In this episode of Women of the Metaverse, we explore the growing influence of fashion in the metaverse. With the rise of web3 and immersive experiences, fashion brands are entering the digital realm through NFT collections and virtual stores. We discuss the integration of digital fashion in university courses and highlight recent developments, including Balenciaga’s augmented reality campaign, Renault’s NFT sneaker collection, Nike’s community platform, and Snap’s augmented reality mirrors in stores. The fashion industry recognises the metaverse’s potential for creativity, innovation, and community building, making it a thriving space worth watching.

MENTIONED IN THIS WEBSITE
Ravensbourne –  https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/ba-hons-fashion/digital-technology-fashion-pathway
University of Huddersfield – https://courses.hud.ac.uk/full-time/undergraduate/fashion-design-with-digital-technology-ba-hons
University of the Arts London: https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/fashion-business/short-courses/entrepreneurship-and-innovation/fashion-and-metaverse-online-short-course-csm
Balenciaga’s 520 Campaign: https://jingdaily.com/balenciaga-520-valentines-day-china-2023/
RACING SHOE5: https://www.renault.co.uk/nft-renault.html
Nike: https://www.swoosh.nike/
Snap: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-19/snap-invests-in-large-scale-augmented-reality-with-mirror-tool

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Show Transcription

Why is Fashion taking over the Metaverse?

[00:00:00] Cheryl: Welcome to Women of the Metaverse. I am Cheryl Laidlaw.

[00:00:08] Angela: I am Angela Harkness. We have been and are still on a journey to discover the Metaverse with 3.0 NFTs and anything that we are required to know to join this world.

[00:00:21] Cheryl: From this podcast, we will help you to unlock how the metaverse is going to impact your brand.

[00:00:27] Cheryl: Your business, and even, even your personal life. Join us

[00:00:31] Angela: as we take the mystery out of this new digital universe.

[00:00:38] Cheryl: Welcome to Women of the Metaverse. In this episode, we are talking about fashion and why it’s taking over the metaverse. Every week it feels like a new fashion house has entered Web three World, whether it’s by releasing an N F T collection or opening the store in one of the many different metaverses.

[00:00:59] Cheryl: As we are [00:01:00] enhancing our lives with 3D m s Internet, also known as the Metaverse, we will find ourselves using it a lot more as we move further and further into Web three. So you’re probably wondering why would you buy clothes that don’t

[00:01:15] Angela: exist? If you haven’t already listened to our episode in season one, episode six about fashion and the metaverse, we go into a lot more detail on particular brands and what they are doing, and since then, we have found that universities are starting to introduce digital fashion in their courses.

[00:01:36] Angela: We’ve linked a couple in the show notes from Ravens Born University of Arts of London, university of Huddersfield uk. But there are so many more and so much more going on. So what’s new in the world of fashion and web three. Let’s bring you up to speed with some of the fashion latest noodle, although it probably will change tomorrow anyway, but let’s bring you up to Sweden, some of [00:02:00] the ones we loved.

[00:02:01] Cheryl: Absolutely. So we have Balenciaga. They have recently launched a campaign to promote its 520 limited edition collection. The brand has employed augmented reality technology in a mini game, featured on its official WeChat account. In the game players enter a virtual world as farmers wearing items from the five 20 collection and learn all about eco agriculture to complete tasks, earning them limited edition stickers, wallpaper and wish cards.

[00:02:37] Angela: I, I did a little, I did some research about this, but actually five 20 is an acronym, but I love you in Chinese. Oh yeah. So there’s actually quite a lot of brands doing something around the five 20, but I think that might be why. Yeah. Balenciaga introduced this, it’s a limited edition in China [00:03:00] basically to, it was all around Valentine’s Day and do with I Love You, which is That’s

[00:03:05] Cheryl: very cute.

[00:03:06] Cheryl: It’s very cute. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it. And again, like you say, they’ve got. Millions of

[00:03:11] Angela: pounds to spending to their, yeah, massive market marketing is a, yeah. Massive market. So, yeah.

[00:03:17] Cheryl: So I was wondering whether the stickers, wallpapers, and wish cards, I mean, does that, you know, does that go in their wallets?

[00:03:24] Cheryl: Do we get to keep them forever? Oh,

[00:03:25] Angela: I don’t know. I dunno if it’s based where on WeChat at what they get from that. Yeah. It’s all really like so many different things isn’t there that

[00:03:35] Cheryl: I think if you’re into a brand, you just wanna collect, collect, collect. Yes.

[00:03:40] Angela: Yeah, definitely. Interesting. So we

[00:03:43] Cheryl: also have the French car maker Reno.

[00:03:47] Cheryl: They’re launching an N F T collection called Racing Shoe five. Uh, this features 960 pairs of limited edition sneakers available for sale [00:04:00] starting May 15th, which of course was last month. Again, it’s good to see a different kind. Of, well, the motor, the motor world sort of coming into, yeah, it’s

[00:04:10] Angela: interesting isn’t it, because they’re not the most common type of trainers or sneakers are they?

[00:04:18] Angela: Like it’s usually around other sports like basketball or football or whatever. But this is a really interesting, and it actually look, they do actually look quite cool and this is all to do with their 50th anniversary of Reno. So, It’s

[00:04:35] Cheryl: interesting to see that they have looked at the market, seen that the fashion is doing phenomenally well in web three, and they’ve created trainers.

[00:04:46] Cheryl: They could have created cars, they could have created anything, but they’ve chosen footwear.

[00:04:51] Angela: Yeah, because each N f T is um, linked to the physical, the actual physical shoe as well, [00:05:00] so you can buy them. The actual physical shoe. So again, just this sort of, you know, end-to-end old school marketing, but using web three as well and introducing the new school and understanding, because I would think something like racing as well is a perfect, is perfect for the metaverse and VR and fashion.

[00:05:22] Angela: It just goes hand in hand and fashion, doesn’t it? It just goes hand in hand, doesn’t it? It’s a very aspirational sport, so, yeah. It’s something you can engage with a company if you are a fan of the the F1 team. So, yeah, love this. So Nike as always at the forefront has announced plans to launch a community platform called swoosh.

[00:05:44] Angela: This digital community and virtual creation platform has been in beta since its launch in November, 2022. The platform is designed to enable users to create. And interact with virtual creations with a [00:06:00] particular focus on Nike’s iconic Air Force One shoe. I just love this. This is so good.

[00:06:06] Cheryl: Well, you see every single person under the age of 25 or maybe even 30 with an Air Force one shoe on.

[00:06:14] Cheryl: Yeah. Like they are everywhere.

[00:06:17] Angela: They have always been at the forefront of marketing, though Nike, you know? Yeah. They have done really well and they’re really smart. So this is, and I just even love the, I was thinking about this when I was looking into it, just doing the dot swoosh, you know, when old school used to give your U URL and it used to be dumb you dumb, you dumb, you know?

[00:06:41] Angela: And just having that sort of dot swoosh, I thought that’s just leading as well. That’s so. Just simple, but it just lends to how smart Nike are with Nike, that branding. Yeah. And it’s a really cool site where you can, and it’s all, again, which, you know, Sharon and I have talked about so many [00:07:00] times, if you actually go onto the dot swoosh site, it is all about community.

[00:07:04] Angela: That’s what they’re pushing through all of this. But yeah, it’s marketing their, their trainers in a virtual world, but also in the physical world. So, N really good.

[00:07:16] Cheryl: Once again, round of applause for Nike for also. Yes, totally. Just being always in front, aren’t they? Yeah. Okay, so another one is Snap. The technology company behind Snapchat has announced plans to launch an augmented reality mirrors in select US stores later this year.

[00:07:37] Cheryl: The mirrors will enable shoppers to virtually try and close without physically putting them on revolutionizing the in-store shopping experience. The AR mirrors will first appear in, of course, Nike stores across the country and men’s warehouse in [00:08:00] New Jersey.

[00:08:02] Angela: So do you actually, what happens? I wonder what happens?

[00:08:06] Angela: Do you actually put something up against you and it will make it look like you’re wearing it? Or,

[00:08:11] Cheryl: I dunno, maybe. Maybe you get a body scan and then you can see how the clothes will fit you in different sizes, different fits, different styles, different colors. I mean, I think we spoke about this in season one, about.

[00:08:26] Angela: Being able to try on clothes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Without actually

[00:08:29] Cheryl: physically trying them on. I mean, I get so hot and sweaty in a blimming changing room. No, I don’t wanna do that.

[00:08:35] Angela: I would love to be able to, yeah, I’d love it to be able to be like one step further. So, because having to order stuff and then send it back and try on just to be able to see.

[00:08:49] Angela: What’s something look like on you without, I’m sure that will happen at some point.

[00:08:54] Cheryl: There will be, well, I’m sure we’ll have it in our own homes eventually. Yes. We have our own mirrors in our, in our own homes that we can just try on [00:09:00] different things, different hats, different dresses, you name it, and we’ll be able to order it and know that it’s going to fit.

[00:09:07] Cheryl: We’ll probably be able to have it tailored in the future too. Mm,

[00:09:11] Angela: yes. Because that’s partly the problem, because tailoring is expensive, but. It. It is one of those things that just makes your clothes look better if you’re able to fit them properly. Mm-hmm. Even the cheapest clothes you buy, if you’re able to have them fit better, then they look much better.

[00:09:29] Angela: So yeah. That’s, Cheryl. Yeah.

[00:09:32] Cheryl: Anyway, it’ll be in season three. We’ll be announcing the mirrors in the, on our homes, and we’ll be like, we spoke about this in season

[00:09:38] Angela: two. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, there was so much new, exciting fashion news. It was hard to pick what to include in this episode, but what do the fashion industry see in Webre that other industries don’t?

[00:09:54] Angela: So here are some stats. The fashion business is a 2.5 [00:10:00] trillion global industry and revenue in the video games market is projected to reach 384 billion in 2023. 3 billion people regularly play video games. 46% of fema, which I thought was incredible. That’s just so, oh, it was quite massive. Surprised at that.

[00:10:20] Angela: Yeah. Yeah. And across generations, people enjoy video games over movies. So

[00:10:28] Cheryl: again, another surprising stat that, um, people enjoy video games over movies too, but that does make sense with the industry of the video games and how

[00:10:39] Angela: there’s market though, aren’t they? Yeah. I think the, with virtual reality now, because it’s so immersive, Maybe it just gives you just so much more enjoyment than sitting, watching a film, which is quite passive, isn’t it?

[00:10:55] Angela: Or watching a television series. Cuz I always, I really poorly [00:11:00] am always on my phone when I’m trying to watch something on television at the same time. So I miss a lot of what’s going on. I very rarely would just sit and watch something these days, which is really poor. But

[00:11:11] Cheryl: I know a lot of people use gaming as a meditation

[00:11:14] Angela: too.

[00:11:15] Angela: Yeah. Some people just. I’m trying to think what it was like in my, my generation, what the difference would be. What would I have done? It was more sort of music, I think, and just I think of more social in just meeting people rather than gaming has just become such a big industry. It’s really smart. It really sort of picks up the new technology first.

[00:11:42] Angela: It kind of drives technology. I think gaming so. And the, the way that the fashion industry have then caught onto that and partnered is just is very clever.

[00:11:55] Cheryl: Definitely. When we consider the numbers and the immersive potential for [00:12:00] growth, it becomes evident why the fashion industry is running to have a stake in the metaverse, the fusion of fashion and web three offers an exciting playground for creativity, innovation, and immersive experiences.

[00:12:15] Cheryl: From N F T collection to virtual tryon experiences and digital fashion courses in universities, the Metaverse is becoming an integral part of the fashion landscape. The Metaverse provides unique platform for fashion brands to connect with their audiences in new and interactive ways. It opens doors to unprecedented opportunities for personal expression, customization, and community building.

[00:12:45] Cheryl: So keep an eye out on this ever evolving space. As fashion continues, its captivating journey through the metaverse. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. Join us next week as we continue our journey into the Metaverse. Bye fornell. [00:13:00] [00:13:00] Angela: Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of Women of the Metaverse.

[00:13:06] Cheryl: You can find all information, links and people we talked about in the show notes on our website.

[00:13:12] Cheryl: If you have

[00:13:13] Angela: enjoyed this podcast, Please come in and subscribe.

[00:13:17] Cheryl: Join us again in the next episode as we continue this exciting metaverse journey.