I think it could, create an Association of X with some sort of DAO/governed organization that only allows you to mint NFTs if you are part of the Association. T

I think it could, create an Association of X with some sort of DAO/governed organization that only allows you to mint NFTs if you are part of the Association. They do the vetting. As for it "hurts the environment", that depends on your blockchain. PoS, nope. PoW/PoST, maybe but it depends. Edit: Also for non-mom/pop shops NFTs are probably huge. Getting a provable NFT w/ your shoes for example will raise the level of difficulty for mass-producing knock offs substantially.