“Digital fashion lowers the barrier to entry for lesser-known designers, which will lead to more diversification in the industry and give access to new trends and brands.” — Daniella Loftus, founder of This Outfit Does Not Exist
Digital fashion has its roots in the early days of the internet when designers and artists began experimenting with digital tools to create fashion designs. In the mid-2000s, digital fashion designers started using 3D modeling software to create virtual garments and runway shows, which were then broadcast live on the internet. This allowed people from all over the world to watch and participate in these events.
As technology has advanced, so has the field of digital fashion. The metaverse, smart clothing and Web3-based technology like nonfungible tokens are leading to the rise of digital-first fashion — a system where collections are first created digitally, whether in-house or outsourced to a company. The digital collection can then be superimposed onto photos through digital tailoring, allowing consumers to see how the garments would look on them and purchase them directly on the brand’s website.
Many luxury brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tiffany & Co. are making moves to expand their fashion brands into the digital world. Major labels such as Nike and Adidas have set up stores in the metaverse, digitizing items as NFTs, selling goods in virtual worlds, and generating new sources of revenue in the process. While blockchain technology is not required for the digital fashion ecosystem, it brings added benefits, such as enabling commerce between digital and physical items and providing a sense of belonging. Many brands have now opened digital boutiques in the metaverse.
Additionally, the rise of the metaverse has led to the emergence of “meta-fashion,” where digital assets that were once used mainly for gaming are now being designed to dress digital versions of humans.
In 2022, the first-ever digital fashion week was held in Decentraland, a decentralized virtual social platform on the Ethereum blockchain. Metaverse Fashion Week, a four-day digital fashion event, featured wearables on virtual runways and luxury brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Tommy Hilfiger, Estee Lauder and Elie Saab. In total, 108,000 people logged on over the course of the event.
In 2022, leading brands such as Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Adidas, and Tiffany & Co. generated millions of dollars in sales from NFTs. Nike’s NFT sales alone reached an estimated $185.3 million, with secondary market volumes approaching $1.3 billion. These figures are expected to grow as the adoption of digital technologies grows.
Many predict that digital fashion powered by Web3 technology will continue to be a driving force for multiple traditional and new fashion brands venturing into the ecosystem in 2023. With a good number of digital fashion shows already lined up for the year, such as Digital Fashion Week New York in February, more growth in participation in this space is expected.
While the industry is rife with potential, it continues to face its fair share of its challenges.
For example, the process of digitizing garments requires a significant amount of work and expertise. Additionally, fashion is one of the most difficult industries because of how quickly trends change. As fashion designer Phillip Plein told Cointelegraph in 2022, “You have to reinvent yourself from zero several times a year. Each season, the trends are so unpredictable, and the consumer is very hard to control in regard to these unpredictable seasonal trends. […] The only way to work with this is to be open-minded, to be experimental, and to try new things to understand what the consumer likes.” For many brands, one such new thing for 2023 will be digital fashion.
