Artists, designers and luxury brands are proving the real-world utility of nonfungible tokens and blockchain technology, with NFT Paris attracting thousands of visitors to France’s capital.
The third edition of NFT Paris, hosted in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower at the Grand Palais Éphémère, showcased Web3’s increasing impact on various industries. Cointelegraph was on the ground to speak to individuals at the forefront of the growing intersection of blockchain technology and mainstream adoption.
Putting the fashion in NFT
Paris is synonymous with fashion, and NFT Paris was no exception. Attendees showcased impeccable taste and style matched with their growing appreciation for the technology driving innovation in the sector.
Brian Trunzo, vice president and head of business development at Polygon Labs, spoke with Cointelegraph during a walkthrough of the exhibition hall. The former attorney, who also founded a successful fashion brand, now drives the onboarding of fashion brands to Polygon’s Ethereum-scaling layer-2 ecosystem.
Visitors gather for a fashion show during NFT Paris in February 2024.
Before joining Polygon, Trunzo had been consulting for large brands and exploring NFTs and blockchain use cases from 2017 onward. The digital ownership exhibited by Decentraland, CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity, as well as the in-game skins of League of Legends, served as an example of the potential in these virtual environments.
Trunzo said that while fashion is “known to be an avant-garde and progressive industry,” the reality is that its cogs, from supply chain to design and retail, are decades old, slow and clunky:
“What captivated the minds of a lot of folks in fashion when it comes to Web3 is their ability to sell new stuff. You can only sell so many shirts or shoes.”
Trunzo added that the ruthless nature of the business, where growth and margins mean everything, is being disrupted by the idea that brands can sell digital items or digitize and improve processes.
“It breaks fashion people’s brains……
