This Gen Z founder has a different take on where Web3 can take fashion

LA-based Spatial Labs is a technology infrastructure company developing hardware and software products for Web3 and the metaverse. In late January, it announced a $10 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital and including Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners.

Now, we know what you’re probably thinking: Fundraising, for a Web3 company, in this economy???

But Spatial Labs is a little different from the crypto-centric companies you’re probably envisioning. For one thing, it takes a physical approach to Web3, focusing on using technology to enhance everyday items and activities. For another, its founder, Iddris Sandu, is just 25, and is certainly more keyed into fashion and culture trends than the average crypto mogul. And it doesn’t hurt that Sandu has invented a 13mm microchip that, when embedded into clothing, he says allows brands and consumers to enter the metaverse.

Hardware for the metaverse

Born in Ghana and raised in California, Sandu founded Spatial Labs in 2019, and in 2022 revealed the LNQ One Chip (pronounced “link”), which holds a “digital passport” for the item in which its embedded, and which Sandu describes as “the wearable internet.” Here’s how it works:

• A chip is embedded into an item of clothing, and at the time of purchase, a consumer can scan the chip with a smartphone to activate it.
• Each chip is connected to an NFT, which can store a wide variety of information about the physical product, such as its makeup and origin. Brands embedding chips into their products can add content or update data about that product even after purchase.
• This opens up new opportunities for brands to communicate directly with consumers: “What could it mean if you could embed a loyalty program immediately after someone buys something?” said Sandu. “You can now have a direct way to communicate with your customers without relying on a secondary system of emails and notifications…We think that this is the next stage of immersive storytelling.”

The chips also include a digital copy of the physical product, for wear in virtual worlds, and allow for buyers themselves to further customize the digital footprint of their item, connecting playlists, TIkTok accounts, or reading lists that can all be accessed by scanning the chip.

“That’s what we want to introduce into the fashion world,” Sandu said. “Changing the way that a new generation will communicate.”

Future of fashion: LNQ launched its own chip-embedded clothing line made up of hoodies and shirts ranging from $150 to $700 in price. But Sandu says this year he’ll be taking a step back and focusing on bringing the chip to market for brands.

“The real value is when we get to give this small little chip to brands like LVMH to brands like Nike to brands like Adidas to integrate into their own products to assist with scaling, and traceability,” Sandu explained.—MA