STAFFONLY’s designer duo on Fashions NFT Opportunity in China

Shimo Zhou and Une Yea, founders of menswear brand STAFFONLY, are the next stars to be welcomed into Jing Daily’s community of individuals shaping China’s booming luxury fashion industry. These profiles spotlight industry leaders who contribute to national and global fashion communities, from creatives and influencers to business executives and entrepreneurs.

From creative minds to business brains, partnerships keep the wheels of the fashion world turning. A great local team is Shimo Zhou and Une Yea, the duo behind menswear company STAFFONLY. They graduated with an MA in Menswear Design from the London College of Fashion and an MA in Accessories Design from the Royal College of Arts respectively, and began their collaboration for their final projects on these courses before founding the brand in 2015.

To celebrate the launch of its Fall 2022 collection, the label launched STAFFONLY️ AUCTION, a virtual auction platform where the company’s own collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were displayed and auctioned off. In collaboration with creative studio Studio Office, the project features a group of virtual 3D characters wearing the house’s current season and series of UGG Tasman shoes.

The auction was designed to be a physical sale held during Shanghai Fashion Week; however, the unexpected Shanghai lockdown disrupted the schedule. The initiative has always attracted a large number of participants via its online alternative, with an average of hundreds of bids for the virtual prizes.

Here, we caught up with the design duo to learn more about their brand journey, discuss the implications of NFTs, and take a look behind the scenes of their first virtual auction.

Tell us about your day. And what does your division of labor look like?

We’re more business partners than just a design duo, and we don’t really have very clear divisions in our day-to-day operations. Our roles are fluid, that is to say interchangeable and complementary. Likewise, the organizational structure of the brand tends to be horizontal, which allows us to work as a team per project and to be able to exchange ideas and feedback. We consider ourselves as important as all the other members of the team. That’s why we never appeared in show encores. We don’t want the public to focus their attention on us.

I see. And how are today’s menswear consumers different from seven years ago when STAFFONLY debuted? And how do you adapt to the changes?

Today’s consumers are more dynamic. They have more choice and a greater awareness of style. More importantly, they have also shown more willingness to share their interests and thoughts due to the rise of social media. As such, we’ve tried to target a broader demographic across many aspects including (but not limited to) age, profession, and mindset.

For example, we highlighted finance for the Fall/Winter 2021 collection and collaborated with Bank of China on a credit card project, which led to a significant increase in sales at a retailer located at the Bund Finance Center, in Shanghai. And we explored social phobia for the Spring/Summer 2022 season and engaged many consumers to share their personal experiences with us.

How have day-to-day operations been affected by the Shanghai lockdown?

Well, we planned the Fall/Winter 2022 presentation with online and offline formats, but we had to reschedule it virtually. Meanwhile, buyers cannot see and feel the samples in showrooms as usual. The only solution is to add more visual resources, including videos and photos, to help them discover and navigate the collection.

The COVID spike is like a test to measure a brand’s agility. We’ve noticed that brands are responding to this in different ways: some may delay presentations until the lockdown is lifted, but we’ve chosen to keep pace so as not to disappoint audiences. Being able to move forward in this particular situation actually gives us positive energy.

So, is that where the idea of ​​a virtual auction came from?

We were inspired by the theme of vanity which has become a typical feature commonly seen on social media and functions not only as virtual recognition but also as a unique social currency in today’s digital landscape. today. That’s why we invented likecoins as virtual currency for auctions. By exchanging likes collected on participants’ social networks for likecoins, they can use these likecoins to bid on NFTs which then function as a materialized medium embodied by their virtual recognition.

How was it received?

It was excellently received. The auction was very intense with hundreds of bids for each lot. It was so exciting. Many participants have told us that it was one of the most exciting and fun activities they have ever experienced. Some of the winners use the NFTs as profile pictures for their social accounts; they see these characters as their virtual avatars during the pandemic.

NFT collaborations have recently exploded in China. What is your opinion on the opportunities presented by NFTs for fashion?

This COVID spike has given more attention to NFTs, and many brands have released NFT-inspired projects. In my opinion, NFTs are just a means of expression. It is the content you want to express that is most important. Like how we approached NFTs for the Fall/Winter 2022 presentation: the key message was about virtual recognition in the age of social media, but not limited to NFTs.

Many local tech giants have made inroads into digital fashion, collaborating with designer brands. What is the biggest challenge for digital fashion?

The biggest challenge for digital fashion is that the required technology is not yet developed. It cannot be tried on and returned in real time like physical clothing. However, the concept allows brands to break orthodox rules and showcase more avant-garde works, which definitely means a new space for creators.