Digital Fashion Designer's Council Launches Fashion Week Connect

Digital Fashion Designer’s Council (DFDC) is a non-profit organisation, which includes illustrious fashion brands, digital ateliers, fashion designers and industry leaders like Antoni Tudisco, Megan Kaspar, and Nick Knight. The association presents Fashion Week Connect, a series of events conceptualized to promote phygital fashion.

Artwork by Antoni Tudisco | Courtesy of Etheeverse and the DFDC

The Digital Fashion Designer’s Council aims to bridge the gap between physical and digital fashion with its Fashion Week Connect event series. This dynamic, cross-platform series integrates digital fashion into the traditional fashion landscape.

Per Forbes: ‘According to a report from Allied Analytics, the global market for digital fashion is expected to grow from $498.7 million in 2021 to $4.8 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 26.4 per cent. Blockchain and Web3 comprised 33 per cent of this market size and are expected to lead through 2031.’

As the fashion industry continues to evolve, integration of Web3 technologies with existing Web 2.0 systems is encouraging transformation in both physical and digital fashion business models and reshaping how fashion brands and designers interact with consumers and manage their digital assets. The integration of cutting-edge technologies promises to transform the retail sector, changing how consumers shop and how brands interact with their shoppers.

Fashion Week Connect

Addressing fashion brands’ daunting task of interoperability between platforms by connecting their digital ecosystems with tangible products and experiences, the Council aims to offer a cohesive experience across all touch-points.

Per Megan Kaspar, Founding Member of RED DAO and Chief Advisor and Executive Board member of the Digital Fashion Designers Council: “As digital asset counterparts become standard for physical products — including metadata on-chain and 3D technology, the DFDC (Digital Fashion Design Council) is at the forefront, assisting brands in linking their physical items with their broader digital ecosystems. The DFDC’s mission is to drive a streamlined digital transformation solution to the traditional fashion industry, tethering their physical products to the digital revolution omniverse.”

Fashion Week Connect will feature activations across major cities, including Paris, New York, London, and Singapore, at events ranging from Digital Fashion Week at the Epic Games HQ in London to Next in Vogue by Vogue Singapore to storefronts and digital activations across the Reality Spectrum. Per Knight: “We are living in the most exciting time in fashion imagery that I have ever known. For fashion, magazine pages are being replaced by the virtual and the digital space. The audience is now fully interactive and also truly global.

Digital Fashion Designer’s Council

Antoni Tudisco, 3D and digital fashion artist who has worked with LVMH, Maison Margiela, Moncler and Balenciaga; Megan Kaspar, managing director at FirstLight and founding member of Red DAO; and fashion photographer and filmmaker Nick Knight are among the visionaries brought together by David Cash to announce the launch of non-profit association, “Digital Fashion Designer’s Council”, which aims to nurture phygital fashion and drive its trajectory.

D&G Collezione Genesi; Owned by RED DAO

“We see a ton of power in bridging the digital context that consumers are spending their time in, with the physical world of brands and the physical fashion system,” David Cash, founder and chief executive officer of Digital Fashion Designers Council, told WWD. “[It’s about] just doing a bit of a better job at connecting those points [to] actually provide connectivity, instead of just insinuating this connectivity.”

The Digital Fashion Designers Council positions itself as the foundational layer between digital and physical fashion, with the purpose of connecting fashion brands with the platforms their digitally-aware consumers spend time in. The Council aims to establish global standards for digital fashion, helping align incentives and fostering the connection of physical and digital fashion ecosystems.

David Cash, founder of Digital Fashion Designers Council, was responsible for conceptualising the first Metaverse Fashion Week for Decentraland in 2022. “We are connecting brands with the digital ecosystems in which consumers spend most of their time, from social media to gaming platforms. Over 50 per cent of the world’s population spent time on a social media app or in a video game platform today. We are creating the DFDC to bridge physical products with the digital world, connecting brands with consumers, expanding on loyalty programs, creating game integrations, XR filters, immersive experiences, and more”, says David.

This fall, users can expect cutting-edge digital activations that include hologram runways, AR mirrors, and interactive cross-platform fashion games. Encouraging early adoption, users who connect their social media and game accounts to the Digital Fashion Designers Council platform will earn points redeemable for exclusive products from their favourite brands.

According to Mike Charalambous, Executive Board member of the Digital Fashion Designers Council: “The DFDC is connecting some of the world’s leading brands with their digitally-native consumers to present a new format of programming. We are supporting brands in creating activities that incentivise users to move between platforms, from social media to game worlds to e-commerce platforms, helping create a 360 user experience in direct collaboration with many of the other incredible technical partners the DFDC has brought together.”

The Digital Fashion Designers Council is dedicated to driving the digital transformation of the fashion industry. It includes representatives from leading fashion brands and digital innovators, supported by entities such as RED DAO, Threedium, DRESSX, Beyond Studio and major social and gaming platforms worldwide. The Council includes notable figures in digital fashion, such as Marjorie Hernandez of DEMAT, Dani Loftus of DRAUP and @thisoutfitdoesnotexist, gmoney of 9dcc, and Natalia Modenova and Daria Shapovalova of DRESSX.