Fashion mogul, the late Virgil Abloh and founder of luxury streetwear brand Off-White, had once posted on Instagram about the unison of physical and digital reality. He said, “funny thing is, the real world is just the part-time metaverse,’’ He further went on to say “this long trajectory of physical-and-digital things, not just fashion, co-exist is my space.”
Off-White’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection was unveiled via an international digital platform called “Imaginary TV,” which featured an interactive experience with multiple channels and networks — like a television — featuring performances and a virtual terrain, in addition to a teaser of the collection.
“I wanted to capture what it is to be human at this very moment. Conundrum is OK, glitches are OK, duality is OK, and dissolution of norms is OK,” stated Abloh.
Digital fashion is after all not as otherworldly as it might seem and brands have experimented with the concept before. However, the connotation does change when we bring in the angle of wearing clothes that do not exist. With NFTs, Web3, and the metaverse establishing new paradigms of our interaction with external objects and the internet, digital fashion is more than viewing a catalog digitally. It is about owning them, wearing them, but in an augmented reality that resides on the premises of the world wide web. Let’s find out what is digital fashion, why it should matter, and what are its implications.
What is Digital Fashion?
The need for escapism is unparalleled no matter which day and age we talk about. Humanity has evolved and with it, technology. We live in a period when humanity is undergoing a profound transformation, and our everyday lives are certain to bleed into the metaverse.
At the moment, metaverse may seem like a utopia for technophiles. But the day is not far when it becomes a part of everyone’s lives, the same way the internet, Google or smart phones did. The metaverse will be a place where you may immerse yourself in any virtual environment and engage in any augmented reality at any time.
Platforms like Decentraland, Sandbox, and other play-to-earn projects have already made NFTs usable in metaverse games. Aligned with the same vision, the fashion industry has also set its foot in the metaverse. The first-ever Metaverse Fashion Week went live on Decentraland, featuring some of the brightest stars of haute couture, including Roberto Cavalli, Dolce and Gabbana, Paco Robanne and Tommy Hilfiger among others.
The event also featured clothing lines from brands like The Fabricant, Auroboros, DressX and XR Couture that do not sell these items physically. What more, for the first time in history, independent digital fashion creators got the chance to share the stage with highbrow luxury brands. You may not be able to touch a digital fashion collection from brands like XR Couture, but you can flaunt them in a metaverse game or event and AR/VR environments. You may never touch or try on a piece of clothing, but you may wear it ‘virtually’ and still rake in the likes.
Digital fashion introduces a blend of fantasy and style that will let you buy and wear clothes that were definitely not made in a sweatshop. Fashion transitioned from physical to digital stores becoming more accessible to people during the Web2 phase. However, the need to represent fashion physically was never questioned until small steps were taken towards wearing clothes virtually and donning them on social media. Influencers have been modeling for digital fashion brands since 2018 when the concept was still nascent.
Talk about social-media-friendly! It’s the perfect answer for influencers on the hunt for the perfect #OOTD without the need for drilling holes in their pockets.
Digital fashion may not replace fashion in real life. However, it can become the new normal, not only in terms of sustainability, which is still a major source of worry in the industry, but also in terms of making fashion accessible to people of all sizes and genders.
Pixels for Fabric — The Essence of Digital Fashion
The most recent fashion trends are created with pixels and programs rather than threads and fabrics. Shirts, dresses, pants, caps, shoes, and accessories can exist digitally, yet none of them need to be tangible. Instead, clients use augmented reality and digitally edited photographs to “wear” virtual apparel.
People have been using social media filters to put on digital accessories for years, and the gaming skins market — where players of games like Fortnite buy bespoke costumes, or “skins,” for their avatars — is thought to be a multibillion-dollar industry. There’s also Facebook’s not-so-recent revelation regarding its metaverse aspirations.
Though it may appear weird and futuristic, the digital and real worlds are colliding right now. More reality-bending digital fashion pieces are now being created for people to wear as a method to express themselves and push creative boundaries. One may claim that digital fashion is becoming more and more real one fashion week at a time.
Implications of Digital Fashion
For one thing, brands are betting on digital fashion becoming a profitable market sector. The emergence of virtual-native fashion startups, as well as widespread acceptance by mass-market and premium brands, are sufficient proof. Not to mention, digital fashion can reduce the fashion industry’s environmental impact.
Our clothing should be priced to reflect a complicated history of emissions and waste generated through extended supply chains. Fast fashion accounted for at least 10% of all GHG emissions in 2019, and if current apparel consumption trends continue, we would be bearing the burden of the carbon waste left by 102 million tonnes of textiles by 2030.
Digital fashion, according to fashion experts, has the ability to transform how real products are manufactured, as well as address concerns like overproduction. Digital sampling is one technology that, when used at scale, has the potential to reduce waste and excess.
Brands will be able to cut waste caused by upstream processes by using 3D digital design and augmented reality. Working samples in technologies like CLO allow brands to show off their latest collections to buyers via digital samples. Adidas, Emilio Pucci, and Theory are among the brands that have already implemented this strategy. When compared to physical production, 3D garment simulation reduces sample lead time from one month to one day and eliminates fabric waste.
Furthermore, virtual clothing can cater to the requirements of content creators and fashion entrepreneurs, and at the same time prevent the overconsumption of physical clothing. It works like this: instead of buying new garments to help them create fresh content for social media platforms, content creators can get virtual clothes, reducing the strain on natural resources and upstream activities. When compared to their physical equivalent, wearing a digital fashion item can have a 97 percent reduced carbon footprint.
Fashion Industry’s Venture into Web3
Avant-garde fashion firms have successfully created digitally wearable designs without the risk of duplication thanks to blockchain technology. The best part is exactly how these garments are then made to look realistic and fit the customer’s vision.
Companies such as XR Couture are paving the way with garments that are 3D-modeled so clients may wear them in any virtual reality environment. Other fashion brands like The Tribute and Fabricant have taken a similar route. If you visit Tribute’s website you’ll be greeted with a message from the future: “This is the platform for contactless & cyber fashion.”
To Sum Up Our Entire Point
The average cost of manufacturing and buying luxury clothing could go up to tens and thousands of dollars. Compare that to digital clothes that also preserve the sensibilities of high fashion, but are far less cost-intensive.
Digital fashion powered by NFT wearables will soon become a part of our physical reality as our recreation in the virtual space gets more immersive with the Web3 space. In this light, both consumers and brands have more than one reason to choose digital fashion.
Why Should you Choose Digital Fashion?
Digital Fashion offers a substantial B2B value proposition in the industry. The choice of switching to Digital Garments for people whose livelihood depends on showcasing the latest fashion trends, not only relieves them of spending a fortune but also helps reduce their carbon footprint.
There are people who want the perks of brand association but can’t afford it. Can’t meander about in your local park for the sake of “Grammable” pictures carrying a $5000 Birkin bag? Go virtual!
And of course, how can we forget about the Gen-Z creative! Virtual clothes are not constrained by material, sizing, gender standards, or gravity, allowing them to fit in with all of the fashion industry’s newest trends while also encouraging social impact through sustainability and full-scale inclusivity. They are also completely customizable, allowing you to create the dress of your dreams. (Yes, exactly like the one you imagined while reading your fifth fantasy book of the month.)
Why do Brands Choose Digital Fashion?
Design and dissemination of digital content enable budding designers to present their work without having to invest in materials, studio space, or capital-intensive equipment, lowering expenses substantially. Digital Fashion challenges creative idealism by removing constraints such as material malleability, a humanoid color spectrum, and, of course, gravity.
Virtual garments don’t require fabric, so they don’t contribute to the fashion industry’s 92 million tonnes of textile waste each year; they also don’t necessitate the manufacture of machinery (other than computers) or the delivery of extremely polluting transportation methods to the customer.
The creation of digital fashion items allows companies to interact with the Metaverse. Globally, 2.5 billion active gamers spend $100 billion on virtual products each year. Digital Fashion allows brands to follow in the footsteps of Louis Vuitton, Versace, and 100 Thieves, who all debuted virtual items in League of Legends, ComplexLand, and Animal Crossing, respectively. The Metaverse is not only extremely profitable in terms of consumer spending, but it also lends itself wonderfully to digital marketing. After all, these garments were purchased to be seen in.
The Problems
While many fashion designers and businesses aspire to go Web3 and launch their designs in the metaverse, they may not have the necessary toolkit or knowledge to develop 3D outfit designs or NFTs. Additionally, in the present scenario, NFT wearables are not interoperable — you can’t wear an outfit you wore in a Decentraland virtual party to another event in Sandbox.
XR Couture plans on changing this.
XR Couture is a platform that not only caters to your digital fashion requirements but also aims to help onboard small artists and businesses into the metaverse.
XR Couture is creating NFTs that are compatible with the design parameters of multiple metaverses. It enhances the utility of NFT wearables in the metaverse by developing toolkits that brands can use to run with their Web3 marketing ideas.
In Closing
Digital clothing can serve as a compliment to a brand’s physical products. Digital fashion could be the answer to most, if not all of your problems — problems that address fast fashion, defying gender norms, advocating for climate welfare, or adopting fashion as a tool for self-expression and using it to the fullest.
The world is gradually transitioning to Web3, whether some like it or not. With currencies, finance, and economic transactions occurring on the blockchain, and many in the entertainment industry choosing to monetize their interactions in the metaverse, it is only a matter of time before digital fashion becomes an integral part of your life like your subscription to your favorite OTT channels.
As Wall Street Journal and Forbes agree, XR Couture is the pioneer in this space. By becoming a platform that helps not just brands onboard the metaverse, but also Indie artists to get exposure to big stages, XR Couture caters to all!
To learn more about the recent developments in the Web3 fashion realm, and to kick-start or satiate your digital fashion needs, check out XR Couture’s Instagram and Twitter handles. To become a part of XR Couture’s growing community, join their Discord server.
