Covid 19 pandemic, has been the catalyst for many companies to make a dramatic shift toward digital transformation over the past two years.
In light of the boom of metaverse popularity, companies don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to join this new tech wave and take advantage of its many benefits.
70% of major brands are expected to be in the metaverse within five years, according to experts at Wildbytes.
Currently, entertainment and video games are the sectors most committed to the metaverse. The fashion industry is right behind, thanks to the creation of garments that can only be used in virtual environments.
Many companies are launching targeted actions to test the waters.
During the last year, a huge amount of businesses jumped on it. Let’s take a look at the companies that have bet on the metaverse in the last few months.
Nike: exploring the Metaverse through Roblox
In November 2021, Nike launched Nikeland, an immersive world where users can play mini-games and enjoy activities related to sports.
Nikeland is a virtual version of Nike’s headquarters. This mini-world is hosted on one of the most famous metaverse platforms, Roblox.
You can customise your avatar and dress it in Nike apparel and also share your outfit with your fellow users. As a downside, the avatars are cartoon-like and not realistic avatars as we have in Union.
In December 2021, Nike bought RTFKT, which specialises in the creation of collectable materials and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Nike’s goal in partnering with RTFKT is to explore the innovations they’ve been making in NFTs, with the goal of offering unique collections to the public.
Gucci: Rooting for Ethereum cryptocurrency
Another luxury brand creating its metaverse project in the digital world is Gucci.
The company has started selling digital products, and its first NFT digital art piece is a galloping horse that is up for grabs for $20,000 in Ethereum cryptocurrency.
Following the virtual economy’s supply and demand growing tendency, they collaborated with Roblox and sold several rare Gucci products on the platform.
To commemorate Gucci’s 100th birthday, the brand created a unique and beautiful virtual garden exhibit, accessible exclusively on Roblox. The Immersive experience only lasted 2 weeks.
By giving this short period of time, they created a sensation of scarcity that makes the prices of virtual products go higher than the physical ones. Instead of paying $3,400 for a physical bag, users paid $4,115 for a virtual bag that they could use inside the platform Roblox.
ADIDAS: Into the Metaverse
In December 2021, Adidas made the move into the metaverse by launching “Into the Metaverse”.
They created a collection of 30.000 limited edition NFTs. The starting price was O.2ETH (777 USD). The purchase of one unit gave you access to an exclusive physical clothing collection available in 2022, as well as access to other digital assets, events and online community.
For this adventure, ADIDAS made sure to recruit the best artists of the moment for its metaverse project. The company trusted Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney and PUNKS comics to be in charge of creating the NFTs and introducing the brand in the virtual world.
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren markets its products on the Zepeto and Roblox platforms, where users can buy Ralph Lauren clothing for their avatars.
Within weeks of launching their products, they sold more than 100,000 garments in the digital world.
At Zepeto there was a collection featuring 12 outfits, comprising over 50 pieces. There were also a number of special and exclusive items, such as two limited edition skateboards.
The avatars they use are also cartoon-like and the virtual identity you create is quite unsatisfactory since you can’t relate to the avatar.
Balenciaga: Leading the way on Epic Games
During the last quarter of 2021, the luxury brand Balenciaga announced a collaboration with Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, to bring the fashion house’s clothing and apparel to the game.
The collection includes a variety of outfits, bags, and accessories that players can purchase for their characters. This launch led to a 49% increase in searches for Balenciaga on Lyst.
All the NFT assets bought by Fortnite users can also be purchased from physical stores.
The number of multinational companies contributing to the new virtual economy is outstanding and the ones we mentioned are just a handful of them. You can also check the initiatives presented by other big companies such as:
- Ferrari: In July 2021, Ferrari launched the 296 GTB to the Fortnite community. This model was released in the virtual world before the real world.
- Tommy Hilfiger: The company released its Spring 2022 collection during the first Metaverse Fashion Week.
- Vans: In September 2021 they launched the experience Vans World on Roblox.
- Coca-Cola: In July 2021, Coca-Cola released an NFT collection that raised 575,000 USD. They raise more than 500.000 dollars for charity in 72 hours.
- Forever 21: They also created an experience in Roblox, The Forever 21 Shop City.
The most important thing that is missing in all the initiatives above is a trustworthy representation of the user. We know it¡’s easier to create cartoon-like avatars but if we want to dive into the metaverse we need to start creating a real virtual identity.
Our avatar is our banner and we have to be able to recognise ourselves in it.
