Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger join Metaverse Fashion Week

The 2023 MVFW has a focus on interoperability, with users set to be enabled to jump between platforms and have a unified brand experience.

Ecommerce and the Metaverse Fashion Week

A Glossy blog post highlights that Dr. Giovanna Casimiro, head of MVFW stated that the organisers have brought in 3D social network company Spatial to add more joined events with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, who will sell wearables that can be worn across platforms. What is more, Over the Reality, an AR platform was enlisted to help expand the experience, and Decentraland creators will be able to wear linked wearables purchased during MVFW on its metaverse platform as well.

The focus of this second edition of the event is not as much on purchasing items, and the event is free to the public, with select brand events being token-gated through prior NFT collections. The event has added functionality that enables users to buy wearables with a credit card in addition to cryptocurrency and has also evolved its marketplace with the addition of new categories such as accessories, skins, emotes, and features, as well as new tags showing an item’s rarity.

For a multitude of participating brands, including Adidas, which is one of the largest brands taking part for the first time, the value is in the experience and the opportunity to present wearables in an interactive digital fashion space.

Adidas is set to host a fashion show on March 29 as part of a dedicated ‘streetwear and retail’ day and will also host an immersive experience where users can try on its Virtual Gear collection. Adidas spokesperson stated that taking part in MVFW marks the first step into the open metaverse, allowing its community to purchase a digital twin of their Virtual Gear, without having to buy the 3D iteration. The brand’s objective is that of learning whether the utility of wearables that can transfer to other platforms is beneficial to its community, with Adidas fans now having three ways of owning the Virtual Gear collection: in their digital wallet, as a profile picture via the Adidas atelier, and as a Decentraland avatar identity through the MVFW.

Cross-platform ownership is set to be also trialled by Tommy Hilfiger, which will host new events daily, together with the unveiling of an artist-created logo, and will also sell a wearable available for use on multiple platforms – the Tommy Letterman Varsity Jacket. Users will be enabled to purchase the item in Decentraland and be transported to the Tommy space on its hub in the virtual store platform Emperia, from where they can then move via portals to Roblox, Spatial, Sandbox and Ready Player Me. Concomitantly, Tommy Hilfiger will host an AI design competition within Decentraland, inviting users to leverage the world’s creator tools and create a piece of digital fashion in the brand’s signature style, with the winner’s submission set to be created by DressX as a digital fashion collectable, AR filter, and wearable for Decentraland.

With these varied activations, participating brands’ ROI is believed to come in the form of awareness among a new audience, together with alignment with tech-forward brands, as participating in MVFW can influence a fashion house’s branding and shape them as a ‘technological trailblazer’. What is more, the event is believed to help increase brand exposure to new, future-looking audiences with an engaging style that is increasingly interactive than when compared to visiting a brand’s website or social pages.