What the Metaverse Means for the Apparel Industry

All of us currently find ourself steadily creeping towards next iteration from the internet as we know this: Web 3. zero. In the next version in the internet, the limitations that separate our own digital life from your physical life is going to be even more blurred using the introduction of the metaverse, which will be the link between these two area of reality. The particular merging of the actual and digital sides online will be additional encouraged as technologies developments such as increased reality and virtuelle realität (AR/VR) become more advanced and accessible.

Performing as a virtual area that people can visit, the particular metaverse is sure to discover itself at the area of digital interpersonal interaction, online web commerce, and creative digital expression. Unfortunately, each one of these aspects of the metaverse is at the heart with the global apparel business – which is likely to reach an estimated $2. 25 trillion within value by 2025. With this in mind, we have to inquire ourselves what the introduction of the metaverse indicates. for the apparel market and its current potential customers over the next 10 years.

How AR/VR technology in the metaverse will change online retail

According to a report from McKinsey, the fashion and apparel industry saw a 20% decline in revenue for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. As the pandemic began to spread globally in early 2020, it forced many clothing brands and retailers to quickly adopt virtual sales channels and offer value to their customers. One way to achieve this is through the introduction of AR/VR-driven digital showrooms, which give customers the ability to see how certain clothing products might look on them before buying them.

This AR/VR integration in the apparel industry is similar to Amazon’s “Look in Your Room” AR feature. This feature allows customers to take advantage of AR technology through their mobile device’s camera to see how certain products such as furniture will look before buying them. As more clothing brands and retailers continue to adopt AR/VR technology and integrate it into their digital stores, it can be assumed that features like these will become the new norm to meet the growing consumer demand on ecommerce platforms in the metaverse.

With more consumers than ever before continuing to place greater value on brands offering options such as AR-fueled “try-before-you-buy” showrooms and personalized self-service checkouts via unified virtual storefronts, most B2B decision makers have taken notice. , placing greater emphasis on offering this value to meet the growing needs of their customers.

Considering the mutual growth in demand for these high-value virtual offerings, it can be theorized that the apparel industry’s place in the metaverse will be not only AR/VR showrooms, but also full-fledged virtual spaces similar to traditional shopping malls. In this space, customers can have the opportunity to try on or try on clothing items in a completely virtual environment.

Such a shift would introduce two additional benefits for the apparel industry. First and foremost, it will eliminate the need for complicated physical inventory of products, freeing up cash flow for most apparel brands and retailers. Second, the ability to offer customers a wider range of products in a VR environment opens the door to greater customization options—another aspect that apparel industry consumers have appreciated more in recent years—with every product purchased essentially built on order. to meet each individual customer requirement.

With this in mind, it raises questions about how other technologies can create added value for consumers both within and outside the metaverse, such as how wider adoption and integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within the metaverse can provide apparel brands and industrial customers with more lots of customization options and values.

The role of NFT for the apparel industry in the metaverse

Throughout most of 2021, NFT will be one of the most popular technology innovations in the entire global media news cycle. As an emerging digital asset class, NFTs operate as a sort of digital receipt or token (hence the name) that represents the purchase of products from the marketplace on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum or Solana. Once purchased, NFTs can then be traded or sold to others on the blockchain, with some NFTs selling for $10-70 million or more.

While NFT has become very popular among the digital art and video game trading industries, it is far from the only area in which selling and trading NFT can be applied. For example, in late 2021, word broke out that sportswear mogul Nike had purchased RTFKT Studios, a start-up that is “taking advantage of [NFTs], blockchain authentication, and augmented reality…to design merchandise such as physical shoes that leverage imagery in other NFT projects including Crypto Punks and Bored Apes.” If more clothing brands follow in Nike’s footsteps in the NFT space, it could completely change how we consider the value of unique, fully customizable products as transferable digital assets in the metaverse.

Perhaps one of the factors contributing to the explosive growth of NFTs in a relatively short time is the intrinsic uniqueness of each. Because each separate NFT is embedded with a unique digital signature that allows users to verify the chain of ownership and authenticity as a digital asset, no two separate NFTs can be exactly the same.

Last thought

Combining this understanding of the nature of NFTs with consumers in the apparel industry places greater emphasis and value on the ability to receive customized products and personalized ecommerce experiences. In addition, with the potential for apparel brands to avoid larger physical inventories of products in their virtual storefronts in the metaverse, the possibilities for industrial utilization of NFT in the metaverse are almost limitless.

While such utilization is likely to be nearly a decade away, it could position the apparel industry as one of the most popular entry markets for customizable and wearable NFT products in what will eventually become the metaverse. Customers can transfer their purchased NFTs to and from their VR avatars in the metaverse, or even sell them to other users, gaining additional real-world value from these transactions. Additionally, brands like Nike or RTFKT could potentially release customizable products as unique NFTs through their virtual stores in the metaverse, creating an entirely new consumer market for their products through an economy based on blockchain technology integrated into the metaverse ecommerce platform.