In March 2024, Parisian haute couture house Maison Margiela announced its foray into the metaverse with a digital rendition of the iconic Tabi Boots. Limited to just 15 available in the most exclusive color and a mere 1,500 in the second, these boots are not made for your average bitmoji—rather, they represent the key to an exclusive club.

Yet no matter how skilled the craftspeople are behind Maison Margiela’s physical goods, which have been influential ever since the designer’s first runway show in 1990, most high-fashion brands turn to a digital atelier when reimagining a product for the virtual realm. That’s where The Fabricant comes into the equation.

Based in Amsterdam, The Fabricant is a team of technologists and designers who believe in the long-lasting value of digital fashion. Why does a fashion company believe more in bits and pixels than leather or silk? For Kerry Murphy, The Fabricant’s co-founder and CEO, that question is easily answerable with just three words: sustainability, scalability and profitability.

“We at The Fabricant are true believers that the digital has more value than the physical itself,” Murphy recently told OpenSea. 

In the end, he says, fashion is about self-expression. And fast fashion—an industry that seems unable to stop hemorrhaging wastewater, oozing contaminates and shedding microplastics into the rivers throughout each step of the manufacturing process—ruins the fun of it all. Murphy doesn’t see why we can’t preserve the novelty and freedom of expression that fast fashion has given us, but with the sustainability of digital renderings.

“If a brand sells one million digital items, we only need to produce one because it's just a copy/paste digitally,” he explained. The Fabricant envisions a future 500 years from now where individuals wear minimal physical clothing for warmth and functionality, but adopt digital dresses and accessories in online spaces to express their identity and personality.

Yet, for fashion brands, Murphy says, the business model still demands selling physical clothing. And nobody sees that changing any time soon. That said, consumer behavior does change from generation to generation. And today, younger consumers are online.

Here comes the “scalable” part of Murphy’s thesis: Digital fashion can provide a new and exciting customer acquisition channel that brings first-time buyers into luxury and designer ecosystems while activating their critical thinking skills about consumption, sustainability and style. This idea, he says, sells itself, ideally leading to part three of Murphy’s position, “profitability.”

“Fashion brands come to their own conclusions,” he said. “They say, ‘Hey, actually we should be doing more digital.’” And when they do, The Fabricant is there. The collaboration then becomes a cutting-edge exploration into the many ways digital items can unlock physical utility like perks, events and exclusive access to VIP experiences.

“It’s a connection to new audiences,” said Murphy. 

On April 16, Maison Margiela will be the next high-end fashion brand to dip its well-constructed couture shoe into this emerging channel of customer engagement. Here’s a look at what the brand has in store.

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What to know about the upcoming Maison Margiela MetaTABI mint

Maison Margiela’s MetaTABI collection will offer a unique token-gated product experience in which token holders in both The Sandbox and Ready Player Me can enjoy access to special perks, possibly even including a limited-edition pair of boots or leather wallet.

Benefits of owning a MetaTABI

According to a press release from The Fabricant, these are the benefits unlocked by owning a MetaTABI:

Tier 1 benefits:

• MetaTABI NFT White: a rare digital fashion collectible limited to 15 pieces
• Physical limited edition hand-made Tabi Boots: crafted in a limited edition with a golden foil animation applied manually respecting the Maison’s craftsmanship, only 15 pairs available
• Mint-Pass: provides priority access to Maison Margiela’s upcoming Web3 projects, including exclusive programming, virtual experiences (gaming activations) and Web3 side projects (collaborative partnerships).
• Invitations to Web3 community events and activations
• Gaming wearables for Ready Player Me and The Sandbox
• Experience of MetaTABI as sculptures in Augmented Reality

Tier 2 benefits:

• MetaTABI NFT Black: a digital fashion collectible limited to 1,500 pieces
• Physical customized black leather Maison Margiela wallet
• Mint-Pass: Provides priority access to Maison Margiela’s upcoming Web3 projects, including exclusive programming, virtual experiences (gaming activations) and Web3 side projects (collaborative partnerships).
• Invitations to Web3 community events and activations
• Gaming wearables for Ready Player Me and The Sandbox
• Experience of MetaTABI as sculptures in Augmented Reality

Will there be a physical pair of boots?

Tier 1 holders will enjoy the privilege of owning a limited-edition handmade physical pair of Tabi boots, while Tier 2 holders will receive a custom leather wallet. 

Owning a MetaTABI NFT also grants access to Tabi wearables within The Sandbox and Ready Player Me experiences.

Digital TABI wearables will be available starting June 10. Likewise, the physical product claiming period for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 holders will commence on June 10 and last until July 10, 2024. During this period, holders will need to provide size details and a shipping address, with all shipping costs covered by the brand.

Where and when to mint

Mark your calendars! The MetaTABI collection will make its debut on The Fabricant’s website (sign up for your reminder here). The pre-sale process is made possible thanks to a special Multi Token Minter smart contract developed by Aura Blockchain Consortium. Exclusive early access will be granted to individuals who secured tokens through Maison Margiela's Web3 numbers game, Maison Margiela VIC, as well as members of The Fabricant community and those who subscribed in advance to the pre-sale newsletter and Discord channels. 

For eligible community members, the 14-hour pre-sale begins April 16 at 18:00 CET (12 pm ET or 9 am PT). 

The Public Sale starts on April 17 at 8:00 CET (11 pm PT or 2 am ET on April 18) and will last for 72 hours or until supply sells out.