By Theo Brixey-Williams
Artists have called NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) an ‘ecological nightmare pyramid scheme’ – a substantial claim – but with $150M worth of tokens and the energy consumption needed to uphold the blockchain, digital art, especially digital fashion, runs contrary to the sustainable, eco-conscious market that Fashion strives to create. As consumers, we hold the power to affect the fashion market’s values through supporting and boycotting, and with physical garments, this may have been easier: a fast-fashion item can be imagined ending up in landfill (we can even see these images floating around in media). But when we consider the environmental impacts of NFTs, their lack of physicality may beg less thought about their consequences. The first port of call then needs to be nudging consumers towards the detrimental emissions they cause.
So what is the NFT Blockchain? Specifically, the Ethereum blockchain, where most NFTs are minted to, can be explained simply as a system where users are paid in cryptocurrency to categorise and log transactions on publicly available ledgers. This uses the computer’s GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) and is powered by electricity, which may sound clean, but without widespread renewable energy available in 2022, this still contributes to major fossil fuel emissions, the Crypto market even being a bigger contributor annually than the footprint of Slovakia.
Adding this dimension to fashion, some houses have capitalized on the trend, creating their own NFT artwork in a range of mediums – short film, image, video, 3D printer file – with brands even springing up as entirely digital retailers or concept artists. One design I became enamored with was Kacimi Latamene x ASICS’s concept sneakers with their snaking, viscous forms (something that seems so impractical to a 3D printer it may just exist better as a concept) finding the delicate middle between 80’s sci-fi and innovation. RTFKT, a sneaker brand then bought by Nike Inc., also creates items for the internet natives, with gen-Z cartoon and video game references to build up this unconventional, quirky brand identity.
It’s clear how much creative potential these types of brand have when explored in a cyberspace, however this does come at a significant cost. It would be naïve to try and eliminate NFT’s as a new creative outlet for budding young internet artists to be daring – just look at Mason Rothschild’s ‘Metabirkins’ and how he mocks and plays with Hermès’ renowned collectible. But just as consumers must be mindful, we must urge creators and distributors to share that mindfulness. And this leads me onto the topic of transparency. If we already have tangible brands, like the New Zealand based Allbirds, placing a Carbon emissions score on the label of each product, then why can’t this concept be applied to the Fashion blockchain? And with other Blockchains (‘hic et nunc’ and ‘KodaDot’) already being vocal about transparency and minimizing their own emissions, a shift to Carbon Neutrality in this complex, new facet to fashion may be easier than we think.