Just a simple question: Would you buy clothes that you can't physically wear? For now, your answer might be "no", but just wait until you find out about the current digital fashion revolution!
Digital fashion, really ?
At a time when the fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world, and where technology plays an increasingly important role in our lives, a digital phenomenon is emerging and becoming popular not only with brands, but also with consumers. Welcome to the Metaverse, a new fully digital world in expansion. To successfully combine the fashion world with this new digital Metaverse full of opportunities, designers and technology enthusiasts are innovating in different fields such as artificial intelligence, 3D design, cryptocurrency and virtual reality. A bit like filters, digital clothes can be worn virtually thanks to augmented reality. So you can for example take an picture wearing a top that you have bought online, but that you do not have physically. The possibilities of digital clothing creation are countless and allows much more creativity and innovation since the design tools are way more accessible and diverse than the physical ones.
Digital 3D & AI artist resident of the Art + Technology Lab 2021-2022 at LACMA Oswaldo Erréve thinks digital fashion as a mirror of the social and environmental change :
“Fashion is the biggest way of self-expression. Now, with all the digital tools that the technology is providing to us to express our ideas and communicate them through the media, we can reach unimaginable worlds with only a click, skip or a tap.”
All to arms, it's a virtual fashion revolution!
In the global fashion industry, virtual clothing is estimated to represent an opportunity of around $30 billion, and brands start to realise they also need to get onboard to renew themselves and adapt to society's evolution.
This revolution in the fashion world has took enormous proportions since Covid-19 and the digitalisation of most of our social and professional interactions. We all know Zoom or Teams quite well now don't we? With the recent apparition of the Metaverse, brands started to create 100% digital collections such as Adidas & Bored Apes Yacht Club NFT collection, or Balenciaga and its collaboration with the world widely famous video game Fortnite. Nike even bought the successful digital sneakers studio RTFKT for several million of dollars, taking a huge step into the Metaverse.
Even the historical Fashion Week is updated in this new alternate universe. If your dream is to sneak into the backstages of a fashion show, you can now try your luck at the Crypto Fashion Week which features innovative digital garments!
THE new opportunity to grab
Digital and virtual fashion has a bright and promising future, and this market continues to expand with the appearance of new exclusively virtual brands.
This new market is also storming the ultra luxury brands that have smelled the potential, including Louis Vuitton who has repeatedly used digital models to present its creations in an innovative way.
Jon Sánchez an innovative 3D digital fashion designer believes the Metaverse will expand and be a real part of our life. We will likely be able to walk around the different shops and to buy digital clothes, making it a great perspective for a concrete renewal of the fashion industry.
"Virtual fashion is a real opportunity for brands. When it comes to designing garments, but also when it comes to creating advertising. We can create different videos or scenes in which we can play with the garments in different spaces created in 3D. Also, as Balenciaga did last year, create a virtual showcase in which to present a collection."
Facing this new digital wave, the consumers have new expectations : we don't want to just purchase an item anymore, we want a real experience. Over the past few years, our role as consumers has indeed shifted from being passive buyers, to brands' dominant influence, highlighting new trends and sustainability or ethical challenges. Clearly, we got the power in our hands now concerning strategic brands choices. Meaning that fashion brands need to grab the opportunity of digitalisation to get a chance to differentiate their brand experience and image from the others. Becoming digitally savvy is basically a new key to become more successful and to reach a new target audience.
In the next few years we will fortunately witness more and more digital collections from our favorite brands when going shopping. But would you really be ready to turn your wardrobe into a digital cloud?
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