JW Anderson and xydrobe unveil #harrystylescardigan as their first NFT for auction

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 30, 2021

The first non-fungible token (NFT) from the recently revealed link-up between JW Anderson and xydrobe has been unveiled as the #harrystylescardigan with proceeds being donated to LGBTQ+ charity, akt.

The colourblock patchwork cardigan from JW Anderson’s SS20 menswear line-up will be the first NFT from the label, the first auction lot from xydrobe and the first NFT of an existing collectible piece, the companies said on Tuesday.

The cardigan is currently on display at London's Victoria & Albert Museum having “sparked a social media trending sensation after the singer wore it to rehearsals on the US broadcaster NBC's Today show in February 2020”. 

The momentum behind the design has been building since then with a Tik Tok user creating her own version and posting the video during lockdown. This inspired “thousands of others to do the same” and Jonathan Anderson then released the pattern and a how-to-make-it online tutorial. 

The hashtag #harrystylescardigan has reached over 86 million views to date.

The cardigan has been made into an NFT by xydrobe's in-house team of VFX artists. It said it took 300 hours of work for every piece of the yarn to be built in 3D “before weaving it together procedurally for each of the six different knit patterns that make up the piece”. 

The xydrobe auction for the piece will open on December 12 at 19:00 UTC and will run for 48 hours. There will only be one NFT of the cardigan created, available with a reserve price of £10,000 and sold exclusively through xydrobe.