Metabirkins: Fine Art or Fakes?

By: Reagan Dunnam & B. Ellie Jin

With the increasing presence of current luxury and streetwear brands in the metaverse, coupled with the sale of digital assets, or NFTs, the foundation for the future is being laid. What happens when a product is not authentic to a specific brand, but it has a design that is “inspired” from that brand?

This is being seen right now in the metaverse. NFT and digital content creator Mason Rothschild has been creating and selling digital content that has the shape and appearance of the Birkin bag by Hermes. These virtual bags have taken the metaverse market by storm, with each individual product selling for upwards of $19,000.

However, Hermes is not impressed. They originally sent a cease and desist order, but after Rothschild refused, they took further action. On January 14, 2022, the luxury fashion house filed a lawsuit with New York’s Southern District Court against Rothschild. In the physical world, Birkins are valued at over $10,000; Rothschild’s designs bring in at least twice as much per product with none of that profit going to the inspiration.

Rothschild’s argument in this case is that he is simply an artist reimagining an iconic product. In an Instagram post from the account @metabirkins, Rothschild cites the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as giving him the right to “create art based on my interpretations of the world around me.” He claims that he wants to contribute his art to modern culture by creating digital assets and selling them in the same way other artists redesign or reimagine classic pieces of art and fashion in prints. He closes his response to the cease and desist order by inviting Hermes to also be part of an “incredible movement” that is the presence and growth of art within the metaverse. 

Hermes states that if MetaBirkins are allowed to continue to be bought and sold in digital spheres, their brand will be blocked from entering these spaces, and ultimately the metaverse, with their authentic, original products. 

Will the laws in the United States and other countries hold up, or even be what is cited, in this case and in others similar to it moving forward? Will new laws determining how art is perceived and credited in the metaverse be created specifically for the metaverse? Could this lead to increased collaboration between artists and brands that are trying to emerge onto the metaverse stage?

This case is still ongoing, and the impact of the results, in either way, will have a revolutionary impact on the foundations of virtual fashion, authenticity, and counterfeits in the metaverse.

Sources Cited

Bain, M. (2021, December 15). What ‘Metabirkins’ say about virtual fashion. The Business of Fashion. Retrieved January 26, 2022, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/technology/what-metabirkins-say-about-virtual-fashion/ 

Williams, R. (2022, January 18). Hermès sues NFT creator over ‘metabirkin’ sales. The Business of Fashion. Retrieved January 26, 2022, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/luxury/hermes-sues-nft-creator-over-metabirkin-sales/