Tech Founder Iddris Sandu Launches LNQ Marketplace Where Fashion Accesses The Blockchain
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By Cassell Ferere Originally Published on Forbes.com
Iddris Sandu is a 25-year-old technologist and founder of Spatial Labs, an impact-driven tech incubator backed by venture capital firm Marcy Ventures, founded by JayZ. Since launching LNQ Marketplace in May of this year with the Gen One Hardwear collection, the decentralized retail ecosystem is redefining the buying, owning, and selling experience with fashion via the first blockchain-enabled fashion line.
Since launching LNQ Marketplace in May of this year with the Gen One Hardwear collection
COURTESY OF LNQ MARKETPLACE
Sandu, a design philosopher, is the creator of The Wearable Internet, shifting the paradigm and reimagining the channel for products and fashion interacting between the digital and physical worlds. “Whereas companies such as Meta and Oculus are designing headsets to put you in a virtual world. We [Spatial Labs] are saying, ‘how can we take the power of the blockchain to enhance the physical products that you have in the real world, but would still allow you to convert that to the virtual world?’,” Sandu explains.
Iddris Sandu is a 25-year-old technologist and founder of Spatial Labs, an impact-driven tech incubator backed by venture capital firm Marcy Ventures, founded by JayZ. Since launching LNQ Marketplace in May of this year with the Gen One Hardwear coll
Selling out in a few days the LNQ and the Gen One Hardwear collection caught the attention of celebrity fashionistas, streetwear enthusiasts, and tech consumers. Each item at the LNQ Marketplace uses an embedded code with LNQ’s groundbreaking blockchain-enabled LNQ One Microchip. The embedded microchip then provides each buyer and seller authentication and complete transparency of product lifecycles.
Iddris Sandu is a 25-year-old technologist and founder of Spatial Labs, an impact-driven tech incubator backed by venture capital firm Marcy Ventures, founded by JayZ. Since launching LNQ Marketplace in May of this year with the Gen One Hardwear coll
Based in Los Angeles, California, the digital architect, Sandu, was born in Accra, Ghana, and raised in Compton, California. Sandu reminisces, “I grew up in Compton, from Ghana. My mom raised me as a single parent with nothing. I had a library that I went to for two years to learn how to program. I took that information, combining it with my understanding of hip-hop, fashion, and culture, and it gave me an insane amount of ability to think unlike anybody else in tech. I want to give that gift, privileged, and responsibility to the next generation.”
Iddris Sandu is a 25-year-old technologist and founder of Spatial Labs, an impact-driven tech incubator backed by venture capital firm Marcy Ventures, founded by JayZ. Since launching LNQ Marketplace in May of this year with the Gen One Hardwear coll
His interest in technology would initially catch the attention of the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. The two minds would team up to create the first smart-retail store experience, which laid the foundation for Spatial Labs or sLabs, to which JayZ has attached his likeness as a prominent investor in the company.
Sandu explains, “People ask ‘why fashion?’ I grew up on hip-hop - the freshest tech person in the room. Some of my friends have gone on to change the fashion space, like, Jerry Lorenzo. He created Essentials. And with Essentials, it’s impossible not to look cool. I think I’ve always been a fashion-forward person. My goal is not to be the creative director of Louis Vuitton or Balenciaga, my goal is to build infrastructure that can power fashion, to build the next Apple for this generation.”
“I’m 25 - considered Gen Z. The majority of the technology created was made by people older than me, for me to consume, but never contribute to. [They] are from the previous generation, and my generation hasn't contributed to producing technology as much as we consume technology.”
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