By Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
Clothes that cannot be worn, hung or touched are gaining traction. Labeled as e-fashion, these clothes are all digital and do not exist in the physical world. Essentially, consumers of these products do not receive a traditional package with their clothing of choice, but instead ownership of a digital file. Currently most e-fashion firms will provide an image of the clothes worn by the consumer so that they can share it on social media.
At first, we wondered why digital-only clothes were becoming so popular, but after playing around on DressX, a multi brand retailer of digital fashion clothing comparable to a Net-a-Porter of the metaverse, we understood the potential of this digital market and truly believe that digital fashion could be the next big thing.
When discussing writing a dissertation concerning the phenomenon of digital clothing with a professor who is an expert in consumer psychology at Seoul National University, he could not fathom such an idea, and affirmed that this new "asset" was too radical.
In recent years, forms of media consumption and communication have evolved from social media and games to a combination of virtual and augmented reality, which consequently is affecting consumers' preferences, from e-commerce and social commerce to blockchain virtual stores.
As mentioned by Francois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of Kering, in an interview conducted by Business of Fashion made available through Bloomberg Quicktale's YouTube page, the share of the young generation in the total business of the luxury fashion market is changing, with the younger generation making up for a larger part of the consumer demographic, disrupting the structure of retail and influencing fashion companies to reassess their target market.
So the fact that Generation Z is known to be more immersed in digital reality than any other generation should make us think twice before dismissing e-fashion as a fad. Most digitally affluent consumers adopt fashion into their social media presence and if e-fashion produces an end result just as good as the real-life products, they see value in it.
The pandemic had most of us staying indoors with limited social gatherings, which consequently affected the way we consume fashion. It is undeniable that consumers were already favorable to the practicality of e-commerce, as society continues growing to become more and more digital. And it seems that the next innovative step for fashion is even more digital.
Sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) launched a new record in the third quarter, hitting $10.7 billion in total sales, which is eightfold of the previous quarter when it was $1.3 billion, according to DappRadar, which tracks sales across several blockchains. Some of the sales are from random digital collectibles, but some of it is coming from the digital wearables that fashion juggernauts are selling in the metaverse.
Megan Kaspar, a member of the Red DAO group and the owner of The Doge Crown, a lavish headdress with seven blue sapphires and 142 diamonds (bought for $1.25 million, 423.50 Ether) pointed out that the fashion industry is valued at $2.7 trillion and it is likely to double over the next two decades thanks to digital fashion.
Digital fashion is not only an alternative for a more sustainable solution, it provides avant-garde artistry that you may not wear in real life, providing a broader space for self-expression. Due to its affordability, it democratizes fashion by giving a chance for users to wear brands that are not affordable in real life.
Additionally, e-fashion can be seen as a more sustainable alternative in fashion as well, since it does not rely on the mass production of articles from real-life resources and, consequently, produces less waste.
There's no question that a lot of big corporations are actively investing in the metaverse, so it is not surprising that e-fashion is experiencing market growth.
Although at first, as millennials who were not born into a digitally predominant world, we were skeptical of the potential of e-fashion, the rapid change of behavior we have been observing in this last year made us realize that we could have been biased, basing our opinions on the social standards of what constitutes a valuable asset that we grew up with.
As the world is changing rapidly, whether it is due to the consequences of the pandemic or not, digital reality and assets are evermore present in our lives, and with constant developments in the metaverse, maybe it is time to pay closer attention to the unconventional markets taking form.
Chyung Eun-ju (ejchyung@snu.ac.kr) is studying for a master's degree in marketing at Seoul National University. Her research focuses on digital assets and the metaverse. Joel Cho (joelywcho@gmail.com) is a practicing lawyer specializing in IP and digital law.
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| Chyung Eun-ju |
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| Joel Cho |
At first, we wondered why digital-only clothes were becoming so popular, but after playing around on DressX, a multi brand retailer of digital fashion clothing comparable to a Net-a-Porter of the metaverse, we understood the potential of this digital market and truly believe that digital fashion could be the next big thing.
When discussing writing a dissertation concerning the phenomenon of digital clothing with a professor who is an expert in consumer psychology at Seoul National University, he could not fathom such an idea, and affirmed that this new "asset" was too radical.
In recent years, forms of media consumption and communication have evolved from social media and games to a combination of virtual and augmented reality, which consequently is affecting consumers' preferences, from e-commerce and social commerce to blockchain virtual stores.
As mentioned by Francois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of Kering, in an interview conducted by Business of Fashion made available through Bloomberg Quicktale's YouTube page, the share of the young generation in the total business of the luxury fashion market is changing, with the younger generation making up for a larger part of the consumer demographic, disrupting the structure of retail and influencing fashion companies to reassess their target market.
So the fact that Generation Z is known to be more immersed in digital reality than any other generation should make us think twice before dismissing e-fashion as a fad. Most digitally affluent consumers adopt fashion into their social media presence and if e-fashion produces an end result just as good as the real-life products, they see value in it.
The pandemic had most of us staying indoors with limited social gatherings, which consequently affected the way we consume fashion. It is undeniable that consumers were already favorable to the practicality of e-commerce, as society continues growing to become more and more digital. And it seems that the next innovative step for fashion is even more digital.
Sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) launched a new record in the third quarter, hitting $10.7 billion in total sales, which is eightfold of the previous quarter when it was $1.3 billion, according to DappRadar, which tracks sales across several blockchains. Some of the sales are from random digital collectibles, but some of it is coming from the digital wearables that fashion juggernauts are selling in the metaverse.
Megan Kaspar, a member of the Red DAO group and the owner of The Doge Crown, a lavish headdress with seven blue sapphires and 142 diamonds (bought for $1.25 million, 423.50 Ether) pointed out that the fashion industry is valued at $2.7 trillion and it is likely to double over the next two decades thanks to digital fashion.
Digital fashion is not only an alternative for a more sustainable solution, it provides avant-garde artistry that you may not wear in real life, providing a broader space for self-expression. Due to its affordability, it democratizes fashion by giving a chance for users to wear brands that are not affordable in real life.
Additionally, e-fashion can be seen as a more sustainable alternative in fashion as well, since it does not rely on the mass production of articles from real-life resources and, consequently, produces less waste.
There's no question that a lot of big corporations are actively investing in the metaverse, so it is not surprising that e-fashion is experiencing market growth.
Although at first, as millennials who were not born into a digitally predominant world, we were skeptical of the potential of e-fashion, the rapid change of behavior we have been observing in this last year made us realize that we could have been biased, basing our opinions on the social standards of what constitutes a valuable asset that we grew up with.
As the world is changing rapidly, whether it is due to the consequences of the pandemic or not, digital reality and assets are evermore present in our lives, and with constant developments in the metaverse, maybe it is time to pay closer attention to the unconventional markets taking form.
Chyung Eun-ju (ejchyung@snu.ac.kr) is studying for a master's degree in marketing at Seoul National University. Her research focuses on digital assets and the metaverse. Joel Cho (joelywcho@gmail.com) is a practicing lawyer specializing in IP and digital law.
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