Sanvi Bhatia
Chris Dixon, an American venture capitalist famously observed that the “next big thing” will start off looking like a toy. This insight, he feels, is at the core of why we routinely dismiss inventions that, in retrospect, prove to be instruments of monumental technical and cultural change. Most of our initial denial stems from the fact that often at their novel stage, most technologies don’t serve to be very convenient to use in our existing lifestyles and set-ups. However, more often than not with time these technologies improve and evolve into becoming an indispensable part of our lives. The mobile phone, skype calls, e-commerce were all developments that are testament to the same.
This is relevant today because what surrounds us is a slew of technologies like blockchains, cryptocurrencies, virtual goods and more. And while these developments are at their nascent stage and still ‘toy-like’ they are bringing us closer to the “Metaverse” which will fundamentally alter the way we live on Earth and how we interact with one another.
The metaverse or the alternative digital space is the web’s next mega-phase, a fusion of the real-world AR, and VR that is already revolutionizing the way we connect, work, dress and live. The word “metaverse”, although not new has gained traction owing to both Facebook[1] (the company has taken up a new project to work on the technology) and fashion companies. The term was originally coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. While there is a lot of conjecture about what the term really means in actuality and how it will affect our lives and economies; the metaverse is a development that from the looks of it is here to stay.
According to the wall street journal[2] people in the metaverse would dwell in immersive, shared virtual environments in a vast online universe. In the metaverse, people would be able to try on products at stores or attend concerts using avatars, exactly as they would physically. They’ll be able to bring data and experiences from the Metaverse into the actual world, essentially overlaying them on our surroundings. The Metaverse is, in essentiality, a parallel universe in which we may operate, engage, and communicate. It isn’t just a virtual replica of the present-day internet. The Metaverse is what completely replaces the internet as we know it today.
So what changes in the fashion industry?
The metaverse is about the digital representation of ourselves; and when this digitally mirrored world becomes our place of social interaction, work and development it becomes another projection of ourselves. Just like in the physical world, fashion plays a significant role in our self-expression and is hence crucial for the representation of our digital avatars. Virtual fashion companies and designers now have the opportunity to break into a whole new industry of exclusive digital apparel.
With the onset of digital fashion, the conversation about the metaverse and Non-fungible tokens in fashion is more potent than ever before. Digital fashion has the potential to become an industry worth millions of dollars and is a technology backed by innovation and capital. Fashion companies like Dress X, the fabricant and RTFKT are major players involved in building fashion brands in the metaverse[3]. Even big and established fashion retailers such as Ralph Lauren[4] have made their debut into the foray of immersive digital products in the metaverse. The fashion sector is now entering the non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem[5], which has hitherto been dominated by art. Web 3.0 has spawned a new age, which top designers and small companies are capitalizing on in order to establish themselves in the fashion industry’s new prospect.
In the metaverse, online shopping is a given. But it’s not the kind of online shopping we know of today. Most people today think of online shopping to be limited to browsing through e-commerce websites, selecting clothes they like, adding them to a virtual cart and getting them delivered to their places. Some may go as far as digitally trying on clothes before ordering the physical garment. But in the metaverse, your digital avatar’s ‘skin’ or garment will have its own monetary value. Fashion Companies will need to collaborate with technical giants and create digital brands for people at various levels of affluence. People that put a lot of money into the metaverse may have their own digital businesses and property, so they can collaborate with companies that don’t exist in the actual world.
Status symbols like the virtual house you own, the virtual designer clothing, cosmetics, and jewelry you wear, will become just as significant as real-world purchases and belongings.
Nobody knows for sure, but most experts think that the Metaverse is an inevitable stage in the convergence of mankind and technology, as well as an evolutionary merging of reality and the virtual space. Companies and organizations constructing the future will be making progressively large expenditures and investments for the development of the metaverse and the fashion industry will not be left behind. A new version of the internet is being developed, and it will have far-reaching ramifications. Professionals in different fields from law to marketing, communications, and designing will all confront new difficulties as well as new possibilities. This new metaverse age will unleash incredible creativity and provide brands and companies with new territories and possibilities. The day is not very far when we wake up and instead of checking our phones we log into the metaverse and function in an alternate virtual space. And when the day comes- our online avatars will not be in shortage of designer virtual garments to flaunt!
References:
[1] Casey Newton, MARK IN THE METAVERSE Facebook’s CEO on why the social network is becoming ‘a metaverse company, THE VERGE (Jul.22, 2021) https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview
[2] Meghan Bobrowski, Facebook, Roblox See the ‘Metaverse’ as Key to the Internet’s Next Phase, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (Aug. 19, 2021) https://www.wsj.com/articles/roblox-facebook-see-the-metaverse-as-key-to-the-internets-next-phase-11629286200
[3] Blind boxes, 3 Companies building fashion brands in the Metaverse, MEDIUM (Jul.14 ,2021) https://medium.com/blind-boxes/3-companies-building-fashion-brands-in-the-metaverse-decb43db8d1e
[4] Adriana Lee, Ralph Lauren Makes Metaverse Play With Zepeto Partnership, WWD (Aug. 25, 2021) https://wwd.com/business-news/technology/ralph-lauren-metaverse-zepeto-digital-fashion-1234903502/
[5] Anna Tong, Luxury fashion brands poised to join the NFT party, VOGUE BUSINESS (Apr. 05, 2021) https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/luxury-fashion-brands-poised-to-join-the-nft-party
