We had Katia, a founding member of the RED DAO, in this episode of NewForum. Aside from RED DAO, Katia is involved in Noise DAO and Flamingo DAO. We chat with Katia about Digital Fashion ecosystems, traditional brands vs. Web3 native brands, and how traditional brands venturing into Web3 can be successful. In addition, she also talked about DAOs as an investing tool and collective (for example, RED DAO) and investing in Digital Fashion.

Who is Katia, and why did she get involved in the Web3/Crypto space?

Katia started getting interested in the space in 2015 when Ethereum was ready for the official public main net launch; when Ethereum’s genesis block was mined into existence, the community began to grow.

She reflected on her experience witnessing it and expressed that it was super exciting. That same year, she also tried buying her first Bitcoin- but in her own words, she was only touching and feeling the space and had not yet dived deep enough.

Katia shared that a year later, in 2016, there was a unique platform called Steemit — the first Blockchain-based social media, and that was where she thought it was a fascinating use case.

She became more active and strived to understand how the community was formed around shared values. She added that both intangible and tangible values, such as tokennomics.

“I started investing with my partners in the layer one Blockchains and more of the infrastructure investment, and that is the part of work I do with P2P capital, which is a Private Investment Firm…” — Katia

Katia explained that she mostly does infrastructural Blockchains from Ethereum to other Layer ones into Blockchain connectivity platforms like Polkadot and Cosmos.

She shared more about her work around Blockchain technology in her full interview.

That same year, about a year and a half ago, Katia realized she was one of the few women in the space. This realization sparked an interest in more creative areas.

Katia started looking more at NFTs and NFT standards. She explained that it was not too popular back then, but she thought it was an innovative use case.

“In 2019, there were two first investing DAOs well aside from The DAO which was the biggest failure in the early days. The two other DAOs were Metacartel Ventures and LAO; I decided to join both of those DAOs, to experiment with how this collective investing works, and to see where the space is going to evolve…” — Katia

Katia explained that this is the other side of her investing profile — so she is a member of a DAO and then invests with the DAO and explores different projects.

She is also a member of Flamingo DAO, Noise DAO, and RED DAO.

RED DAO is DAO for Digital Fashion which aims to bring together members interested in supporting the growing Digital Fashion ecosystem.

Flamingo DAO is an NFT-focused DAO that aims to explore emerging investment opportunities for ownable, blockchain-based assets.

Noise DAO is a music-NFT DAO that aims to bring together members interested in supporting the cross-section of music and technology, and supports musicians, purchase NFTs, archive, collect, and invest in the digital music ecosystem.

Katia has a unique Web3 story. She was present from the get-go. Hear more about how and why she got involved in Web3 and DAO investing in her interview!.

The NewForum community was curious about her experience investing in Digital Fashion products. What exactly is she looking out for when investing in Digital Fashion or other products she pursues?

According to Katia, the space is still shaping, and thus no perfect answer to that. She explained that when she looks at a typical startup, there is a standard pitch deck and several features that she considers to help evaluate it. She added that when looking at the new fields like Digital Fashion, several things come into the mix, so first for her is the aesthetic part of it, and that is what she like about Digital Fashion.

Why is Kaita drawn to the aesthetic part of Digital Fashion as an investor?

“NFT movement as a collectible; we see a lot of community building and cultures, but at least to my taste, not all of the NFT collectibles are aesthetically pleasing or aesthetically sophisticated, which is what I like in a Digital Fashion — that it elevates the NFT space, and so I look for the creativity in it…” — Katia

To Katia, Digital Fashion is much more than just having 3D garments. It is a good use case when for instance, thinking about a Zoom call, but what she is interested in is when Digital Fashion overcomes the boundaries of textile, space, and physics.

“ Purely from a collectors perspective, it is something that you will never be able to wear in real life, and then there is the investing side of it; whenever you are collecting, it doesn’t matter if it’s Digital Fashion or just general fashion or art. I think you should always consider why should this retain values and when thinking about this, I’m looking at first of all the provenance so who are the designer and what's the history of this designer..” — Katia

Katia expressed that some traditional brands are getting the Web3 space and building a community there while others, she may only be trying to jump on the NFT train and earn quick revenue.

Katia believes that this is where you get the sense of the designer’s intention, is this designer trying to build something unique or just trying to make a 3D garment to sell it to the Crypto NFT crowd.

Katia admits that her approach might not be a technical measure but could help navigate the genuine community building, the vision behind the fashion piece, and the potential future benefit.

“The second thing is the wearability of Digital Fashion. It is slightly different from the other NFTs and art- it has to be wearable, but currently, it is still a work in progress because most Digital Fashion is just collectibles. You buy it, and you own it in your wallet, and you enjoy it, but then, ideally, integrations need to happen to become wearable…” — Katia

These are some of the questions Katia tries to answer when she looks at projects where the Designers are selling Digital Fashion. What is your integration?

• Whom do you plan to work with?
• Where will I be able to wear it or show it off?
• Are you working with the Decentraland?
• Are you working with Ready Player Me Avatars?

Katia is looking at integrations in the future usability and community building aside from the aesthetic, which she cares about as a personal preference.

In one of her Twitter posts, she wrote-

“Still wondering why the most valuable NFT collections are often the least aesthetically appealing — At least this trend doesn’t persist in Digital Fashion.”

We found the statement quite compelling and asked Katia to tell us more about her thoughts behind the post. Katia sees Digital Fashion as innovative, out-of-the-world creative, yet aesthetically sophisticated and more pleasant to the eyes. Watch her full interview to hear what might sound controversial to many, but she explained it as a purely subjective observation and preference.

“I personally do not like the ape with a green brain pouring out of it. There are a lot of other projects; Crypto Punks are more neutral to me, but again that is a cultural phenomenon. Do you think there is a lot of aesthetic value in a few pixels? No, Crypto Punks are different. I can say they aren’t ugly, they’re kind of cool, but some of the projects are really like borderline right…” — Katia

We wanted to know why Katia loves DAOs and what the experience has been like being a part of several DAOs? Also, how can DAOs empower Creators to invest collectively in Products and Projects?

Her main DAO investing is those that operate in different NFT areas.

Katia stated that you have to be in it full-time to analyze the NFTs to see the trends and have millions of dollars to operate and make bets.

“ If I like something, and it is aesthetically pleasing. I want to own it, but if you also want to be an investor, either you can do it through a traditional structure as a fund-there are funds that invest in NFT space, or you can do it through a DAO, which is a Web3 native kind of fund; so that was my way of getting exposure to the areas that I love and most importantly is to get access to this brainpower of these amazing people who are also the members of the DAO…” — Katia

Katia gave more tips and suggestions about her approach to gaining exposure to music, art, and fashion, even if you could not possibly purchase them all from an investor and collectors’ point of view.

What does Katia look at when it comes to DAOs as an investment vehicle?

“ First, I looked at the DAOs as the new corporations, like Oh, DAOs are going to replace the existing companies, DAOs are going to replace the big corporations. I mean it’s still probably going to happen to a certain extent, but now I’m thinking as the Metaverse is coming up more and more. I’m starting to see DAOs are the first gateway to the Metaverses; like DAOs are actually going to be Metaverses…” — Katia

Katia explains what she means by DAO is the first gateway to the Metaverse in this episode of NewForum.

Still, on the DAO side of the conversation, we asked Katia to tell us if there is a future for Digital fashion in the Metaverse?

Katia explained that, in her opinion, Digital Fashion has a future in the Metaverse. She added that it is still further down the road because designers, creators, and the Digital Fashion garment are way ahead of the Metaverses today.

“You can purchase them, and the quality is fantastic if you look at the textile and the movement. Sometimes I had to zoom on the screen because I couldn’t believe the quality of the rendering of the textile that you can have on the Digital Fashion garments, but this is way ahead in terms of the infrastructure; there are really few places now, where you can put it on except for like putting web3 on web2…” — Katia

What does Katia mean by putting Web2-Web3? She takes her time to explain this statement in her full interview.

Katia is a founding member of RED DAO. Naturally, we were eager to hear her opinion on how the Metaverse will impact the Fashion Industry overall? And and how traditional brands venturing into Web3 can be successful

“There are different opinions on that — even within the RED DAO, about the traditional fashion brands and their niche. The ones that are early now in building the community and coming to Web3 understanding the Web3 culture, not just trying to sell to the people who have a lot of Crypto, and that is what I kind of sometimes sense but some of the brands are really trying to get the web3 culture to move in that direction too. I think they will be successful traditional brands in the metaverse…” — Katia

Katia added that she believes we will be seeing more Web3 native designers, and she is most interested.

She described the excitement of why she is most interested in native designers and the expectation she has; the innovation they will bring in terms of the aesthetics, tools, and much more in her full interview!

At the end of our enjoyable conversation with Kaita, she touched a bit on the potential of VR, AR, and Gaming to change Fashion Industries.

✨Don’t miss this insightful, informative, DAO and Digital Fashion centered episode with Katia!✨

Join the community to learn about @katiaandme and discover other founders and visionaries in the web3 community!

✨Follow Katia & RED DAO! Twitter: @katiaandme | @RED___DAO

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