Bringing together experiences from digital and physical realms, Fetus is an emphatic reimagining of fashion through the lens of technology. The narrative-driven streetwear brand has been intended to drive conversations around identity and nonconformity. The fashion house is also utilising the futuristic landscape of Web3 to build an immersive experience for the customer base. Named after their protagonist ‘Fetus’ who roams earth and currently resides in Delhi after being banished from his own planet, the brand is channelling new aesthetics through his experiences. The creators of this next-gen brand speak to homegrown about the myriad of influences fuelling their creativity and the unique vision for Fetus.
How does a narrative-driven streetwear brand position itself to keep audiences engaged and attentive to everything that it does, particularly in a world where attention spans are becoming smaller and smaller due to a sheer oversaturation of content as well as options? What in your mind allows Fetus to stand out when compared to your contemporaries?
Fetus positions itself at the intersection of fashion, culture and technology. Whenever a customer/user gets exposed to Fetus, they have the choice to go down any of these three verticals. Whether you are into futuristic minimal fashion, rich lore or NFTs, we’ve got something for everyone. What allows us to stand out is the fact that every collection or as we like to call it chapter, has a story to tell with all the chapters coming together to form the bigger picture; similar to the volumes of a mythological book. We are here to create immersive mythologies and build a global fashion house. Every piece that you buy acts as a gateway for you to enter into a unique world that we are building around Fetus. Every piece has a place in this world and has a story of its own.
Could you talk a little about the conceptualisation of the character of ‘Fetus’ himself? Did you draw inspiration from anywhere specific or was he a wholly original creation? How does the idea of ‘nonconformity’ play out and shape his as well as the brand's overarching sense of ‘self’? How is Fetus adjusting to Delhi. Does he ever miss his home planet?
Our childhood memories and exposure to Japanese anime certainly left a mark on us. There were so many discussions where we just talked about what stuck with us as we grew up. As designers we were able to reshape this massive collection of fond memories into something completely unique and original. We had countless iterations to come up with the final version which we could call our own and original, you also get a sneak peek into the process through the art-book that comes with the purchase of chapter one products.
We created the character Fetus, as an extension of our own selves. The ideas of anti-establishment and nonconformity in a society that rewards clout culture have been in our minds for a long time. Fetus acts as a vessel to talk about such issues and ideas. We have given birth to a being here, and are placing him in scenarios we as humans could find ourselves in. We are then letting Fetus decide what he would do in such situations. We believe that this would be a good way of tackling themes not just limited to non conformity, but also going into companionship, nostalgia, happiness and so on.
In a world where everything has started to look the same, we wanted to stick out like a sore thumb. We don't mind that. And we do so by stripping back to basics and embracing the idea of futuristic minimalism. Our manifesto 'Birth of New Aesthetics' helps us stay committed to the goal of constantly forgetting the hype culture and embracing one's own idea of individuality and aesthetics.
Fetus is adjusting to life quite well, he's constantly discovering new things and was most recently engaged in skateboarding. He does miss his home and he'll probably share something on his Instagram soon, taking his followers through glimpses of his planet.
Web3 is an intriguing space for labels to explore. How do you see yourselves expanding into the space and what do you think Web3 can offer you as a brand going into a brave new world where the line between the physical and the virtual is increasingly blurred?
Web3 gives ownership of the internet back to the individual. It not only gives us an opportunity to foray into the world of digital fashion and create these immersive mythologies as actual digital worlds which our customers can experience virtually. It also allows us as a brand to open up ways to empower individuals through rewarding our loyal customers with exclusive access to content, chapters and much more (check our our roadmap for this year). With Fetus being a virtual influencer, it only is natural for us to bridge the gap between the real and digital.
Explore their collection here.
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