By: Christos Makridis

A new survey by Roblox on a sample of 1,000 Gen Z community members in the U.S. between ages 14-24 fielded between September 19-22 found that 70% of Gen Z says that they dress their avatars similar to their in-real-life (IRL) self and roughly 75% say that they plan on spending money on digital fashion.

Many luxury brands are already taking an experimental strategy that links web3 initiatives to physical projects or campaigns to amplify their reach and message, treating web3 as an extension of their communication and marketing strategy. For example, Fashion Week in the metaverse was an extension of Fashion Week in the real world, featuring collaborations with brands like Jonathan Simkhai, House of Blueberry, and Everyrealm.

There are many competing definitions of the metaverse, but web3 organizations are beginning to recognize that the metaverse is about linking digital and physical assets through ownership on the blockchain. Immersive 3D experiences – a frequent term of art used by metaverse proponents – are a relevant, but not necessary, component.

Fashion And Brands In The Metaverse

Some believe that fashion will exist solely in metaverses that have the flavor of Decentraland and Sandbox. But they have experienced substantial declines in daily active users, raising concerns about their viability. “We don’t think a Web3-only platform would be useful. A user should not know what part of their experience is Web2 or Web3… less experienced metaverse projects are too in love with the future technology and do not think about the practicality it has today,” said Andy Ku, chief executive officer and founder of ALTAVA Group.

For instance, web3 premiered Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week this past year. With the help of Balmain’s design director, Vogue and Balmain collaborated to produce a special NFT – a dress sketch. Celebrating Oliver Rousteing’s 10th year anniversary, Balmain worked with ALTAVA to create eight virtual looks from the “Above and Beyond” FW 21 Collection. All eight pieces were sold out in the auction.

Fashion brands that are considering entering the metaverse ultimately need a bridge that goes from real-life to web3 and finally to web3, but that experience cannot be superficial or forced. ALTAVA is helping to onboard many of such fashion brands into web3. “ALTAVA is renowned for its emphasis on producing high-definition graphics. This is what initially draws a lot of brand partners to us. We comprehend how crucial it is for a company like Prada to be able to visually depict subtleties like the texture of their renowned Saffiano leather,” said Eilizabeth Von Guttman, co-founder of ALTAVA Group.

“Our recent pop-up shop for our Bored Ape Golf Club NFT collection with Hyundai Department Store as well as our upcoming collaboration with The Sandbox and Animoca Brand should further showcase what we’d been preaching,“ Ku continued. On a mission to facilitate the inclusion of luxury brands into the metaverse, and in a bid to further strengthen the value of its TAVA token, ALTAVA plans to launch 3 key features: ALTAVA Market, ALTAVA C2E, and ALTAVA DeFi.

Another example of a metaverse company that is facilitating digital experiences for consumers is Passage3d. “DCentralize, the first web3 musical festival in the UK, is using the Passage virtual platform to extend the reach of their in-person event. Virtual will always be a compromise on immersion, but this is balanced out by the value add on scalability. Not only extending the audience, virtual allows you to get to know your audience before they show up physically, an easy onboarding point to better understand your audience and how they might transition to the in-person experience,” said Lex Avelino, founder and chief marketing officer of Passage3d.

Educating Consumers About The Metaverse

Whereas web1 and web2 were defined by high degrees of centralization, web3 advancements have the opportunity to be decentralized. “Web3 requires brands to shift their mindset regarding their users/customers. It’s no longer about extracting data—it’s a two-way relationship that requires participation from both sides. Users owning their online identities and data is revolutionizing the way companies learn from their users, and ultimately presenting new opportunities to create better, more engaging experiences,” said Caleb Applegate, chief executive officer of Passage3d.

Blockchains must be interoperable for consumers to move seamlessly among them depending on what they want to buy. “An important feature of the metaverse is its interoperability, particularly for consumers. “A DLT network with a vibrant varied ecosystem is extremely valuable,” said Alex Russman, head of the Metaverse Fund at the HBAR Foundation.

“Brands are pushing themselves into many physical and digital realms because they want to engage customers wherever they’re spending the time… and they want to have insight into who is engaging – tokenized assets provide the true 360 view of the consumer, ” Russman continued. “That’s also why when the New York Fashion Institute of Technology introduced an NFT course to help students to utilize Hedera NFTs, we encouraged them to conceive real-world applications of NFTs in fashion and design”.

Educational programs on the metaverse are also emerging. For example, the Parsons School of Design at The New School, coupled with its strategic arm called N Ventures, has been collaborating with Roblox and designing curricula.

“We are working with Parsons students interested in fashion, design, and technology to apply their design literacy skills to the virtual world of digital fashion. This course will help students fine-tune their existing 3D skills such as modeling, weight painting, and PBR texturing to produce digital clothing and accessories. Students will work together and collaborate with experts from the industry to execute their experimental designs into both digital and physical forms as a tribute to Parsons’s expedition into the future metaverse,” said Kyle Li, assistant professor at the Parsons School of Design.