Your favorite brands already sell you clothes in metaverso and you still don't know what it is for

No one knows very well what metavers will consist of.An improved version of Secondlife or a true real world replica?Will there be a couple of general platforms attracting everyone or will many environments according to needs?The answers will be given by time, but there is something that you can already be clear: When you want to enter, everything will be full of brands that you will want to sell you digital clothes.

The list of known firms that have joined this new fever is surely greater than the relationship of those that are not.What are you looking for?Basically, sell virtual garments - many times in the form of a NFT - in metavers, which in principle would be a kind of parallel virtual worlds where you can do a bit of everything and work with a cryptocurrency -based market.Yes, it is a very ambiguous definition, but today it is difficult to clarify whether it is something new or as old as the Internet.

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"There is much 'hype' and eager for the industry, but also many unknowns," says Celestino Martínez, director of the consultant updates retail, who emphasizes that "there is a clear interest of the world 'crypt' and its derivatives to attract investments makingthink that it is an immediate future ".In fact, he puts in context the 'boom' of this concept: “He has been talking about virtual reality as the future of trade for at least 10 years.We already saw what happened with the 3D cinema, which was going to be the revolution, but it has remained an anecdote ”.

"This wastero has troubled Facebook, because metavers as such we already had them," says this commerce specialist, who considers that "we are trying to get too much tip to one thing that there are only approaches and, although there is potential, it seems that it goesIt will take to be massive ".In fact, internal goal documents revealed by Business Insider, point out that the company will not invest in this technology until 2023, and consider that it will take a decade to arrive to arrive.

The world of video games is the closest to the metavers that exists today and, therefore, where clothing brands are starting to look more interesting.

There are precedents that have been able to encourage the step, such as the success of the ‘skins’ market - the aesthetic or playability accessories that can carry an avatar on the platform - which in 2020 moved about 40.000 million dollars, according to the Dmarket, exchange platform for these accessories. Por ejemplo, en Animal Crossing ya han colaborado desde ‘retails’ como H&M o Benetton a Valentino, que lanzó sus propias 'skins'.

“The metavers we have today, such as Fortnite or Minecraft, have the degree of realism and the possibilities they have, often focused on children.In spite.

The landing of traditional brands

"We discovered Decentraland three years ago, which is what is now called Metaverso," says Daniel García Aranda, CEO and founder of the Polygonal Mind digital study study.At first they had customers related to cryptocurrencies and NFT, but that has changed."Now also great brands that are not related to this world and want to position themselves," he says.

For García Aranda, a key point is in the community creation factor, “with which it interacts directly, while so far only the generic perception of the brand was worked”, in addition to “they will have more control overWho are sususal, what they like, what do you feel like ".Is to bring a point beyond what social networks do with the personal tastes of its users, since the interaction would be direct with the company.For example, they could launch a virtual garment before analyzing how it would behave in the market.

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There is also another crucial aspect: a physical point is no longer necessary to sell.This is the evolution of direct-al-consumer strategies (DTC).“The brands are already cutting distributors and selling directly to the customer, whether online or in very large physical stores in the best commercial areas.They are deficit local, but they serve to generate brand experience that promotes, ”says Martínez.

But, of course, these stores have limits, something that does not happen in metaverso: “For example, Nike stores worldwide cost it more than it will cost him in digital, where he will not have to have so many.In addition, the former are not scalable, they have expenses and limits, but the second do.For them it is good news, but for small trade, which is already very touched from the beginning of online sale, it can be an already insurmountable difference ”.

Clothing speculation is not new

The reference to the mythical sports firm is not accidental.Nike has just bought RTFKT, a ‘start-up’ dedicated to the creation of this type of garments-especially, shoes-and that was valued at 33 million dollars, although the amount of the agreement has not transcended.One of the milestones of this company is to have sold in just 10 minutes more than 600 pairs of virtual sports designed by the artist Fewocius.They raised just over 3.1 million dollars, although they cannot be used in any metaverso for now.In any case, it should be remembered that interoperability - if you buy something in one, you can use it in another - remains one of the main challenges for these platforms.

Although spending money on something that will not be put on is something that for many does not make much sense, it is something that, to some extent, already happens in the physical market.Precisely, the case of the shoes is one of the most obvious.Brands launch exclusive series that many customers buy as mere collecting objects and, most of the time, speculation.

Kike Marina, a fashion and marketing specialist, sees that "a natural step between the real and digital world is taking place, because the non -use in favor of the resale has been glorified"."They have gone from being useful to put it on and presume that the important thing is to have them, do not take them," he emphasizes before remembering that some shoes are sent in die -cut boxes: "If you open them, they lose part of their value.".Once that dynamic has been entered, the product goes to the background and two key factors enter.First, "how you distinguish you" and then, "how much money they will give you for it"."If you have moved away from the physical product, the next step is to ask if it is important".

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Anyway, initially the NFTs only accredited the property, but now it is increasingly common that they have associated some type of utility.It's what is with virtual clothes.In some cases, they are only garments;In others, they entail certain advantages, such as discounts or obtaining certain products in physical format.Lifelong clothes, go.

“Not always everything is virtual, there is also adhesion with the physical.They are projects that are working well because they are not limited to the digital world, ”says García Aranda, who remembers that“ brands are not silly, they know that the 'crypt' world is small and want to reach the dough, trying to gather the twoworlds to expand and make greater sense "."The NFTs are going to take physical form and people will perceive value," he warns.

A more expensive digital gucci than the physicist

Roblox has been the platform chosen by Nike to launch his nikeland space.Although the metaverso concept is now fashionable, this platform has been active since 2008 and is based on an environment that allows users to create their own universe.Of course, avatars have little to do with a replica of a human being, since they are very similar to Lego figures.

It is one of the favorite destinations of these companies.Tommy Hilfiger has already launched several collaborations in recent years with this space and a few months ago Vans also joined, which launched his vans World.But this is not only of more or less conventional brands.The luxury sector is also present in Roblox, where Gucci has been launching projects for a long time.Among other things, there you can buy and customize some sneakers called virtual 25 for about 10 euros.

In this case, it is not about NFT, since they cannot be customized and outside this world they have no value.That does not mean that some Gucci garments have reached several thousand euros in resale, when their original price was a few euros.In fact, there was some case in which the digital bag ended up exceeding the original price of the original.

It is not the only luxury brand that has entered the guild.For example, Louis Vuitton is in League of Legends for years and Balenciaga has already made parades in Fortnite, in addition to launching a game, with which certain NFT could be achieved. Otras marcas del gremio, como Burberry o Dolce & Gabbana, también han lanzado colecciones de tokens no fungibles.In addition, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Richemont have launched their own ‘blockchain’ for the authenticity certification of elite digital garments.There are even exclusively digital elite brands, such as the British auroboros.

"Before there were several levels in which the communication was very different and had nothing to do with a luxury brand with a more conventional one, but it has been matching and there is not too much difference," explains Marina, the fashion and marketing specialist."While luxury brands have tried to reach more people, the brands that were below use this to upload".Without going any further, Louis Vuitton has already made a collaboration of the ‘Skate’ supreme and this week Adidas announced another with Prada.

1.7m dollars in adidas plots

The Sandbox is another of the platforms that could be categorized as metaverso and that are attracting brands.Although it was created in 2012 as a video game, the version that is closest to a ‘tokenized’ virtual planet did not arrive until about three years ago.There is rapper Snoop Dogg or some characters from Atari, all also with the aesthetics similar to that of Lego.

It is the place for which Adidas has opted to make a hole.The brand of the three stripes bought 144 seemed to about 400 Ethers - second cryptocurrency of the world -, which at the time were equivalent to about 1.7 million dollars, to create their own space in this virtual world.Meta, the Facebook matrix, took the opportunity to get the conversation to celebrate the announcement.

It has not been the only investment, a few weeks ago it also bought a NFT from Bored Ape Yacth Club (Bayc), one of the most sought -after collections, where the price of each avatar does not fall from 200.000 dollars.They also announced an agreement to collaborate with Coinbase - second market exchange market.

Almost at the same time, they also launched the 'Into The Metaverse' collection, in collaboration with BayC and other most successful NFT projects, Gmoney and Punks Comic."I recently bought this Adidas Token and I will receive several garments from the brand throughout the year for being its owner," says García Aranda.

Eso sí, también ha habido algunos anuncios que no eran tales, como como lo ocurrido esta semana con H&M.A few days ago, the Ceek City. Tal y como indicaban, era un ‘render’ que habían presentado, pero bastó para llenar titulares con la llegada de H&M al metaverso. Al final, han tenido que publicar otro tuit aclarando: “Estamos en conversaciones con H&M para hacer esto realidad, pero esto no lo es a partir de ahora”.

It is not metaverso for old

As expected, brands are looking for a new audience to attract: the youngest."There is a generational leap.There will be people who decide to enter there and others who will want to get off the car, ”says Cestino Martínez.The Polygonal Mind CEO agrees: "You have to have the 'mindset' that you are going to buy something digital, because you spend many hours there and it will be useful, but for many people it is not so, especially in aging populations".

“Many of our users have not yet used Instagram, and a greater number of our users have not yet used Facebook.We are the first social network with which they relate, ”explained Rudy Lee, Zepeto Strategy Director, in statements to the BBC.It is a South Korean platform that is less focused on the game and more on fashion.With three years of life, about 1 have been sold.600 million garments in their surroundings and, it can be said, the avatars are many more achieved than those mentioned.

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There are cases like Monica Louis, a 28 -year -old computer engineer who is making a fortune creating and selling digital clothes: her salary already has six figures.But there are not only individual user designs.Zara has been one of the newcomers and has launched a collection in collaboration with the ader error brand, also South Korean.Before Ralph Lauren had arrived there, which in summer launched a collection with half a hundred exclusive garments.

Get the first to whatever

All the specialists consulted agree that there is something key in everything: the first to arrive and, in this case, to whatever."They have money to open their way and are committed to their shareholders to go ahead, even if it is not a novelty to buy clothes in a video game," explains the director of update Retail."Right now it is complicated that they take advantage beyond specific experiences.It is striking that a brand can obtain several million dollars for digital clothes, but it is very little if you compare it with its total turnover ”.

That is, they are putting eggs in what can be succulent baskets in a few years: if all this is not a blu and end up being the networks of the future, they can always say that they were there from the beginning.“Brands need to always be up to date regardless of whether it will work or not.I am not seeing a real intention to turn the market, ”says Marina, an expert in fashion, which recalls:" Adidas or Nike have a history of very curious failures when they enter a world that is not theirs, like this.You have to wait to see if it will be so.I remember a Nike ad that appeared on television and, to finish watching it, you had to enter the web.It was said that he was revolutionary and was going to change everything, but he stayed there ”.

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García Aranda, from Polygon, considers that the same is happening with mobile phones, pages or social networks.“It is true that some of the pioneers did not work well, but others were there and the master play came out.Here they have seen a new market that can be the future;Then, climbing is much more difficult, but they have capital to risk ”.

In fact, the amount of brands and projects that are appearing on these platforms may not correspond to the number of users that are or there will be soon, but it is not about this: “The long -term strategy is to put the flag beforethat the competition ".