Balmain – a French luxury fashion house – has collaborated with Barbie to introduce a collection that includes both fashion NFTs and physical products.
“Connecting to culture is a core component of Mattel’s Playbook, and Barbie is a globally recognised icon in fashion and pop culture, which creates an interesting intersection between the brand, art and collectability,” said Richard Dickson, President and COO of Mattel which is the parent company of Barbie, adding, “Through Barbie’s collaboration with Balmain, we’re harnessing the power of our mutually innovative heritage to invite all fans to experience the art, fashion and culture that both brands offer, in a unique way.”
Balmain and Barbie’s limited-edition collection features ready-to-wear items as well as Barbie and Ken NFTs that will be auctioned off online, with the signature colour Pink that’s Barbie’s favourite colour.
The NFTs are scheduled to be up for sale on 13 January on Mint NFT, a premium NFT marketplace.
Txampi Diz, CMO of Balmain, is all positive for the future of fashion NFTs and believes them to be a powerful customer engagement tools…
“I believe it is going to completely change the fashion industry, and it will have the same impact as when social media first started or when the internet first launched,” commented Diz.
Oliver Rousteing, Creative Director of Balmain, informed in the press release, “This collection rejects any arbitrary gender limitations — this is an almost 100 per cent unisex collection. Today’s Barbie makes it clear that there’s nothing holding us back anymore
It’s worth noting here that Balmain and Barbie have been working on this collaboration for over two years. The project first came into existence in late 2018, soon after Balmain launched its first ad campaign starring a trio of computer-generated models.
“We wanted to find a way to go further in how to bring those CGI models to life and go deeper into that model,” Diz shared, adding, “From the beginning we knew this was going to be a digital collaboration, but the concept of an NFT was not part of the global context yet.”
