Nick Jaden Lau

Two years ago, when the collective consciousness was fixated on matters such as NFTs and the metaverse, few understood the opportunities that lay beyond the accumulation of near-identical images of monkeys. Web3 entrepreneur Nick Jaden Lau, however, stripped away the marketing jargon and saw the newly popular inventions as tools to imagine and – eventually – reach the future of luxury.

That same year, Lau founded Wear, what he calls a next-gen “web3 ecosystem developing products and solutions to connect luxury brands, communities and experiences through NFTs and Immersive technologies”. Wear’s potential didn’t go unnoticed for long: it quickly enlisted the backing of luxury retailer Farfetch, and venture firms XRC Labs and Outlier Ventures, while recruiting an army of brands and IPs, including Clé de Peau, A Society, Lousy and Christian Delveter.

Armed with a BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York, Lau has long been infatuated with luxury. Aged just 21, he sold his first retail business in the Big Apple, before setting out on his journey to becoming a tech entrepreneur in Hong Kong. But the road to recognition and an endless supply of collaboration offers wasn’t easy.

“When we started two years ago, many brands and investors were confused about the value and utility behind blockchain, AI, and web3 technology,” he says, “so it was a challenge to convince the first client and investor to get on board.” Within a year, however, luxury players had begun to recognise the value in Wear and similar service providers.

What sets the platform apart is its infrastructure. “First, our web3 agency works directly with brands to develop web3 activations and campaigns, such as loyalty programmes, immersive experiences and NFT projects,” says Lau. Wear also operates two core products: .PASS, “a blockchain product passport built for luxury brands and their clients to tokenise and unify physical goods with digital collectables”, and WEARhouse, an e-commerce platform with game-like elements and multiplayer environments that allow for more effective storytelling.