IN|RIFT, the metaverse fashion industry newcomer, aims to bridge the physical and digital world gap. The company wants to transform the sector, creating an intersection between gaming and fashion.
In an exclusive interview with NFTevening, Co-Founder Florent Sroka told us that he wants to rethink and rebuild what we know about fashion.
The Pioneer Collection
Firstly, IN|RIFT’s goal is to create top-quality 3D utility wearables. These NFTs will feature physical or digital utility and the first collection will debut in January.
The Pioneer collection (先駆者) will debut on Flow network early next year – so keep a lookout. There is a max supply of 3,333. The drop will be staggered between three dates. Incredibly, each piece will cost just 30 Flow. IN|RIFT stated they want “to reward our first believers through all our initial development phases” therefore purposely keeping their pricing low. Clearly, Community is at the heart of their thinking process.
IN|RIFT’s genesis collection reflects their love of videogames, pop-culture and Japanese Fashion. To illustrate, the Japanese symbol “Senku-sha”, meaning “pioneer”, is the central emblem for the collection. The team sees this as a tribute to what they have grown up alongside.
On Flow and Working within the Dapper Labs Ecosystem
Florent told us that IN|RIFT chose the Flow Blockchain for an important reason. He believes that the process of NFT creating, buying and selling is too complicated for the random person without crypto knowledge. Moreover, he told us Flow “tackled these issues head-on, making a straightforward process”. Plus Florent has ” a great admiration for Dapper Labs and their forward-thinking approach”.
Essentiallty, he explained it is essential for the mass market to understand the process, adding “we wanted a scalable solution from day one”.
The journey from Gaming to Fashion
Florent first became aware of the potential of NFTs when he began to work as a consultant, helping brands understand NFTs. He quickly realized that the fashion industry needs to adapt how they operate. Using his extensive background in tech and gaming, specifically AdTech and FinTech, he said IN|RIFT can “help traditional brands to understand and embrace the digital era”. Plus, he adds they will “help small independent designers and brands to develop”.
IN|RIFT aims to solve three major problems within the fashion ecosystem. Overproduction is a huge issue, and NFTs can help to reduce waste with on-demand ranges. Secondly, IN|RIFT want to move away from the centralized creation process, and they think NFTs offer an excellent decentralization process.
Revenue sharing is also a big issue, and Florent wants more rewards for the community who help keep the brands afloat.
The future of IN|RIFT
IN|RIFT aims to be a “hub for premium brands to merge the physical and digital experience” in five years, and the company will scale their distribution process accordingly.
Currently, IN|RIFT is a small company with five employees, including the two co-founders, Florent and Julien. Juliene Carriere, the other co-founder, is an entrepreneur with a background in building businesses. They work alongside a CTO, a lead back end and a marketing expert. The team is small but don’t underestimate them; they have huge plans and a remarkable skill set.
The company has plans to expand early next year. Florent tells us that “it is crucial to get the small details right”. Indeed, there is no need to rush the process and they are adopting a ‘quality over quantity’ approach.
IN|RIFT – virtual and digital fashion experiences
The primary purpose of IN|RIFT is to create virtual collections for parallel realities merged with physical experiences. Florent wants the company to “rethink and rebuild what we know about fashion”. He also stated that the company is “the intersection of gaming and fashion”, aiming to “turn what we know about fashion upside down.”
The company is also aware that it will need to help existing and future brands and designers to create 3D collections as NFTs. They are building the tools to do this and distribute them. It will handle everything from creation to utility and distribution and management.
Regarding the future of fashion, IN|RIFT told us “tomorrows major player in the fashion industry will be born in the digital world first”. Naturally, they want to be a part of this new digital era, helping to shape the fashion industry’s new path.
Pioneer is the IN|RIFT genesis collection, but much more is to come. Florent shared with us some exclusive news. There are two brands already lined up for Q1-Q2, 2022. After that, IN|RIFT will release collections with a different brand every quarter. Along with the IN|RIFT personal collections, they will focus on offering drops from exclusive partnerships, brands and creators. They will focus on people they believe will move the fashion world forward.
IN|RIFT: Metaverse Fashion for your Avatar
Florent tells us that the team is reverse-engineering the creation of a metaverse. The next stage after this is to create an avatar for people to dress in their clothing NFTs. After the avatar, the team will add the social gamification aspect. Finally, they will make their virtual world.
There are also plans for a digital marketplace, an IN|RIFT native mobile app and an exclusive event in Paris Q4- 2022.
Furthermore, Florent also told us that he owns some metaverse NFTs, including Lands and Sandbox, so perhaps it won’t be long before we see an IN|RIFT store popping up in the metaverse.
Finally, In the interview, we asked Florent what Brands he would like IN|RIFT to work with. He chose Balenciaga because they are a true pioneer, the watch brand Bell and Ross and the UFC. Who knows what the future will bring.
If you want to know more about this upcoming fashion-defining company, check them out here. The fashion industry desperately needs to be more forward-thinking in its approach to the digital era, so it is important that companies like IN|RIFT are coming along to bridge the gap.