A dissatisfied customer has taken legal action against Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana and digital assets platform UNXD after experiencing significant delays in receiving non-fungible token (NFT) products, resulting in a 97% loss in value for the digital assets.
According to a Bloomberg report, the customer, identified as Luke Brown, spent $6,000 on “DGFamily NFTs,” a Dolce & Gabbana product that combines digital and physical assets to offer exclusive privileges and experiences within the brand’s larger ecosystem.
However, the NFTs were delivered over a week behind schedule, leading to a $5,800 drop in their value. Additionally, a set of accompanying “outfits” for the NFTs, intended for use in the metaverse, were delayed by an additional 11 days after the initial delivery.
In response, Brown has initiated a class action lawsuit on behalf of all customers who purchased the NFTs, alleging that Dolce & Gabbana and UNXD failed to fulfill their promises at the time of the transaction.
According to the report, the delivery delays occurred because Dolce & Gabbana did not obtain approval for the accompanying assets from the UNXD NFT platform. The exact number of affected customers is currently unknown.
This case highlights the challenges faced by companies, brands, and marketers as they navigate the transition from physical goods and assets to a hybridized digital environment. The market dynamics for physical products, such as clothing, differ greatly from those of digital assets, often with little correlation between the two.
Complicating matters further, the Dolce & Gabbana NFTs were created on the Ethereum blockchain for the “D&G Metaverse.” Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world and has previously seen Dolce & Gabbana NFTs sell for millions of dollars. These factors could potentially impact the outcome of the class action lawsuit, should it proceed.
Cointelegraph reached out to Dolce & Gabbana for a comment, but no immediate response was received.