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Alo Yoga is rolling out NFTs to owners of its Aspen collection, the athleisure brand’s first premium line at its highest price point to date, released last autumn. The ski suits, puffer jackets and cashmere sweaters from the 17-piece collection, priced from $650 to $1,500, have been paired with digital twins that unlock real-life experiences as part of the brand’s bigger push to digitise its loyalty programme.
Those who purchased a piece from the collection, which debuted during a New York Fashion Week presentation in September 2022 and sold out in under a month, will, throughout February, receive an email that links out to a microsite where they can claim their NFT. Holders will receive rotating 3D digital renderings of these pieces upon claiming their certificate, which links to in-person utility. They can unlock rewards including access to Alo Houses (week-long events at tentpole moments such as fashion weeks); a personal training session at an Alo Wellness Club (there’s one in Beverly Hills, Soho, New York, and a Miami club on its way); and access to a private client manager for personal shopping and styling advice, gaining them first dibs on new styles, colours and drops.
“All of this is exclusive, invite-only to our community,” says Alo Yoga VP of marketing Angelic Vendette, who previously worked for Elle Canada and was an advisor for the Sephora Accelerate programme. Granting holders access to spaces not open to the public adds an extra layer of exclusivity to the purchase, she says.
Created in partnership with agency Digital Twin Studios, the project aims to onboard Alo consumers to blockchain tech without bogging them down with offputting crypto jargon. It’s the latest in a line of projects that lean into the benefits of Web3 technology for community-building via on-chain loyalty, while relegating the actual tech itself to the backend. Once customers have claimed their digital certificates, they can access a booking page to secure a personal training session. It’s token-gated, but you wouldn’t know it. As long as you’ve got your digital certificate, you’re good to go.
This was intentional. “We’re not using [NFT] language. We’re using ‘digital certificate of authenticity’ so it feels natural to our community,” Vendette says. The NFTs’ distribution is powered by Moonpay’s Hypermint “self-service” minting platform, meaning consumers can check out via email, and own an associated wallet (handled by Moonpay) in which to store their NFTs, without having set up a crypto wallet. This sidesteps what Vendette thinks has historically been the biggest barrier to entry. “It really ensures that, even if you have no interest in collecting PFPs or are not native to the Web3 community, you still are able to unlock the utility that comes with the collection in a seamless manner that just so happens to be on the blockchain,” she says.
“It enables a mass onboarding of consumers to start to enter the space in ways that aren’t confusing,” Digital Twin Studios co-founder Natalie Soto-Wright says. It allows clients to focus on the fun part, more than “just the digital twin”, co-founder (and twin) Adrianna Soto-Wright adds.
Alo’s community is tech-savvy, Vendette says, especially since Alo began as a digital-only e-commerce brand. It’s been testing in the space: upwards of 65 million Roblox users are doing yoga and meditating in Alo’s experience on the platform, and the brand accepts crypto payments (and offers to pay employees in crypto too). Though there’s appetite, Vendette says, there’s still friction in regards to blockchain tech, so Alo is looking for the middle ground.
It’s a first step within a larger, digital-first loyalty programme, Vendette says. “As they build out the CRM [for their Web2 loyalty programme] and test with Aspen, and start in the luxury space, with clients invested in the Alo brand, it’s about how to reward them,” Natalie Soto-Wright says. Looking ahead, the view is to give consumers access to tokens while building out the loyalty programme — and creating a Web3 CRM database for Alo as the brand pushes further into this space.
Pairing NFTs to the brand’s most premium products also ensures that they make their way to fans of the brand willing to spend. For the Aspen collection, a $56 pair of earmuffs was also available to widen the adoption. There’s already another luxury drop on its way, and Aspen holders will get first access (via their personal client manager).
Vendette is confident that the tech is here to stay. “For modern-day marketing, it’s not only that 360-integrated approach of email, website, social, paid ads, PR. You also have to have this innovation component,” she says. “Web3 and innovation need to be part of that marketing mix.”
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