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Louis Vuitton’s latest product drop as part of its ongoing Via NFT project nods to today’s cowboy fever and the brand’s predilection for high-priced, limited-edition collectibles.
Today, a leather varsity jacket that originally appeared on the Autumn/Winter 2024 men’s runway in January becomes available to 200 holders of Louis Vuitton’s Via NFTs. The jacket — designed by Pharrell Williams and replete with suede buckskin, iridescent snaps and an embroidered logo — costs €7,900 and is sold as both a physical garment and a digital ‘collectible’ NFT. Holders can buy the jacket via a token-gated website, and will receive the physical version in November or December.
Introduced last June, Via (a play on the word ‘road’, and nodding to the token-gated aspects of the project) originally sold phygital treasure trunks for €39,000, linked to soulbound (non-transferable) NFTs. Only a few hundred were available, and those who own one of the Via NFTs — they had to apply, and cannot transfer ownership — can now purchase subsequent exclusive pieces from the brand. People can sell the subsequent NFT purchases, meaning that Via holders who buy one of the exclusive phygital runway items can sell them on the open market.
The jacket is the third runway product available exclusively to Via holders. The first was an orange monogram Speedy 40 bag, which appeared during Williams’s debut show last June, shortly after the Via project was introduced, for an estimated €8,500. This was followed in November by a €6,000 digital mini trunk, designed by women’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière for the SS24 runway.
It’s unclear just how many people own a Via Treasure Trunk NFT, or how many have gone on to purchase subsequent exclusive items, as Vuitton’s rollout has been very high-touch and private. (NFT marketplace OpenSea estimates 144 owners.) Instead of enabling anyone with the available funds to buy a limited-edition trunk, Louis Vuitton invited interested parties to connect their crypto wallets (which also revealed how much crypto the person owned in that wallet); if approved, Louis Vuitton manually airdropped the NFT.
This helped ward against the scrutiny of the open market, as well as troubleshoot any technical difficulties that can occur with open drops. It’s also a departure from the traditionally transparent and hands-off nature of NFT drops, but consistent with luxury’s mindset. At a time when NFT drops have decelerated to a slow drip, it also offers some protection to the brand, as the Via project was introduced at a time when cryptocurrency valuations, and consumer interest, were waning.
As part of the rollout, influential personalities in the Web3 fashion space were gifted Via NFTs, including Rug Radio founder Farokh Sarmad, founder and CEO of NFT collection Deadfellaz Betty and Web3 fashion investor Megan Kaspar. Other owners include DJ Steve Aoki, Ledger CXO Ian Rogers.
The brand also launched a Discord server in September. Discord has become a core social media platform for Web3 projects, enabling token-gated chats, polls and two-way dialogues with community members. Similarly to luxury’s NFT drops, Discord conversations have grown much quieter in recent months — though Louis Vuitton is still posting news to its wider community (it also has a token-gated area for holders). It has recently shared information on its connected LV Nanogram speaker, its presence at the NFT Paris conference, Louis Vuitton trivia and promotion of podcast episodes.
Interest remains in fashion NFTs. Syky Collective designers have sold a number of high-value fashion NFTs in recent months, including a phygital baseball cap from Taskin Goec for 1 ETH (about $3,000 at the time) during London Fashion Week; and six total pieces from designers Stephy Fung and Nextberries each ranging from 0.1 ETH to 0.7 ETH (about $300 to $2,300 at the time) during the NFT Paris conference. Artist Claire Silver’s digital fashion collection, created using generative AI, sold out in January for an approximate total of $1.17 million.
Still, it remains to be seen what’s next for luxury’s NFT strategies. Even though crypto valuations have rallied, the influence of Web3’s community of ‘degens’ hasn’t. By going after ultra-high-net-worth customers and leaning on exclusivity, Louis Vuitton is tapping into an existing audience that might be intrigued by the additional perk of access through a new technology, rather than hoping to capitalise on the larger fashion-curious crypto crowd.
Correction: Updated to reflect which owners were gifted the Via NFT. 22 April, 2024
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