Iddris Sandu never uses the word ‘community’ a lot in conversations that describe his ‘phygital’ apparel project.
Contextually, Sandu is an American entrepreneur, engineer, programmer, and digital architect. He is the CEO of Spatial Labs Inc., a hardware-software infrastructure firm.
Iddris Sandu launched Spatial Labs in 2021 and the company operates from Los Angeles. In October 2021, Marcy Venture Partnership (MVP) launched by Jay-Z invested in Spatial Labs. In 2022, Spatial Labs developed Gen One Hardwear, which is a collection of garments embedded using LNQ’s proprietary LNQ One Chip and LNQ Marketplace. The marketplace is a retail platform for trading physical items on the blockchain.
After Sandu’s brand Hardware managed to sell out of its collection for $500 Pantone hoodies, figures mostly enjoyed by luxury fashion houses only, it seems people are already buying heavily into his vision.
What makes his hardware unique is all of its merchandise features a proprietary chip that helps to track who owns the item on Polygon’s blockchain. These features unlock experiences online and IRL, just by tapping the chip embedded in the user’s phone.
Sandu gave an example:
“An artist like Billie Eilish, where (the NFT-embedded sweatshirt) can access a virtual concert, but also be your ticket to get inside a physical show”.
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Spatial Labs (sLABS) Overview
Spatial Labs (sLABS) is one of the leading Web3 innovation studios primarily focused on developing the software network that enables brands and consumers to link their physical product purchases to types of digital utility in ways never seen before.
The firm’s first project LNQ, an innovative state-of-the-art blockchain-enabled hardware platform, was publicly unveiled in 2021. LNQ strives to make the metaverse highly accessible and offer developers decentralized tools to engage with their communities via LNQ’s proprietary, real-time processing stack.
Launched by conscious technologist and entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, sLABS is fully committed to underpinning radical innovation at the intersection of culture, technology, and design to revolutionize the future of the human experience.
The LNQ Marketplace
Iddris Sandu partnered with the creators of The Wearable Internet to launch the LNQ Marketplace. The leading Web3 innovation studio will also shape the ‘phygital’ frontier for full interconnectivity. The LNQ Marketplace is a decentralized retail ecosystem that strives to redefine how we own, buy, and sell products in the physical and digital worlds.
Each item in the LNQ Marketplace is integrated with LNQ’s groundbreaking blockchain-enabled LNQ One Microchip, offering seller and buyer authentication and providing full transparency into a product’s lifecycle. By transforming physical products into digital passports in the Metaverse, LNQ is bringing the much-needed real-world utility, innovation, and traceability to the Collectibles space.
The LNQ Marketplace followed LNQ’s Gen One Hardwear apparel launch in May 2022 at the first Spatial Labs Keynote event. The main items of the collection include the Gen One Sweater ($499). The Gen One Sweater is a double-lined sweater that is designed in partnership with color authority Pantone and it is available in six custom colors.
Other items include the Cloud Gen One Clog ($250) made of 100% recycled materials and well-designed in partnership with Ales Grey, a sustainable footwear brand.
The latest addition to LNQ’s ecosystem of blockchain-enabled clothing is ‘Orbs by Spatial Labs’, an exclusive drop that offers 1 of 1 Collectibles. Every Orb bought in the LNQ Marketplace corresponds to a garment with an identical, customized Orb displayed on the front. By scanning the Orb, users get to view an exclusive AR experience that is unique to their particular Orb.
Orb garments, resembling Gen One Hardwear, also offer access to real-life events, private ticketed events, live-streamed video experiences, and future keynote discussions powered by Spatial Labs. The latest drop represents the future of digital and physical convergence, as they can be worn physically and used digitally for full interconnectivity.
Related: Has AI Given Birth To Sustainable Fashion? Four BIG Clouts To Unleash!
Iddris Sandu, Founder of Spatial Labs, commented:
“LNQ is built on the idea of creating real-world utility and creating products that provide a fully immersive experience. We were thrilled with the consumer response to our first Gen One Hardwear drop, and with the launch of the LNQ Marketplace, we are excited to give our community a decentralized space to further connect and bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds.”
After users sign into the LNQ Marketplace, they can create an Aura or a digital representation that can be customized with a Pantone-curated skin tone, clothing, hair color, and a lot more. The LNQ Marketplace is designed to work as a digital extension of every user’s physical collection of blockchain-enabled clothing.
Items can be implanted with links to community-based platforms like Spotify, Discord, and Instagram. Whenever the LNQ Hardwear One Chip is scanned, a picture, profile, playlist, or extra media opens up, showing the owner’s distinct interests and tastes to bond and find ideal offline connections.
The LNQ Marketplace powers a new secondary marketplace model beyond the traditional physical and digital framework. Users buy, trade, and sell products by linking their crypto wallet and changing Polygon tokens to LNQ tokens, a stablecoin tethered to USD. Through the circular retail economy, brands can gain extensive visibility into how users and customers interact with their items and the consumers can view a product’s ownership and purchase history.
With the unveiling of LNQ Marketplace, LNQ offers an unexpected level of access and authentication in the physical and digital worlds.
The Role Of Spatial Labs In NFTs Advancement
NFTs have been on the rise in the past two years. This surge has caused massive speculation on the future of the nascent technology. NFTs have already been applied to several use cases that span from physical assets like ticketing and real estate to digital assets like collectibles and gaming. However, not many of these use cases have linked culture to a wider set of users to create mainstream demand.
Brands that have wanted to enter the new space of digital ownership have struggled to find a foundation in the Web3 space. Most attempts have already failed due to the inability to appeal to a Web3 audience and failure to excite their current consumer base with various digital offerings.
Most of the established brands have challenges in adapting to the Web3 industry, as it needs them to adopt new technologies, extend some new products, and innovate beyond their comfort zones. Spatial Labs’ founder Iddris Sandu is not afraid of integrating frontier technology with consumer products. Iddris has spent his whole career at the intersection of culture and technology.
He has worked with many celebrities on a litany of multi-hyphenate projects striving to eliminate the gap between culture and technology. Iddris has already been instrumental in developing sustainable products that people want while integrating them with more utility in the cultural space.
Sandu’s Spatial Labs is now developing a hardware platform to help power the next generation of Web3 technology and will boost physical products with digital utility. With the LNQ One Chip technology developed by Spatial Labs, brands can develop digital experiences that integrate with their physical products, developing new channels for engagement with users.
The combination of physical goods with digital provenance is a great use case for NFTs, since brands can leverage digital assets to offer discounts, provide access to exclusive products, and boost deeper consumer loyalty. Iddris has an eye for design and lots of passion for disruptive technology and that positions him perfectly to capture lots of value in a ‘digital meets physical’ future.
