Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg introduced the world to the Metaverse. What he (and his investors) believes will be the future of the internet. During an hour and 15-minute-long presentation, Zuckerberg showed how the Metaverse would change the way we use the internet by combining our physical and digital presence. Not only does Zuckerberg have a new vision for the internet, but for fashion as we know it.
According to Miriam Webster, the Metaverse refers to “the concept of a highly immersive virtual world where people gather to socialize, play, and work.” In the Metaverse, we will “wake up” as our avatars and go to a closet of clothes that we don’t psychically own. Zuckerberg is seen swiping through outfits and avatars styles on the introductory video. He seemed to have taken a page out of Cher Horowitz’s book, who famously has the best closet ever. This idea seemed quite farfetched to me when I first saw it, but as I started to think about how the Metaverse really could be the future of shopping and style.
With the recent introduction of NFTs in the fashion world, going digital is fashion’s next step to be on the cutting edge. Luxury brands have already hopped on this new tech train by introducing it into the world of gaming. Gucci has been a leader in this embracing of tech as an extension of their business. The Italian fashion house has collaborated with gaming platforms like Fortnite, Roblox, and The Sims to create skins, clothing, accessories, and home wear for digital avatars. The best-selling Gucci Dionysus bag sold on Roblox for $4,115, about $1,500 more than the retail price. Clearly, there is a market for this new digital clothing and Zuckerberg wants to be at the helm of this new digitization of fashion. Morgan Stanley estimates that social gaming could be a 20 Billion dollar industry by 2030.
The Metaverse plans of rethinking the way we shop, interact, and play, blending our physical and digital personas to create digital avatars that we can live our lives through. While I don’t picture myself waking up tomorrow and swiping through my fictional closet of designer pieces. I can see what Zuckerberg pictures for his Facebook empire, now named Meta Inc. I am curious to see how long this implementation will take. See you in the Metaverse!
Words by Tommy Drennan.
Graphic by Fai McCurdy.