The high-end global marketplace for sneakers, The Edit LDN is progressing into the metaverse by creating a premium store within Bloktopia’s crypto paradise. London-based founder Moses Rashid entered the brand into Harrods in October of 2021, but is now taking the sneaker community to the next stage in their purchasing journey for luxury products by setting up shop virtually.
“We clearly see a trend that luxury brands need a Web3 strategy, and for us, this feels like a natural fit. We’re finding our audience is more digitally focussed, has an interest in Crypto and NFTs, and an increasing desire to attain product in different ways. Our partnership with Bloktopia is our first big step to executing our vision of being the most innovative player in the market ” said Moses Rashid, founder of The Edit LDN.
Moses launched the business in January 2020, and has scaled the company to new heights with a 525% growth from Y1 to Y2 & on track to deliver another 500% growth in Y3, making The Edit LDN the UK’s no1 sneaker destination for servicing a global audience.
Streetwear retailers have in recent years increasingly launched limited editions of some of their products—sneakers, but also other clothing. A number of designer labels have followed suit. That has spawned big business in the resale market, with buyers snapping up in-demand products and selling them on at a profit. Despite the higher price tag – consumers are falling over themselves to be the first to own the hottest drops. The Edit LDN have deep rooted relationships across this market to provide the most limited and exclusive items for their customers at lightning speed, plus with commercial partnerships with Harrods & Threads Styling, it’s like buying from any other store except the higher quality in customer service.
For those who have been sleeping on web3, the Metaverse is the bridge between physical and virtual worlds within the decentralised and open source virtual world. Cryptographic protocols will emerge for managing digital value, for example, digital art, real estate & advertising space. The facilitators that make this happen will be NFT’s on the Blockchain allowing for affordable and rapid transactions.
Bloktopia, is a VR Skyscraper made up of 21 levels to pay recognition to 21 million Bitcoin. It contains everything that anyone will ever need to know about the benefits and pitfalls of Cryptocurrency, Blockchains and NFTs. Built in the Unity gaming engine on Web3 technology, the Bloktopia metaverse is the next iteration of the internet, allowing users to achieve anything that can be done in the real world. It is focused on social connection, but without the boundaries of geographical location. Its visitors will learn about crypto from trusted sources like University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies. They will be able to earn cryptocurrency, play games, socialise with friends, be creative and buy things they desire.
Bloktopia launched its token $BLOK in late 2021, and took the crypto sector by storm, claiming the most successful launch of the year – returning over 1000x for early investors. And with an organic following into the millions, when the metaverse goes live, expected later this year, it will become an entertainment destination of choice for many.
Ross Tavakoli, CEO of Blocktopia, said: “As a big sneakerhead myself, we’re really pleased to be able to partner with the UK’s number 1 sneaker destination, Edit LDN. Fortnite makes $2m a day from in-app purchases like skins (digital clothing) for avatars. Bloktopia will offer a different, interoperable option. Allowing the purchase of digital wearables, in this case sneakers, through an NFT function which means they won’t be restricted to just our metaverse, and can be worn across hundreds of games and other metaverses. That makes the fashion industry and the metaverse such a good fit, as it creates a whole new income stream for our partners like Edit LDN. The customer can also be sent the sneakers physically too.”
The meshing of these two worlds go hand in hand – consumers are just as likely to purchase the hottest garms for their avatar as they are themselves. It’s also about two companies, passionate about what they do – Rashid being a sneaker collector himself and Tavakoli adopting this space as early as 2015, both entities are disruptors in their own space and early adopters of web3 and NFT’s will be quick to jump on this.
The possibilities for this partnership are endless, as the metaverse changes and evolves so does the sneaker world. Bloktopians will be able to purchase an ‘Edit LDN’ sneaker NFT for their avatar and then receive an in hand sneaker for themselves.
This is yet another step in Moses Rashid’s plan for The Edit to become ‘the Amazon of the sneaker world’, after just launching The Edit’s same day service which is a resale first. Moses Rashid added: “We live in the Amazon age of Now, so we’ve focussed our business on ensuring the supply chain works quickly and scale on a global level. This is a real game-changer for a market that traditionally took 2-4 weeks for product to arrive. Looking forward, we see customers interacting with the shopping experience in different & interesting ways. With this in mind, The Edit LDN will be the bridge for both the physical and virtual worlds, through Sneakers ”
