{"id":10865,"date":"2022-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.koktailmagazine.com\/?p=10865"},"modified":"2022-07-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T00:00:00","slug":"fashion-in-the-metaverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.koktailmagazine.com\/th\/2022\/07\/18\/fashion-in-the-metaverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion In The Metaverse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exploring the ways the fashion industry has embraced this new virtual space for commerce and expression<\/h3>\n

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[This story first appeared in Koktail Magazine Issue 3<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Defining the “verse” is a pretty complex task. Multiple definitions can be found online, offering a vague sense of its meaning, but perhaps Cathy Hackl, a globally recognised AR, VR, and spatial computing thought leader, puts it best as “a further convergence of our physical and digital lives” and “the internet breaking free from the rectangles in our hands, desks, and walls and being all around us.”<\/p>\n

For me, personally, I like to think of the metaverse as a cyberspace or universe where virtual reality, augmented reality, game consoles, phones, and PCs converge. Broadly speaking, a lot of people assume that the metaverse is best suited to serve the gaming industry and tech companies like Facebook, excuse me, Meta. But that’s not entirely accurate. Any company or brand can make its way to the verse, and one of the biggest industries to jump right into is fashion. Seeking to reach and build a relationship with younger generations who spend the most time shopping, socialising, and entertaining online, here’s how fashion is taking over the ‘verse.<\/p>\n

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Balenciaga\u2019s collaboration with Fortnite<\/a> <\/p>\n

Physical and Digital Realms<\/h1>\n

Since Covid-19 hit, many industries have had to shift their business models online, increasing the demand for e-commerce. For retail companies already in the virtual space, specifically those involved in fashion, they had to go one step further and make sure they tackled the pain point of consumers who wanted to try clothes and accessories just as they did when visiting a physical store.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2022, and consumers now have the ability to virtually try on items by dragging one or more products onto a realistic avatar of themselves.<\/p>\n

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Louis Vuitton worked with League of Legends to design skins for the game\u2019s characters<\/a> <\/p>\n

For fashion brands, learning how to blend both the physical and virtual worlds has become a necessary skill to transition into the future. In 2019, multiple luxury fashion designers had the chance to collaborate with video game developers to create digital and physical collections. Louis Vuitton, for instance, partnered with Riot Games to create original skins for League of Legends and released a fashion collection with the game. Last year, Balenciaga released their Autumn collection as a video game and partnered with Fortnite to create items that will appear in the game as well as in stores. One of the greatest and most shocking news in the space, however, was when Gucci did a collab with Roblox to create a “Gucci Garden”, where the brand’s Queen Bee Dionysus bag sold digitally for 350,000 Robux (a little over US$4,000), which is more than the bag is worth IRL.<\/p>\n

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The virtual version of this Gucci bag sold for about US$600 more than the physical version<\/a> <\/p>\n

Letting Imagination Fly <\/h1>\n
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A post shared by Scarlett Yang (@scarlettyang_)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n