How can metaverse help fashion brands?

The word metaverse, a combination of the prefix ''meta'' meaning beyond, and ''stem'' meaning the universe is used to describe a virtual space within a digital environment.

The term was coined by science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in the novel ''Snow Crash'' which he wrote in 1992.

Luxury fashion brands such as LVMH and Hermes are considering to cash in on the popularity of metaverse with cryptocurrency emerging as the favoured mode of payment for it.

LVMH's head Bernard Arnault said his business is eyeing to expand into the digital metaverse.

Meanwhile, Axel Dumas, executive chairman of Hermes has said the company is considering to use metaverse for communications.

Italian luxury brand Gucci has jumped on the bandwagon of cryptocurrency with its stores in Los Angeles and New York accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.

A Metaverse Fashion Week was held on Decentraland from March 24-27 in which over 70 fashion brands and designers participated.

These included big names in the fashion industry such as Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY, and Tommy Hilfiger among others.

The three-dimensional event along with the Meta Gala and Crypto Fashion is just the beginning of the arrival of fashion into the crypto space.

These fashion shows provide wider exposure to brands and help them communicate with their target audience. They feature outfits with realistic ones and take payments on Boson Protocol direct platform.

Also read | What is metaverse, the new buzzword in internet technology?

Earlier this year, Benoit Pagotto's design studio RTFKT worked with teenage digital artists, FEWOCiOus, to sell 620 pairs of virtual sneakers generating a total of $3.1 million in less than five minutes.

Entrepreneurs in the space say that virtual fashion will become ubiquitous. They believe that with time the understanding of physical and digital worlds will change our definition of what's real.

If it sounds like science fiction to you then you are on the right track. The de-materialisation of fashion is here and it is going to change the fashion business as we know it.

What we wear says a lot about who we are, making fashion a $2.5 trillion global industry that touches everyone on Earth. It has been transformed immensely by technology, globalisation, and shifting consumer values.

Also read | Dior kicks off Paris Fashion Week with survival thrust

Fashion is recalibrating in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to balance profit with purpose. As the world stayed home during the pandemic, metaverse was a place people could go to get dressed up.

The business opportunities in this fast-evolving convergence of digital and physical worlds are real.

The metaverse has grown out of gaming where players already spend over 100 billion dollars a year on virtual goods.

3 billion people, more than a third of the world's population, regularly play video games. 46 percent of gamers are women and across generations, people prefer video games over movies and TV shows, making the gaming world's leading form of entertainment.

Dressing avatars have come a long way from battleground beginnings with gaming emerging as a lucrative channel for luxury brands to reach new customers, screen wear is the new streetwear.

Watch WION's live TV here: