One of the most resonant news stories in fashion of last week was the announcement of a future court case against Dolce & Gabana and UNXD NFT Platform in New York City. In the language of fashion experts and consultants, just the first piece of the news gathered tens of millions of views and generated media value worth several million dollars, clearly exceeding the volume sold by DOLCE&GABBANA and UNXD, not to mention the current value of these NFTs.
Bloomberg was one of the first saying: "DOLCE&GABBANA USA Inc. was sued by a customer who says the NFTs he spent $6,000 on that came with outfits to wear in the metaverse lost 97% of their value because the Italian luxury fashion house bungled their delivery...
Digital outfits that showed up 20 days behind schedule 'could be used only in a metaverse platform with barely any users,' according to the plaintiff...
The complaint brought the case on behalf of a proposed class of people who bought digital assets from the NFT project. The complaint also names the NFT marketplace UNXD as a defendant."
Quite unexpectedly and with the help of our community and press publications, it was discovered that UNXD is, or at least claimed to be, co-organizer of the MVFW together with Decentraland in 2022 and 2023, after the disgraceful conduct of which the organizers dissolved part of the key executive team and abandoned their event in spring 2024. This may shed light on whom the plaintiff refers to in his lawsuit - it is likely Decentraland and the MVFW 2022 and 2023 events organized by Decentraland. And this could imply not just fraud in selling and lack of promised services but potentially manipulation, conspiracy, and a conscious scam organized by several connected legal entities, according to legal experts from the metaverse fashion scene. Both companies, Metaverse Holdings, the founder of Decentraland, and UNXD, are incorporated and raised capital in the US, which gives hope for transparency and accountability of their executives, founders, and investors.. We will find out for sure during the court proceedings.
Being perhaps the most active and largest media focused on metaverse fashion, Metaverse Fashion Council was one of the first to publish the news from Bloomberg and, following principles of openness and reputational importance, tagged those on LinkedIn who are clearly implicated on the defendant's side - UNXD and DOLCE&GABBANA, namely Shashi Menon - Founder & CEO at Nervora: VOGUE, WIRED, UNXD; Nick Gonzales, Co-Founder of UNXD and Nervora: Vogue Arabia, Wired Middle East; Delia Wagner, Partnerships Manager at UNXD; Nizar El Hachem, Founder & Managing Partner at TLF Ventures, one of the most important investors of UNXD; Lessire Ruggero Caterini, Chief Operating Officer at Dolce & Gabbana USA; Christian Barbujani, Global Innovation Manager at DOLCE&GABBANA S.r.l; Sergio Tagliapietra, VP Information Technology, Americas @ DOLCE&GABBANA; Diana Cabanzo, Marketing Vice President. We ask our community to provide us with information." The result over the week - UNXD did not respond not only to Bloomberg, but Shashi Menon and Nick Gonzales also did not react to our comment on LinkedIn, while all their posts on their accounts have been deleted, which either expresses or causes concern. DOLCE&GABBANA also did not issue an open response to Bloomberg or Metaverse Fashion Magazine, but Sergio Tagliapietra, VP Information Technology, Americas DOLCE&GABBANA, erased tagging from his name, which is definitely a reaction, though somewhat infantile.
Unexpectedly a wave of live responses came from the other side: the expert community actively connected to the news, providing and collecting information about the case and its participants - the case is too indicative for the characterization of all those involved in the previous events. More and more people are providing and sharing useful information. Thus, David Cash, a very influential and active leader of MVFW (according to Crunchbase, being on the staff of Decentraland very unambiguously announced on his account in X:
"If anyone's looking for a rabbit hill to start going down- Brown v. Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc., 24-cv-03807, US District Court, Southern District of New York
Bloomberg was one of the first saying: "DOLCE&GABBANA USA Inc. was sued by a customer who says the NFTs he spent $6,000 on that came with outfits to wear in the metaverse lost 97% of their value because the Italian luxury fashion house bungled their delivery...
Digital outfits that showed up 20 days behind schedule 'could be used only in a metaverse platform with barely any users,' according to the plaintiff...
The complaint brought the case on behalf of a proposed class of people who bought digital assets from the NFT project. The complaint also names the NFT marketplace UNXD as a defendant."
Quite unexpectedly and with the help of our community and press publications, it was discovered that UNXD is, or at least claimed to be, co-organizer of the MVFW together with Decentraland in 2022 and 2023, after the disgraceful conduct of which the organizers dissolved part of the key executive team and abandoned their event in spring 2024. This may shed light on whom the plaintiff refers to in his lawsuit - it is likely Decentraland and the MVFW 2022 and 2023 events organized by Decentraland. And this could imply not just fraud in selling and lack of promised services but potentially manipulation, conspiracy, and a conscious scam organized by several connected legal entities, according to legal experts from the metaverse fashion scene. Both companies, Metaverse Holdings, the founder of Decentraland, and UNXD, are incorporated and raised capital in the US, which gives hope for transparency and accountability of their executives, founders, and investors.. We will find out for sure during the court proceedings.
Being perhaps the most active and largest media focused on metaverse fashion, Metaverse Fashion Council was one of the first to publish the news from Bloomberg and, following principles of openness and reputational importance, tagged those on LinkedIn who are clearly implicated on the defendant's side - UNXD and DOLCE&GABBANA, namely Shashi Menon - Founder & CEO at Nervora: VOGUE, WIRED, UNXD; Nick Gonzales, Co-Founder of UNXD and Nervora: Vogue Arabia, Wired Middle East; Delia Wagner, Partnerships Manager at UNXD; Nizar El Hachem, Founder & Managing Partner at TLF Ventures, one of the most important investors of UNXD; Lessire Ruggero Caterini, Chief Operating Officer at Dolce & Gabbana USA; Christian Barbujani, Global Innovation Manager at DOLCE&GABBANA S.r.l; Sergio Tagliapietra, VP Information Technology, Americas @ DOLCE&GABBANA; Diana Cabanzo, Marketing Vice President. We ask our community to provide us with information." The result over the week - UNXD did not respond not only to Bloomberg, but Shashi Menon and Nick Gonzales also did not react to our comment on LinkedIn, while all their posts on their accounts have been deleted, which either expresses or causes concern. DOLCE&GABBANA also did not issue an open response to Bloomberg or Metaverse Fashion Magazine, but Sergio Tagliapietra, VP Information Technology, Americas DOLCE&GABBANA, erased tagging from his name, which is definitely a reaction, though somewhat infantile.
Unexpectedly a wave of live responses came from the other side: the expert community actively connected to the news, providing and collecting information about the case and its participants - the case is too indicative for the characterization of all those involved in the previous events. More and more people are providing and sharing useful information. Thus, David Cash, a very influential and active leader of MVFW (according to Crunchbase, being on the staff of Decentraland very unambiguously announced on his account in X:
"If anyone's looking for a rabbit hill to start going down- Brown v. Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc., 24-cv-03807, US District Court, Southern District of New York
In view of the importance of reputation in the media and the number of public and private messages, Metaverse Fashion Council with our Metaverse Fashion Magazine is launching an investigation, we will share everything that is reported to us and what our journalists learn: too many famous people, brands, and potential legal violations are seen in this case, which may cause a domino effect. We ask the community to continue sharing all available information and to jointly fight for the integrity of metaverse fashion.
Disclosure:
Metaverse Fashion Week 2024, organized by the Metaverse Fashion Council (whose mission is to represent the entire industry and not just specific business projects), will be hosted on November 19-24, 2024, across various 3D platforms and in various AR, VR, and XR realities, in the San Francisco Bay Area and other cities worldwide. This event has nothing in common with MVFW 2022-23 / "Metaverse Fashion Week by Decentraland," which was organized to promote, among other goals, the cryptocurrency MANA (classified by the Securities and Exchange Commission as unregistered and illegal securities), potential securities LAND, and other interconnected projects, many of which, along with their representatives, are currently scrutinized by various legal institutions and courts in the US.
We couldn't find any reliable information about the legal entity and structure behind the so-called "Decentraland Foundation" on the website decentraland.org, nor did we receive any response to our request for information about potential legal IPs or the contacts of the real and legal founders and decision-makers of the Decentraland.org platform sent to the email address legal@decentraland.org. We are still collecting information about the aforementioned issues with the "Decentraland Foundation." We want to distance our industry's event, Metaverse Fashion Week, from the past events MVFW 22-23 by Decentraland as much as possible in the eyes of the public, governments, media, and all honest businesses.
We emphasize that the metaverse fashion industry shouldn't be a hostage to any specific business project and should have the industry's event "Metaverse Fashion Week" regularly, at least twice a year, independently of anyone's individual situation and intentions—good or bad. We declare our commitment to hosting Metaverse Fashion Week (MFW) at least twice a year and developing standards of transparency, business sustainability, and creative energy.
"Fashion Week" and "Metaverse" are generic terms, and "Metaverse Fashion Week" is just the right description for an event representing the entire industry, making it another generic term. We have no ambition to register this generic term as a trademark.
We affirm that we are more than open to all honest, innovative creators and businesses. Everyone, including the Decentraland platform, is welcome to apply for participation.
Metaverse Fashion Week 2024, organized by the Metaverse Fashion Council (whose mission is to represent the entire industry and not just specific business projects), will be hosted on November 19-24, 2024, across various 3D platforms and in various AR, VR, and XR realities, in the San Francisco Bay Area and other cities worldwide. This event has nothing in common with MVFW 2022-23 / "Metaverse Fashion Week by Decentraland," which was organized to promote, among other goals, the cryptocurrency MANA (classified by the Securities and Exchange Commission as unregistered and illegal securities), potential securities LAND, and other interconnected projects, many of which, along with their representatives, are currently scrutinized by various legal institutions and courts in the US.
We couldn't find any reliable information about the legal entity and structure behind the so-called "Decentraland Foundation" on the website decentraland.org, nor did we receive any response to our request for information about potential legal IPs or the contacts of the real and legal founders and decision-makers of the Decentraland.org platform sent to the email address legal@decentraland.org. We are still collecting information about the aforementioned issues with the "Decentraland Foundation." We want to distance our industry's event, Metaverse Fashion Week, from the past events MVFW 22-23 by Decentraland as much as possible in the eyes of the public, governments, media, and all honest businesses.
We emphasize that the metaverse fashion industry shouldn't be a hostage to any specific business project and should have the industry's event "Metaverse Fashion Week" regularly, at least twice a year, independently of anyone's individual situation and intentions—good or bad. We declare our commitment to hosting Metaverse Fashion Week (MFW) at least twice a year and developing standards of transparency, business sustainability, and creative energy.
"Fashion Week" and "Metaverse" are generic terms, and "Metaverse Fashion Week" is just the right description for an event representing the entire industry, making it another generic term. We have no ambition to register this generic term as a trademark.
We affirm that we are more than open to all honest, innovative creators and businesses. Everyone, including the Decentraland platform, is welcome to apply for participation.