Revenue benefits for brands designing for the metaverse

The fashion industry is quickly embracing the metaverse, with digital fashion and virtual commerce (v-commerce) a new channel for revenue.

Users in the metaverse will be able to carry items like clothing, accessories, and home decor from one platform to another (for example, from the game world of Fortnite to Meta’s universe), says Forbes. Having one’s own fashionable avatar is just the start.

Mark Zuckerberg stated at The Facebook Connect 2021 back in October that fashion for avatars is the next frontier: “Here are avatars, and that’s how we’re going to represent ourselves in the metaverse. Avatars will be as common as profile pictures today, but instead of a static image, they’re going to be living 3D representations of you, your expressions, your gestures that are going to make interactions much richer than anything that’s possible online today. You’ll probably have a photo realistic avatar for work, a stylized one for hanging out and maybe even a fantasy one for gaming. You’re going to have a wardrobe of virtual clothes for different occasions designed by different creators and from different apps and experiences.

Fashion brands will benefit from v-commerce because it will eliminate the need for overproduction, discounting and use of raw materials as the products exist only digitally. No inventory is required, which means no depreciation in value of items, meaning bigger margins and increase in profits.

Designers also have a huge amount of creative leeway in creating virtual goods because the limitations normally imposed by market practicalities don’t apply, writes Forbes.

Virtual re-sale

Second life goods in the metaverse are still unworn, meaning the platform for the resale of virtual assets can be lucrative, too. When NFT’s exchange hands, royalty fees may be due, allowing continuing income for existing designs.

When Dolce & Gabbana last year launched their debut NFT haute couture collection in partnership with digital platform UNXD, they created NFTs for their Genesis collection, bridging their creative work between the physical and metaphysical realms and ultimately selling digital assets worth 6 million dollars.