Humanity has been witnessing a natural evolutionary process regarding new-age consumers’ online time management on creative digital platforms. In 2020, the average time a Gen-Z spends in front of a screen increased to eight hours. Considering the toll of the pandemic on social relations, it’s only understandable for people, who feel isolated and alone, to give into the charm of the virtual world in order to interact with others. Besides, this world is expanding collectively to include more dimensions and experiences.
As the young masses who cannot do away with technology spend more and more time in the digital world thanks to social media, computer games, secondary worlds, and virtual markets, they do not shy away from spending the digital assets saved up for their avatars. The world is changing at an incredibly fast pace, and brands see this new reality called metaverse, where people work, play games, socialise, and spend “money,” as an opportunity to establish a deeper connection with their customers. The creation of these “secondary worlds” where you can express yourself means, for fashion brands, more virtual platforms where they can create added value. Collaborations between video games and designers are one of the key goals in this regard. After launching its Fall/Winter 2021 collection as a video game, Balenciaga announced via traditional channels and metaverse its partnership with the giant title Fortnite for purchasable virtual clothes and physical merchandise. Ralph Lauren collaborated with South Korean social network application ZEPETO to create a virtual fashion collection and presented its users to digitally dress their avatars. Ralph Lauren isn’t the only name to work with ZEPETO, which is highly popular in Asia-Pacific countries. Gucci also chose to collaborate with the platform to create its interactive Gucci Villa. Gucci also created digital assets for gaming platform Roblox in addition to games Pokémon Go and Animal Crossing.
NEW BUSINESS MODELS
Appearing on a series of digital platforms, virtual clothing is, in a way, an extension of filters used by Instagram and Snapchat. Beyond games and social media, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) technologies have introduced new business models based on virtual fashion into our lives. Daria Shapolova, the co-founder of one such brand, DressX, divides their customer profile into two categories: “First, you have Gen-Y who instantly understands the idea of digital fashion and is an active customer for luxury products. They want to try something new so they use these technologies to polish their presence on social media. Then there’s the Gen-Z customers, for whom videos have become the primary means of communication and who have a strong presence on platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok.”
NFTs AND MORE
NFTs, which have recently become a source of excitement in our lives, have kindled a discussion of virtual reality that is expansive enough to deserve its own article. As Karinna Nobbs, the founder of The Dematerialised, said: “Digital ownership will completely change how we perceive creative structures and creative economy, and even money. This is much bigger than the Internet.” Digital fashion creators such as The Fabricant, DressX, and RTFKT provide digital clothing that is product-authenticated by NFTs for their customers who wish to save and invest. Meanwhile, luxury brands create a wave of interaction in the gaming world. Louis Vuitton started a video game with recoverable NFTs, designed by Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) for its 200th anniversary. The month-long Louis The Game followed a journey beyond time and told the story of a brand founder. The six imaginary worlds in the story were rendered with iconic LV monograms. Dolce & Gabbana collaborated with Unxd, a digital luxury and fashion platform, as curator to create a nine-piece NFT collection launched along with physical designs. This collection by D&G was worth $5.7 million.
This new world centred around NFTs will push more brands into finding new and creative ways to stand out among others, through the online interaction and attention of bigger masses. “Crypto-fashion” is the new guidebook for brand strategies that promise replacing routine content with unique formats and exclusive experiences, and it seems it will be our reference book as the rules of the game are rewritten.
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