Luxury fashion and NFT-linked products company 9dcc will wind down operations at the end of May, citing economic challenges and “softness” in luxury retail sales, and perhaps being too early to a future trend in the making. The brand, which sold shirts, hats, and other apparel items as “networked products,” physically linked its clothing to NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain via sewn-in NFC chips. This allowed owners to prove provenance and even obtain digital signatures that lived on the blockchain.
Crypto die-hards like to say “We’re early,” but in summing up the label’s end in an X post Tuesday, pseudonymous founder gmoney said 9dcc may have been too early—or ahead of its time—with its on-chain tech. “I firmly believe that we will see a future where ownership and verification will live on-chain,” he posted on X. “We may just have been a little early to that vision.”
In a letter written to the community, the founder lauded the company’s innovative drop formats and community engagement, but ultimately said “macroeconomic headwinds in consumer Web3 and global luxury retail softness” were too much to overcome. A 90-day window will open at the beginning of June for any of the company’s vaulted product collections, allowing users to redeem and ship their respective physicals.
The company, which took its NFT apparel collection from ideation to Paris Fashion Week, launched its first full collection in February 2024 with more than 60 different items designed for the “crypto mob” taking inspiration from “Yakuza street style” in the process. The firm had previously done smaller, limited-edition drops. Items from the brand were at one point spotted on pop culture icons like Bradley Cooper and Chance the Rapper, as well as professional athletes like Patty Mills and Breece Hall.
In December the firm sold out its “Black Box” collection on OpenSea, rewarding one lucky minter with a CryptoPunks NFT prize, now valued around $125,000. Then in early 2025, it hosted a collaboration wit payments giant Mastercard at the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I also want to thank every member of the 9dcc team, as well as partners that we have worked with throughout the years,” said gmoney in his farewell letter. “Your hard work and efforts are what led us to the success we experienced over the last few years, and without that dedication, I don’t think we would’ve been able to achieve what we did.”
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