In an Instagram Live with Instagram's vice president of fashion partnerships, Eva Chen, the CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be launching its Meta Avatars Store, a digital designer store for avatars.
Explaining more, Mark said that users could
use the new fashion clothing options to express themselves using their Avatars.
He stated, "We're launching our Avatars Store on Facebook, Instagram, and
Messenger so you can buy digital clothes to style your Avatar. Digital goods
will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver
of the creative economy. I'm excited to add more brands and bring this VR soon
too."
The virtual store will be launched on
Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. The users will be able to adorn their
avatars with designer clothes after purchasing them from the digital store. These
outfits would be from renowned fashion brands like Prada, Thom Browne, and
Balenciaga.
More brands might also be added to the list,
and Mark is confident of the same. Also, there is no word on how much these
designers' clothing items could be purchased. The digital clothing stores will
commence in Canada, Thailand, Mexico, the US, and Canada next week.
According to a spokesperson for Meta, the
clothes will be priced from $2.99 and $8.99. The amount is way less than the
real outfits sold by those designers. For instance, Prada's
Matinee ostrich leather bag costs $10,700.
This announcement came after Meta's launch
of avatars. The Meta 3D avatars were launched on Instagram a few months back,
and the Avatars on Messenger and Facebook were updated recently. The updates
were essential as they brought more features also made it possible to use the
same Avatar across all Meta platforms, including VR. The updates also added new
faces, skin tones, expressions, and accessibility devices to avatars.
Zuckerberg also mentioned that he hoped to
build the store into an open marketplace where developers could create and sell
various digital clothes. Usually, the users of Meta's virtual reality headsets
set up avatars to do different stuff like play video games, take exercise
classes, and even participate in conference calls,
The New Partnerships
There has been an increase in partnerships
between tech companies and luxury fashion houses recently, and the aim has been
to create branded digital garments. Fortnite partnered with Balenciaga last
year to allow users to buy clothing items for their in-game characters. On
Roblox also, players can visit Gucci Town, which has a garden with the brand's
logo and a virtual store.
According to Engadget, "selling
digital items in the metaverse is an important part of Meta's strategy to keep
making billions of dollars even if it pivots away from advertising."
There is no doubt that the partnership
between the tech and luxury fashion industry is a win-win for both. What do you
think of this trend? Let us know in the comments below!
Sources:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/17/meta-digital-clothing-store-avatar/
https://cryptotvplus.com/2022/06/meta-is-launching-a-digital-clothing-store-where-outfits-can-be-purchased-for-avatars/
https://www.news24.com/w24/style/fashion/trends/facebook-owner-meta-launches-digital-designer-fashion-for-your-avatar-20220620