Cody McGrath 
Prada, an Italian luxury brand, has joined the top luxury brands on Web3 and announced the launch of their Ethereum NFTs on June 2nd.
Prada set to drop 100 ETH NFTs
Prada will offer 100 NFTs to Ethereum on Thursday to coincide with the launch of its latest Timecapsule apparel. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique blockchain tokens that serve as a representation of ownership of an asset.
In the case of Prada, buyers will receive a free NFT in addition to purchasing physical goods from Prada’s recent collaboration with Damien Hirst’s son, Cassius Hirst.
The Prada x Cassius Hirst unisex button-down shirts come in black or white, and the NFTs are a GIF of a black or white pill capsule. The NFT includes the drop serial number and numbering of each physical item for an accurate match.
The Hirsts are no strangers to NFTs: Damien’s debut collection, The Currency, was released in July 2021 and almost a year later has a reserve price of 5.2 ETH ($9,360) per NFT.
Unlike Damien’s NFT drop, Prada’s Cassius drop NFT will not pressure buyers to choose between a digital and physical product; You will receive both.
Prada joins the NFT movement
Prada’s latest NFT release has been endorsed by the Aura Blockchain Consortium. Aura is a non-profit organization founded by LVMH, Prada and Cartier.
It uses Quorum, an Ethereum-based blockchain platform that offers blockchain as a service, ConsenSys rollups, and other blockchain-related services.
Prada’s Timecapsule releases began in 2019 as a limited-edition product launch strategy. Purchasers of previous Timecapsule releases will receive NFTs at a later date, according to a statement.
However, this isn’t Prada’s first NFT experiment. The brand previously teamed up with Adidas to create the Adidas for Prada Resource collection, which was launched at Polygon in January.
For now, it looks like Prada is still mostly focused on real goods, with NFTs serving as an added free bonus. While NFTs may be new to some, luxury businesses can benefit immensely from blockchain-based product authentication.
Luxury brands and crypto space
Cutting-edge brands are entering the crypto and Web3 space.
On May 23, French fashion company Balenciaga announced that it would accept cryptocurrencies as payment for its products. Initially, the service will be available at the company’s New York and Los Angeles locations on Madison Avenue and Rodeo Drive, respectively.
Italian luxury fashion company Gucci announced it would start accepting cryptocurrency payments in five of its US stores by the end of May, with plans to expand the service to all of its 111 North American locations.
Additionally, some other luxury merchants have started accepting cryptocurrencies. In March, Off-White introduced a similar payment system in its flagship stores in Paris, London and Milan.
Other brands like Tag Heuer and LVMH Hot announced earlier this month that a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum, will be accepted for payment at checkout.