iWorld
Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour enters the metaverse with borderless fashion & lifestyle experience
Mumbai: Powered by the Fashion Design Council of India, the 16th edition of the Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour has reimagined its iconic legacy to bring a more youthful, inclusive, and innovative edition this year. In its cutting-edge new avatar, the fashion tour steps into the metaverse to create a first-of-its-kind amalgamation of fashion and technology for young audiences to experience like never before.
The fashion tour has launched ‘Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour Park’ in decentraland, a global web3 platform where only renowned global brands have created an immersive metaverse experience for their fans. The fashion tour park features multiple interactive areas, gamified zones and showcase areas, with several engaging activities in store for users to interact with throughout the duration of the tour.
Users can start at the lounge, a zone that houses all the information about Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Park, where they can claim a free ‘Proof of Attendance NFT’ from the POAPBooth. Users can then head to the ramp, where they can strike a pose, walk like a showstopper, or watch the live streams of the ultra-glamorous fashion shows from the fashion tour itself. Then at the designer & trial zone, users can try on and buy wearable NFTs from renowned designers on the tour, including Shantanu and Nikhil, Amit Aggarwal, Falguni Shane Peacock, and Kunal Rawal. There are also numerous and one-of-a-kind selfie spots throughout the fashion tour park where users can take a selfie and share it on social media with the hashtags #BlendersPrideGlasswareFashionTour #MadeOfPride #MyLifeMyPride for a chance to win exclusive passes to the tour’s stellar shows.
And then, there’s the metaverse treasure hunt, an engaging activity where users must collect clues from across the fashion tour park arena to stand a chance to get their hands on an iPhone 13, stylish bluetooth earphones worth Rs 15,000 or online shopping vouchers worth Rs 5,000. The hunt begins on 1 December.
But the most exciting attraction is India’s first metaverse-exclusive fashion show, set to take place at the fashion tour park on 10 December. This metaverse fashion show will feature outfits from the ‘Style Gallery’ exhibit of the fashion tour called “This is not a t-shirt” project. These unique t-shirt outfits are designed by 60 designers & homegrown fashion labels, who have embellished or even deconstructed the basic t-shirt into a design celebrating their authentic interpretation of the four themes of the fashion tour.
Guests attending the exclusive shows of the fashion tour at the four city editions will also have the opportunity to step into the metaverse – an experience zone that extends various elements from the fashion tour park’s metaverse platform. Guests can interact with a smart mirror, where they can try on unique wearable NFTs designed by the fashion tour designers, take selfies in the outfits, and even get their hands on the outfits by buying these one-of-a-kind wearable NFTs—an incredibly new experience for the fashion & lifestyle elite.
Speaking about the exciting new metaverse experience, Pernod Ricard India chief marketing officer Kartik Mohindra said, “The 16th edition of Blenders Pride Glassware Fashion Tour will lay the foundation for a new era in fashion & lifestyle. The fashion world is ever evolving, and the fashion tour has always led this wave of evolution in India. Taking the fashion tour to the metaverse is not just a first-of-its-kind initiative for the industry; it’s also our interpretation of how to make the tour more inclusive, accessible, and futuristic by allowing young audiences to experience the fashion tour in an immersive way like they have never before. It is a part of our journey of celebrating the pride of today’s youth with newfound vigour and vision.”
e-commerce
ONDC names Vibhor Jain MD and CEO; Rohit Lohia joins as CBO, Manoj Thakur as CTO
Leadership formalised as open commerce network sharpens focus on scale and user value
The Open Network for Digital Commerce has formalised Vibhor Jain as managing director and chief executive officer, cementing a leadership transition at India’s ambitious open commerce platform as it pushes for scale and relevance.
Jain, who had been serving as acting chief executive officer since April last year following the exit of Thampy Koshy, steps into the role with effect from 7th April , according to a report by The Economic Times. He previously served as chief operating officer at the government-backed network, which enables buyers and sellers to transact across applications through an open, interoperable system.
Setting out his strategy, Jain underscored the network’s differentiated architecture. “Going forward, we are concentrating on what open, interoperable infrastructure can uniquely enable, things that no single platform has the incentive or the architecture to do,” he said.
He added that the immediate priority is to widen ONDC’s impact across user cohorts often underserved by platform-led commerce. “My priority is to deepen the value ONDC creates for the people it exists to serve: kisaans, karigars, kiranas, gig workers, first-time investors, and daily commuters across India,” he said.
Jain also flagged leadership reinforcement within the organisation, noting that ONDC has “a strong and exciting leadership team in place”, with Rohit Lohia joining as chief business officer and Manoj Thakur as chief technology officer.
With over 18 years of experience spanning entrepreneurship and consulting, Jain brings a track record in technology-led, large-scale transformation programmes and internet businesses. At ONDC, he has been closely involved in shaping strategy and operations as the network seeks to move digital commerce away from platform-centric models towards an open network approach.
Before ONDC, Jain worked with JUMO, where he helped set up the fintech firm’s India operations, and led the India launch of Mobike, handling regulatory, policy and operational aspects of its market entry. Earlier, he co-founded Atlanta Healthcare, an air quality management company, and spent more than a decade in consulting roles at Andersen and EY, advising governments on public policy and technology-driven reforms, including work on the Aadhaar programme and tax systems.
The mandate is clear but the path is complex. As ONDC attempts to rewrite the rules of digital commerce, Jain now carries the burden of turning open architecture into mass adoption, in a market still dominated by platform power.
