Fashion designer Philipp Plein purchases virtual land in Decentraland for over £1 million
German fashion designer Philipp Plein has made his move into the metaverse by purchasing a plot of land in virtual world platform Decentraland, hoping to develop a virtual project featuring luxury retail stores, entertainment, an art museum, a hotel and luxury residences.
The founder of Swiss-based Plein Group reportedly acquired the digital real estate for 510,000 Manas, the virtual platform’s own cryptocurrency, which corresponds to around £1.03 million.
The acquisition was overseen by the fashion group under the alias Bug$ Bunny, with digital artist Antoni Tudisco and Jason Rosenstein, founder and CEO of NFT auction house, Portion, also involved in the development of the real estate.
According to WWD, the estate has been dubbed Plein Plaza, and covers 65 Decentraland parcels, the equivalent of approximately 176,528 square feet in the real world. Plein told WWD that he was "proud" to have ventured into the metaverse "so early on in the development and establishment of this new universe".
Last year, the company became the first "major" fashion group to open up to cryptocurrencies, accepting more than 20 different crypto coin types at both its physical stores and online store globally.
