Ty Haney Is Doing Things Differently This Time

Products like Foundation aim to bring mainstream creators and their audiences to crypto by allowing them to fund creative projects and earn new revenue streams. Reddit hopes to grow engagement by leveraging community currencies to make users actual owners of their sub's internal economy. Imagine users taking a loan against a pair of tokenized Yeezy... See more

Decentralized "brand factories" are using a DAO-based model to give consumers a stake in community-owned brands.

“NFTs offer new ways for engaging customers,” explains Jaime Schmidt, the cofounder of Color Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in consumer brands and “Web3,” the term that refers to the blockchain-based decentralization of the internet. “For example, NFTs could unlock access to participation in focus groups, [or] private events available... See more

New brands need ways to bootstrap early demand and build loyalty without spending all of their money on Facebook and Google ads. A new DTC sneaker brand might bundle NFTs with online sneaker purchases that are more rare the earlier you are, or even show off your customer number. The Allbirds #1 NFT would be a weird, cool status signifier among cert... See more

So far, chatter around blockchain in fashion has largely centered around legacy brands using ledgers of provenance to nip high-street cooptation and Canal Street counterfeits in the bud. Karl and Angelo are more interested in establishing provenance for the sake of profit redistribution, especially for creators who have accrued cultural capital wit... See more

More positively, establishing a track record through proof of passion may finally enable a scalable business model for independent cool-hunters and curators. Those who consistently invest in overlooked and underappreciated items that then wildly succeed will be sought after. Marketers and algorithms will surveil their purchases, swarming in after. ... See more