Jun 6
The metaverse is going to be fashion’s next game-changer. Here’s how and why
The de-materialization of fashion is here and it’s going to change the fashion business as we know it. Most entrepreneurs in this space say that virtual fashion will one day become ubiquitous.
Earlier this year, Benoit Pagotto’s design studio, RTFKT, worked with teenage digital artist, FEWOCiOUS, to sell 620 pairs of virtual sneakers, generating a total of $3.1 million in less than five minutes.
“I’m not looking at the fashion history to be inspired. We’re looking at gaming, anime, sci-fi movies, that’s our reference point,” says Benoit Pagotto.
Fashion is also a $2.5 trillion global industry that touches everyone on Earth. But why is fashion moving into the metaverse? Because it’s breaking free from its two-dimensional barrier and entering into a three-dimensional environment. And soon it will become our daily life as that’s what the future generation sees in the metaverse.
We believe that what we wear says a lot about who we are.
Fashion began to transform by technology, globalization, and shifting consumer values 15 years ago. And now, the industry as a whole is on a journey to see how fashion is recalibrating amid the post-pandemic, to balance profit with purpose.
People are coming to accept the fact that business opportunities in this fast-evolving convergence are here to stay and that the digital and physical world is real. Video games paved the way to such a world where
- Players already spent over 100 billion dollars a year on virtual goods.
- 3 billion people, more than a third of the world’s population, regularly play video games
- 46% of gamers are women
And across generations, people prefer video games over movies and TV shows. Making gaming the world’s leading form of entertainment.
Dressing avatars have come a long way from battleground beginnings. As gaming emerges as a lucrative channel for luxury brands to reach new customers - screen wear is the new streetwear.
But how was the need created for virtual fashion?
The co-founders of THE DEMATERIALISED, a Berlin-based digital fashion startup explain how the lines between physical and digital realities are blurring. They explain how their digital clothes can be of use in different ways.
The topmost in the list is that you could wear it on your real self through an AR filter.
Do a bespoke fitting, in which you get dressed by a digital tailor.
One could also take it into a computer game and wear it to your avatar.
One of the co-founders also agrees that they do get certain criticism with regard to digital fashion. Saying it’s still impersonal and people don’t think it’s real. And so, they focus on creating an emotional experience. One can have a dress which is on fire or a dress made of fish and the sea. And they believe that serves as an instant attraction.
The future will soon start consuming digital fashion — digital sneakers, digital makeup, and digital jewelry as well. And this paves the way for the biggest revolutions the fashion industry will ever observe.
