The fashion industry is not excluded from crypto adoption: Ralph Lauren has recently started accepting crypto payments. In this article, we look at luxury brands that allow crypto payments.
Fashion brands accepting crypto
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren, an American publicly traded fashion heavyweight and luxury brand established in 1967, joined forces with BitPay to add support for crypto payments at its new Miami Design District store.
With the partnership, customers of the luxury brand in the crypto-friendly city of Miami will now be able to pay for their purchased fashion items with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and polygon (MATIC).
As part of its latest web3 push, Ralph Lauren has inked a strategic partnership deal with Poolsuite (formerly Poolsuite FM), to gift customized Ralph Lauren x Poolsuite NFTs to members of the latter’s community. This month, the digital collectibles will unlock access to a three-day official launch party at a private waterfront Miami estate.
Off-White
American luxury fashion brand Off-White added support for crypto, enabling its customers to pay with BTC, BNB, and stablecoins (USDT and USDC) for their purchases in London, Paris, and Milan flagship stores.
However, Off-White clients must pass an automated fraud check to proceed with crypto transactions. If successful, there is no payment limit on those.
Gucci
In May 2022, Gucci, an Italian high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1921, added support for cryptocurrency payments at some of its stores across the United States. Customers in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas can pay with any of the supported 12 crypto assets, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, shiba inu, dogecoin and five USD-pegged stablecoins.
Moreover, the House of Gucci has entered the metaverse amid its partnership with Sandbox.
Tag Heuer
Luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer, owned by fashion conglomerate LMVH, announced in 2022 that it started accepting cryptocurrency payments for its products in the United States.
The brand has partnered with cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay to facilitate these transactions, enabling customers to purchase watches with bitcoin, ethereum, and 10 other major cryptocurrencies.
Farfetch
Farfetch, a marketplace that sells luxury goods, among others, started accepting crypto payments in 2022. This payment option is available in dozens of countries where the marketplace operates.
To process the transactions, Farfetch partnered with the payment platform TripleA. It currently accepts bitcoin, ethereum, stablecoins (USDT and USDC), and the BinancePay option.
Bitcoin adoption worldwide: recent data
While Satoshi Nakamoto created bitcoin (BTC) during the global financial crisis of 2008 to serve as a transparent store of value and medium of exchange immune to hyperinflation, the orange coin has arguably been perceived as nothing but a speculative tool over the years. However, that narrative is rapidly changing.
Though die-hard web3 critics such as the Charlie Mungers and Sen. Elizabeth Warrens of this world still see nothing good in bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, the nascent digital assets class has continued to take giant leaps into the real-world economy, amid regulatory uncertainties.
As of October 2022, an estimated 15,174 businesses worldwide have integrated bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies into their processes. In the United States alone, around 2,300 businesses accept BTC. California occupies the frontline in terms of bitcoin adoption in the States, with around 440 businesses already accepting the world’s flagship crypto. The number of bitcoin ATMs in the world has also grown exponentially.
According to digital assets statistics available on BitPay, the leading cryptocurrency payment processor, around 519,678 crypto transactions were successfully processed over the past six months, and 86,817 crypto payments were made globally within the last 30 days, with BTC transactions representing more than 41% of those fund transfers.
