The Evolution of Fashion in the Metaverse

The importance of fashion in the Metaverse can be looked at from multiple angles. Let’s start with the idea that digital representation arguably started with gaming skins.

The world of gaming links with the world of fashion intricately, where the details of the character’s appearance send a message, help move the story forward and add much-needed depth to the digital world. Customisation of these in-game avatars came in next, allowing for a form of self-expression. Fashion is one of the pillars of self-expression, and we don’t see why it should be different in the metaverse.

Fashion brands entering the metaverse:

In 2021, Adidas launched its own NFT drop in partnership with NFT giants such as Punks Comic and Bored Ape Yacht Club. Additionally, in December of last year, the sportwear titan introduced its NFT items. The NFT drop provided its customers with virtual wearables for the blockchain-based game environment The Sandbox. The company partnered with Italian luxury fashion behemoth Prada in January 2022, and together they unveiled a Polygon-based NFT initiative where fans can submit original ideas. Now, in stage 2, to obtain the tangible merchandise, holders must burn the Phase 1 NFT. There will be an Ethereum gas fee, but there is no cost to claim the merchandise.

Given the appeal of interacting with and creating communities in games and other virtual worlds, various participants in the fashion business are keeping an eye on the $176 billion gaming sector, which draws more than three billion players globally each year. Huge luxury brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Burberry have all ventured into the world of the metaverse already. In order to establish a virtual fashion collection where users could dress their avatars in exclusive goods or appearance-altering “skins,” Ralph Lauren, for instance, teamed up with the South Korean social network app Zepeto.

New business models that make use of virtual fashion may have more chances thanks to artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Model avatars have walked 3D virtual runways thanks to technology that enables 360-degree views, which has already been used to exhibit seasonal collections through online showrooms. There are no tangible garments for sale at fashion houses like The Fabricant, DressX, and Leafes. Customers can pay to have a photoshopped version of themselves wearing one of these fantastical clothes, see it superimposed as an AR filter on movies, or even buy the item as an NFT, depending on the design. Nothing exists for one to touch or put on. Customers cannot order a piece to hang in their closet or wear on a night out. These shops focus on something more abstract, though. When perusing their inventory, one can come across silver armour with quivering stems or violet puffer garments that weightlessly float about the body.

Digital clothing as an environmentally safe alternative to fast fashion

Respectively, the digital brands mentioned above offered clothes without production, pollution, and waste, and fashion shows without international flights. The carbon emissions from travel by buyers and designers to the four major fashion weeks were measured as part of a 2020 research project (Milan, Paris, London and New York). It was discovered that the total emissions came to 241,000 tonnes of CO2e, which is equal to 51,000 cars on the road or 3,060 years of lighting for the Eiffel Tower. Furthermore, the production of a digital piece of clothing from start to finish produces 97% less CO2 and consumes approximately 3,300 litres of water less per item.

Naturally, there are more options besides the main four. There are more than 100 fashion weeks taking place around the world, including in Nigeria, Lagos, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver, Shanghai, Copenhagen, and Seoul, so the emissions associated with all of these events would almost certainly far exceed the projections associated with the few well-established fashion capitals.

“We have to think about this on a large global scale, how digital fashion can actually impact physical fashion. I don’t believe that you can replace the physical fashion industry, which is a 800 billion US dollars industry, with digital fashion. But I do think that, when it comes to consumption and our relationship to clothes, the ways we express ourselves, this can be influenced by digital fashion”. — Evelyn Mora, CEO & Co-Founder of Digital Village

Shiraz Jagati for Cointelegraph mentions that there is data that not only suggests that by replacing physical samples with digital ones during a company’s design and development phases, but it is also possible to reduce a brand’s carbon footprint by a whopping 30%.