The fashion industry is entering virtual worlds to make it more accessible to young consumers.

The fashion industry is entering virtual worlds to make it more accessible to young consumers. As conversations surrounding the metaverse / virtual worlds continue taking shape, industries across the board are beginning to enter virtual spaces in a bid for young consumers’ attention. The fashion industry has been making strides in gaming / virtual worlds for some time now, and with virtual fashion shows becoming more common, it’s important to understand how virtual worlds can be used to complement IRL experiences, not just for hype. For example, everyday consumers may not be attending New York Fashion Week (NYFW), but they could (in theory) hop on the platform Second Life to attend a virtual fashion show as their avatar. According to Jonathan Simkhai, a designer who has introduced collections on platforms like Second Life, the metaverse fashion scene and IRL fashion experiences have an opportunity to coexist: “To me, it’s more about accessibility and community building. Activating in the metaverse allows us to reach a customer who maybe isn’t familiar with the brand, but allows them to create a digital identity using the clothes.” YPulse told you how concerts and art exhibits have been infiltrating gaming / virtual platforms to make entertainment more accessible to young people, and virtual fashion shows are yet another way metaverse-like platforms are being used to reach young people. (Refinery29)