music side of things um you know we've brained none of this is final so I know this is being recorded So hopefully anybody doesn't we'll figure that part out later but like the perks that like again nothing's finalized so take this with a grain of salt but like the first one that everybody thinks about is like VIP access backstage so like that's amazing your sneakers take a smart SM phone you can scan it shows the proof of authenticity you get behind stage right that's amazing you can cheer for them uh they're recording music videos you know what if you know how let's say five out of the hold the sneaker holders want to be able to fly down or show up to behind the scenes music video that is possible right or a meet and greet or you know whatever it is you know your brain can wander off in 50 different directions on like the music aspect which is what we get excited about and they usually have extremely loyal fan bases right like people like inherently always go back to music you know from their childhood or or they they speak these lyrics that really are are situational based of what they're what I'm going through in this moment and what I'm feeling emotionally and if you're able to tap into your your audience and like resonate a product with that um that's what we get excited about so yeah we're definitely entering the music space um in the next couple months so if anybody is interested um be on the lookout for that I've I've just isolated the potential candidates I'll keep them to myself but uh question over here I think hey my name is Jesse uh the quick question is basically when you are looking at different artists different uh Sports uh figures are you seeing a lot more of the web 2 coming in to uh to this and this is the gateway to have them have some sort of web 3 associated with the sneaker or you also seeing kind of a web 3 native that's gets that's getting excited about that that sports star are that uh that artist um and if so or like I guess the second followup question is what does onboarding look like for the people that have never owned an nft that have never like interacted with this how are you guys bridging that Gap thanks that's huge and that's another common denominator between decentralized finance and fashion web 3 this on boarding of customer so excellent question yeah uh yeah I think it's again goes back to interoperability of communities so definitely getting web 3 native people that are existing nft holders uh exposed to some of these like web to personalities uh and also seeing people that were just fans of like Lam ball I referred to before uh getting interested in web 3 because they're fans of him um and then with that comes yeah like more challenges or opportunities for easier onboarding processes uh which are things like you know credit card integration or um making it easier to get access to the nfts without already having a metamask things like that are uh definitely things that every brand in the space I think is thinking about for sure the for for for us the conversation's obviously shifted over the past couple years right previously we've done releases where it was nft first and then you redeem the sneaker and then we ship the sneaker the bonus side of that is you can make to order so you know how many you sell up front and then you don't have to hold inventory or anything like that so from a sustainability factor that is a huge play but in terms of like the conversations with the athlete the artist um it depends right we've had conversations where people are native to it they've owned crypto they've um you know explored that space But then there's there's the realistic conversation of who is our audience who is the demographic that we're targeting who is the fans that are going to purchase this product so for Devonte for example we knew that the majority of the per the the speaker buyers were not going to be web 3 native and so we did two things one we offered credit card accessibility as as Alex just mentioned and so you know things like magic link or paper can spin up wallets for those consumers and then they could redeem them and the beautiful thing about that was we went to we had the watch party so we got to have these conversations one-on-one with our customers and 80% of the I'll call it sub 100 people who showed up said it was their first nft and for us that was super special right like that Insight where like 80% of the people is their first nft like that means we did our job because we onboarded people and we showed them the positive side of nfts and so for us that was really cool the other side is like for the web 3 native like we went down to nft Philly which is a great organized group they host these events and so I got to go down there and just speak to that audience and be like hey we're doing something really different and really interesting this is around your guys' ecosystem you guys shout go Birds every five seconds you might want to look into this and they did and so that was really special um and then yeah to the second question which was like onboarding more people right um now it depends on the conversation it can be a sneaker first cell with X Y and Z perks or utility behind it and then you also have to redeem the digital collectible or the nft as your proof of ownership to get into these events or whatever it is so there's ways to navigate that conversation to make everybody feel comfortable and confident versus like the negative s stigma that you'll hear on headlines yeah yeah and that's that's a great point on so many levels um again another common denominator D5 fashion web 3 is educating the populace right educating them for Mass adoption and I want to just hearken back briefly to a panel that Gregory mullinar was on earlier he mentioned that uh he's launched an education initiative in Fall River I believe and that he's tapped both of your companies to to work with that population in educating them as far as blockchain's concerned which I think is amazing you know to to get younger people infused into this so can can you elaborate on the the the one thing I'll I'll say is um I'm going to steal this from Gary ve if I don't know if people know Gary ve or know his nft project V friends or whatever anybody knows me knows I'm a Gary V fanatic and so regardless but he has this uh thought process behind what Taylor Swift does really well and she scales the unscalable right and what that means is she'll show up to somebody's birthday party or a wedding Yes she'll get a paycheck but all 300 people at that wedding are going to remember that night for the rest of their lives and go go tell a thousand people throughout their lifetime of how awesome Taylor Swift was what we think is really special in doing these Grassroots things whether it's Greg put on an awesome fashion show down in Fall River where able to offer up the sneakers for that you know doing these Grassroots thing talking to high schools talking to these things these these could these people are going to remember that experience and so when you can do those onetoone interactions I'm not going to dismiss that I'm not better than any one other person on this planet and I think when you can scale the unscalable you can build customers for a lifetime and that's why I think that we're going to be around forever that's awesome yeah uh off of that I think that Brands using nfts is kind of the perfect example of the the class do things that don't scale like building onetoone relationships with uh with community members and um and and making them super fans it it works in the end yeah any any other questions at this point oh yeah uh just while the mic's coming over um one of the illustrations when people ask me about web 3 I use the illustration it's uh absorption right you're being absorbed into the internet and I think I think that's the perfect example of that customer loyalty absorption being thrown into it being fans of that athlete or the Entertainer for Life huge huge yeah go ahead um I was Wonder have you guys seen what Yuga Labs is doing with their 10 ktf project where they're basically pulling in nft collections a lot of them are spin-offs of some of the yugul labs and board apes and and gutter Gutter Cats and punks and all that but layering in like they're actually creating um assets for different metaverses that have you know their nft pulled in onto like a backpack or a pair of sneakers or all those different things I just wanted to know what you guys thought about that if that kind of plays in any some of your future plans uh yeah I mean that that's definitely something that um I think most apparel brands in the nft space are looking at is getting into more games getting more brand recognition in those games whether it's literally like representations of their nfts they've dropped in those games or just um their traditional IP branding and logos into games whether that's metav vers uh web 3 native games or traditional games yeah and we you know from from our perspective we are working diligently to be in digital environments as well with our sneakers so if you do own one of the sneakers or like the nft it can be you know into Central land it can be in Roblox we are working diligently with those um platforms and trying to make sure that we aren't dismissing that I mean I think ultimately like there's so many different complexities and different Olive branches to all of this right there's the metaverse there's the nfts there's the crypto there's the blockchain itself I think we all don't want to dismiss one another we all want to lift each other up so like we wouldn't be doing our job diligently if we weren't looking at it these things just take time I think people thought they were a lot faster um to integrate into these digital environments they're not there are some hurdles but I I would say confidently in the next you know short term you'll be able to wear your endstate sneakers in in digital environments it it's it's very difficult to build standards around like across different gaming environments I mean there are there are services like Ready Player me who try to make like interoperable avatars where you can make it with them and then they handle uh implementing it into different game environments but it's definitely a challenge yeah so with uh 10 seconds left and thank you Ian for making the clock so big uh it's very intimidating um but but real quick thanks so much guys uh this has been such a learning experience for me I appreciate you letting me share the stage thanks for the question thanks [Music] guys