A digital dress for $9500? Virtual sneakers for $10,000? A digital bag that costs more than a physical one?
Some will find it bizarre, but that’s how all new things seem to be at first. The world is changing, and every now and then we learn about a clothing brand or digital artist who has sold an all-digital-items collection for an absurd amount of money. Fashion houses such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Balenciaga, Rebecca Minkoff, Clinique, Adidas, Calvin Klein are already building businesses in the metaverse that bring them millions.
How much can you earn on virtual clothes?
Spoiler alert. Much more than you’d have thought.
An NFT sneaker by RTFKT and FEWOCIOUS
In February 2021, a crypto project hoping to combine blockchain technology with sneaker culture and fashion RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”) partnered with the 18-year-old crypto artist FEWOCIOUS to create three pairs of NFT sneakers styled after Air-Force One. 621 pairs of NFT shoes were sold in less than seven minutes for a total of $3.1 million. Even Air Dior cost less and you could actually wear them.
Up until now, the idea of spending real money on virtual clothes was related to video games only, never to the real world. With a market value of $545.98 billion being forecasted by 2028 and 3 billion people playing online games every day, the gaming industry is a true leader of entertainment.
Even the most conservative fashion brands couldn’t stay away from such high profit margins and lose the opportunity to secure a place in this new profitable niche.
How do brands make money on digital fashion?
In an article about the history of digital fashion we have already told you about the founders and how in 2018 the Scandinavian brand Carlings became a pioneer in the industry by launching its Neo-Ex Virtual Collection.
Neo-Ex Virtual Collection by Carlings, 2018
Three years later, come 2021, many luxury brands had already entered the digital fashion market and put up their first digital items for sale. Gucci fashion house has released digital sneakers Gucci Virtual 25 that could be purchased in Gucci app for $12.99 and worn using AR devices or used in Roblox and VRChat partner apps.
Gucci Virtual 25
Gucci has also sold a digital version of the Dionysus bag on the online gaming platform Roblox for $4100, which is $715 pricier than the physical bag.
Ralph Lauren has designed digital outfits for Zepeto avatars and launched an exclusive collection of virtual clothing on Roblox as part of Ralph Lauren: The Winter Escape event held on the platform. As a result, the number of new Ralph Lauren customers increased by 58%, the brand’s revenue rose by 27% to $1.8 billion.
Ralph Lauren Digital Collection for Zepeto
Louis Vuitton has created digital clothes and accessories based on the women’s spring-summer collection 2020 for the game League of Legends.
Avatar image for the League of Legends based on the Louis Vuitton SS’20 collection
Dolce & Gabbana has presented the Collezione Genesi NFT collection that was sold for $6.2 million.
The digital fashion market is gaining momentum as interest in this area is constantly fueled by loud sales that lure new audiences in the face of fashion brands, designers, artists and potential customers as well.
“Skins” (outfits for game characters) and NFTs can be considered as long-time investments whose price might blow up in years to come in the secondary market.
Read this article to find out what brands have already released their NFTs.
