On the heels of its Spring 23 collection, which took cues from the 90s Tokyo club scene, Ambush is back in the industry spotlight: this time, for its latest collaboration with one of Web3’s most prolific NFT collectives, Azuki. The limited-edition capsule collection, inspired by traditional Eastern craftsmanship, marries together Ambush’s trademark contemporary minimalism with Azuki’s distinctive Web3 aesthetic to celebrate the merging of design creativity across the two worlds.
Like most fashion collections now that utilize the virtual landscape, the capsule will be a fully phygital series, meaning owners will receive both an online and offline counterpart of their item. A selection of the physical Azuki x Ambush items will feature a Physically Backed Token (PBT) “Bean” Chip embedded in the fabric, which powers innovative blockchain ownership verification technology created exclusively by Azuki. When owners scan the chip with their phone, the PBT will be minted and digitally transferred to the holder’s cryptocurrency wallet, both authenticating the item and tying it to a digital token.
This integration of verifiable technology in garments comes on the back of Azuki’s Golden Skateboard auction, which saw eight 24-karat Golden Skateboards fetch $2.5 million in ETH — an event which quickly blazed through the social media domains of Web3 enthusiasts and set the record for the most expensive skateboard in history. It also marked the first time that the project introduced its PBT “Bean” Chip into its products.
The conversation about NFT authenticity isn’t particularly new. But with more fashion brands joining the space than ever before, it’s now on everyone's radar. Only last month anonymous NFT collector gmoney shipped the inaugural apparel collection from his 9dcc label featuring a similar strain of technology, which connected a physical item of clothing to its virtual token through an NFC chip embedded in the fabric.
While Ambush has previously dabbled in crypto art with its Pow! Reboot Rings, it has never released a digital-first project on this scale. But this latest campaign is set to put the Japanese label on the map among some of the metaverse’s top NFT projects, as well as potentially pulling Azuki from the niche corners of the internet and bringing it to a more mainstream fashion audience.
The scaled-back line, which consists of two hoodies in a cloud and black colorway as well as two pendants available in silver and gold, will be available to purchase using ETH via a raffle taking place on November 9 on azuki.com.