With his Instagram channel @theairvegan, Navetta has been installing himself as an antagonistic voice in the sneaker world, celebrating heritage brands, while clearly demanding much needed change. Futurevvorld, a new platform “created to inspire the streetwear and sneaker community to consider new behaviors”, as Navetta puts it, is his new vehicle for that.
“The industry has failed to make it cool to care.”
“I think the industry has succeeded in a lot of ways,” Navetta told us, “but it has definitely failed to make it ‘cool’ to care about avoiding the pitfalls of overconsumption. The explosion of the streetwear and sneaker community has lacked real accountability.”
Taking Meaningful Action
As a fulltime creative-for-hire, Navetta “felt obligated” to leverage his “creative understanding of advertising, image making, and design and channel it into something positive.” His goal? “To shift thinking and raise the awareness of our often-overlooked responsibility to the environment and the planet,” says Navetta. “I couldn’t stand by and watch as nobody took meaningful action.”
Though spearheaded by a dedicated vegan, the platform is not targeting vegans per se.
“Our target demo is the environmentally curious and conscious consumer. So many people, even those who are mainly existing within the hype culture circles, are genuinely curious about how their behaviors impact climate change,” Navetta tells us.
“Unfortunately,” he continues, “governments aren’t mandating clarity of materials and transparency in supply chains, so it becomes the responsibility of the consumer to demystify what a worthwhile purchase looks and feels like. It’s too overwhelming for many consumers and sites like Hypebeast don’t have a clear system of promoting environmentally responsible goods.”
So Navetta and his team created Futurevvorld to solve a problem they themselves were having.
The Premiere Destination for Earth Friendlier Products
And Navetta has the right people for it. “We’ve been hiring full-time and part-time individuals who are passionate about our mission,” he explains,” and we’re committed to make this the premiere destination for ‘Earth Friendlier Projects’.
The mission includes leveraging the creative resources of my production company byt.nyc to help brands amplify worthy initiatives through creative storytelling and give us expertise and a wealth of experiences that a young company would not have.
By incorporating our documentary filmmaking and commercial abilities, we’re putting numerous resources into making this a meaningful destination for consumers.”
“The movement lacks creative messaging — people need to connect with stories.”
The creative background and power of a creative agency seem to be a key ingredient to his plans, because when it comes to the way the environmental movements present themselves, Daniel has a clear stance. “In many ways, I think the movement around environmental responsibility lacks a certain level of creative messaging and if people don’t connect with stories about why environmental responsibility is a vital consideration, they default to making irresponsible purchases.”
As of now, Futurevvorld does all this solely in the digital realm, but not necessarily by choice. As Navetta reminds us, “we are starting to consider some activations and physical products symbolic of what we stand for, but we started in 2020, so our only real option was to exist in the digital.”
Just like for Antagonist, this platform, it seems like the pandemic and the restrictions it brought with it was, in a way, a key ingredient in the founding of Futurevvorld.
Forged in a Pandemic
“I stayed in NYC through the challenges of the last year,” Navetta remembers, “and I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. I was born in Queens, NY and I’ve been here for everything, 9/11, blackouts and the extremely powerful BLM movement this summer. I think it’d be easy to say it was tough, but it was truly inspiring for me. I’m in awe of the perseverance of the people of NYC, and Brooklyn in particular on a daily basis. I’m so grateful to the folks who keep the grocery store stocked, the public transportation in motion, the streets clean, and the hospitals full of love and support for those that are sick.”
“I wasn’t sleeping well for the first 6 months, but after you wake up at the ungodly hour of 3AM day after day, you start thinking of ways to help others and find new ways to help myself. I’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks, read every magazine that gets delivered and I started Futurevvorld with a group of incredibly talented friends.”
“I don’t want to skim through Hypebeast or GQ with the hopes of possibly finding something I can feel good about.”
“Being stuck in a pandemic might have accelerated the time frame for making it a reality, but I think it would have happened no matter what, to be honest. I’ve surrounded myself with people who care about the things that I believed could make Futurevvorld a destination.”
“We all want to know about the brands that are doing better. We want to hear great stories about material innovation, and we want to better understand how to interact with the goods we already own. If we can make that feel ‘cool’, it’s a win/win.”
One Location for Footwear, Fashion, and Material Innovation
When it comes down to what Futurevvorld really is, Navetta has a simple answer: “I created the Air Vegan because it was something that I wanted, but that didn’t exist. Futurevvorld came into existence for the same reasons. I don’t want to skim through Hypebeast or GQ with the hopes of possibly finding something I can feel good with, tell my friends about… I want to visit one location for footwear, fashion, and material innovation.” And so he made it.
We for one welcome Futurevvorld into our very curated list of browser favorites with open arms, subscribed to everything and visit their channels on the regular to keep updated on all things sneakers and streetwear. We can’t wait to see what Daniel & team will cook up next.
Make sure to give them a follow!
More about Daniel’s work and Futurevvorld:
