Cody McGrath 
Italian luxury fashion brand Prada joined top luxury brands in Web3 and announced the release of its Ethereum NFTs on June 2nd
Prada To Distribute 100 ETH NFTs On Thursday
Gucci, Balmain, and Balenciaga are all going into cryptocurrency, and Prada is following suit with the launching of its own NFTs.
Prada is an Italian luxury fashion house founded by Mario Prada in 1913. Leather purses, travel items, shoes, ready-to-wear, perfumes, and other fashion accessories are its specialties.
Prada will distribute 100 Ethereum NFTs on Thursday to coincide with the premiere of their Timecapsule clothing. NFTs are one-of-a-kind blockchain tokens that represent asset ownership.
Timecapsule Clothing
Buyers of Prada’s latest collaboration with Cassius Hirst, son of artist Damien Hirst, will receive a complimentary airdropped NFT in addition to the purchase of their actual goods.
The Prada x Cassius Hirst unisex button-down shirts come in black or white, with a GIF of a black or white pill capsule as the NFT.
The NFTs will have a number associated with each physical shirt as well as the drop’s serial number.
The Hirsts are no strangers to NFTs: Damien’s debut collection, “The Currency,” was released in July of last year and has a floor price of 5.2 ETH ($9,360) per NFT almost a year later.
Unlike Damien’s NFT drop, Prada’s NFTs from Cassius’s drop will not force buyers to choose between a digital and physical asset—they will receive both.
Prada’s NFTs Experiment
Prada’s latest NFT release was backed by the Aura Blockchain Consortium. LVMH, Prada, and Cartier formed Aura, a non-profit organization.
It employs Quorum, an Ethereum-based blockchain platform that provides blockchain-as-a-service, ConsenSys Rollups, and other blockchain-related services.
Prada’s Timecapsule releases began in 2019 as a means for the company to release limited-edition goods. According to a statement, buyers of past Timecapsule releases will receive NFTs at a later date.
However, this isn’t Prada’s first NFT experiment. The company previously collaborated with Adidas to develop the “Adidas for Prada re-source” collection, which debuted on Polygon in January.
Prada’s latest entry into NFTs implies that the brand’s primary focus is still on real goods, with NFTs serving as a sort of free bonus. While NFTs may still be considered fresh to some, luxury firms might benefit greatly from blockchain-based product authentication.