Digital fashion, what the heck?

Digital fashion is a broad term often confused with virtual fashion. Ann explains the difference: "Digital fashion refers to the use of technology to visualize and develop fashion, often still with a physical end product in mind. Think digital tools for designs and prototypes or augmented reality to show garments to consumers even before they are produced."

"Virtual fashion, on the other hand, exists only in the online world. It is fashion worn entirely digitally, often in metaverse environments or in games such as Fortnite or Roblox. This fashion is never physically produced, but it plays an important role in self-expression within these virtual communities."

An example of digital fashion is Nike's CryptoKicks, an innovative project that combined physical and digital fashion. If you invested in an NFT, you got a digital shoe whose color and size, among other things, you could choose. A limited number of pieces were then produced and sold. You could then exchange your digital version for a physical one. Customers thus received a personalized and exclusive product, both in the digital and physical worlds.

The "skins" that players can buy in video games such as Fortnite or Roblox are then another good example of virtual fashion. These "garments" for avatars are never physically produced. They are therefore very diverse: you can look like a human and wear clothes like in real life, as Mark Zuckerberg does, but you can also look like a fried brie. In 2023 alone, 1.6 billion digital fashion items and accessories were purchased in Roblox.

In 2022, Decentraland even hosted the first Metaverse Fashion Week. That ushered in a new era of digital fashion. "Metaverse Fashion Week showed the potential of digital fashion and interaction," Ann said. "Even though the hype subsided somewhat, brands learned valuable lessons. They discovered that virtual worlds offer a unique opportunity to make long-term, in-depth connections with customers. Unlike fleeting interactions through traditional channels, they can offer minute-long conversations and experiences in virtual environments."

Ann notes that the fashion industry often still clings to traditional production and sales methods rather than embracing technology. "Despite the technological possibilities, the fashion world remains conservative. And that while digital fashion can just make processes more efficient, for example by producing fewer physical prototypes. That saves time, money and resources."

Then listen to the episode with Ann Claes from our podcast By Humans.

Go to By Humans: episode 2