The metaverse has been making headlines for a while now, with companies exploring ways to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. The latest company to dip its toes into the virtual space is retail clothing brand H&M. It recently launched an immersive metaverse experience on Roblox, a gaming app that allows users to play, create, and chat with people online.

The H&M Loooptopia Experience on Roblox allows players to create virtual apparel and wardrobes for their avatars, play mini-games, and partake in styling sessions.

In partnership with metaverse studio Dubit, the experience was created to engage customers and allow players to create and evolve their virtual wardrobes “so they can feel the most like themselves through their avatar,” says Max Heirbaut, H&M global head of brand experience, metaverse, in an article from CMO Australia.

And H&M isn’t the only one jumping in to join the fun. Ralph Lauren recently launched a metaverse apparel partnership with Roblox, as well as Gucci, Burberry, Nike, and Vans.

According to Roblox’s ‘2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends’ Report:

• In 2022, more than 11.5 million creators designed over 62 million virtual clothing and accessory items on Roblox.
• There are at least 200 times as many creators designing clothing and accessories on Roblox as the estimated number of fashion designers creating physical collections in the U.S.
• The majority of Gen Z who are active on Roblox said they’ve customized their avatars, with half of them changing their avatar’s clothing at least every week.
• 2 in 5 respondents said expressing themselves with clothing and accessories in the digital world is more important than expressing themselves in the physical world.
• Among those who say they spend money on digital fashion, 31% said they’d typically spend up to $5 per month; another 30% said up to $10-$20 per month; and nearly 12% will spend $50-$100 monthly. Over 1 in 4 say they’ve spent anywhere from $20 to over $100 on a single virtual item.

Digital Apparel’s Role in the Print Industry

With numbers like these, it makes you wonder where the apparel decoration industry fits into all of this. Branded merch and apparel expert and CEO of AMB3R Creative Jeremy Picker chimes in on how this will play out for custom apparel providers, noting that it could likely be years before the industry as a whole “truly embraces this trend,” but now is the time to learn it because he says it’s not going anywhere.

“I was just discussing with my team today about how I wish Meta Quest would allow us to buy add-ons to our avatars,” Picker says. “Every Tuesday we have our company meetings in the metaverse. We have whiteboards, share inspiration and talk about our week. It really does feel like you are more connected with your team versus Zoom since we are all virtual.”

He says while most won’t have the Web3 designers used to make digital wearables, the Web3 companies will go to apparel decorators to create merch. “This is where PHYGITAL will be big!” he says. The marrying of the physical and digital worlds will allow “people to create or buy their metaverse fashion in a tangible form.”

Additionally, he says all decoration techniques should be well represented in metaverse fashion, from printing and inks to embroidery patches and applique. The goal would be to “make a higher quality garment IRL [in real life] to match the meta,” he adds. “Understanding why people want to spend on meta fashion and how the whole process works will give us an advantage to market and communicate intelligently with these Web 3 companies.”

He says QR codes and NFC chips are both good ways to connect physical merch with the metaverse. On the flip side, he says, companies could use meta fashion to give access to limited merch collections.

“Either way, we need to guide our clients and potential clients where the eyeballs are,” he affirms. “Depending on the company, sometimes their audience is in places that are currently less traveled. Finding those underpriced arenas will get your business ahead of the curve. People will be asking for it and will want to work with decorators that can be an asset to them, not just print their merch.”