From gaming skins, AR filters and monetising edited photographs of people in 3D garments to blockchain-empowered supply chain transparency: digital fashion is evolving continuously. New innovations pop up in the Metaverse in the blink of an eye, and between the hype and sheer volume of innovation, much is lost in translation. Here’s the 101 on all things digital fashion.
The rapid growth curve of digital fashion has as much to do with adaptation as it does with innovation. In early 2020, the fashion industry’s impact on the planet became widespread knowledge. Conscious consumers and activists became vocal about the industry’s wastage and ethics through social media.
At the same time, amidst lockdowns during the pandemic, runways were abandoned. So, models wore 3D-software-designed garments at virtual fashion shows. These garments were soon sold online through platforms dedicated to digital fashion, like The Fabricant, DressX and Replicant.
Consumers’ interest in zero-waste virtual clothing grew, and designers considered taking pre-orders through 3D designs. Soon enough, digital fashion was cited as a sustainable solution to overproduction and waste.
How digital fashion works in Web 2.0
However, from being employed in e-commerce virtual trial rooms to being sold as custom-edited images, the initial scope of digital fashion did not extend to ownership. Regina Turbina, founded digital fashion e-commerce, Replicant, in May 2020. She shares what happens behind the scenes of such a business: “Customers choose an outfit from the catalogue. Then they upload any photo of theirs, pay for the look; and within forty-eight hours we try the digital garment on their photos and send it to them. It works just with CLO3D and Photoshop softwares.”
The original precursor to digital fashion is gaming skins, as used in League of Legends and Fortnite among others. These gaming avatars segued into today’s concept of virtual identity that encapsulates more than just physical appearance through clothing, hairstyles, make-up and accessories.
Turbina shares, “One of the cornerstone functions of clothing is the social one. Your image is always a statement, a display of your mood, interests, and self-identity. Digital clothing can go much further here than its physical predecessor.” Further, as virtual clothing isn’t limited by the physical constraints of textile construction or speed of production, it appeals to a social-media-active community that thrives on the use-and-throw regime to keep their feeds fresh. In this context, curating an image bank of digital fashion as opposed to hoarding fast fashion is an approach to conscious consumption.
Web 2.0 digital fashion claims to create sustainable consumption habits
Virtual fashion influencer Ekaterina Gorbik is a strong advocate for the greener side of digital garments. According to her, every tenth shopper purchases clothing exclusively for content creation, post which items are returned to the store or worse, sent to landfills. Against this background, she supposes digital fashion acquires not just an entertainment value but also an ecological one, given that the clothes do not need to be produced physically, nor have a footprint of maintenance and disposal.
In fact, a pioneer in the digital clothing marketplace DressX reveals that the production of a digital garment emits 97% less carbon dioxide than a physical garment, and does not utilise any water. The company further claims that substituting even 1% of physical clothing with their digital versions could save five trillion litres of water, thereby eliminating the annual carbon footprint of the fashion industry by up to thirty-five million tonnes.
But could virtual clothing eclipse a percentage of demand for tangible garments? Not really. Certain professional niches and segments of trend-setting consumers who are completely dependent on their social avatars might be drawn to the idea of a digital wardrobe. But comprehensively, these garments could not and cannot replace real functional clothing.
As brands commoditise this approach to digital clothing by focusing on marketing, virtual events and catering to an influencer community – there is slower action to solve bigger operational issues within this archaic industry.
Could digital fashion actually solve the bigger problem?
The early claims made by a very young digital fashion industry were focused on tackling overconsumption and wastage. By converting entire factories into a single device, supply chain to blockchain, retail outlets to e-commerce, and rendering shipping obsolete, some of the biggest culprits of environmental pollution are diminished.
Turbina breaks it down: “With these designs, you don’t need to create multiple fashion samples physically. You just make one digital garment and try it on different avatars, sizes and body types using the software. Later these design templates can easily be used for physical production. Brands and designers can present their new work digitally, collect pre-orders, and then produce limited capsule.” Essentially, by investing in digital fashion, an on-demand production system can be enabled, scrapping old-school models steeped in wasteful inventory, deadstock and overproduction.
Web 3.0 fashion
Web2 is slowly phasing out of the Internet, but Web3 is the future. Specifically, it brings to the fashion industry something that hasn’t been successfully implemented to date – democratisation.
In the form of a blockchain-empowered decentralised ecosystem, Web3 enables digital fashion to go beyond 3D-designed garments and Metaverse Fashion Week. From supply chain traceability to second-hand authenticity, it can support many sustainability-focused business models. But how has the IRL fashion industry engaged with its URL counterpart? NYFW 2022 saw brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Puma showcase virtual fashion shows and NFTs. Luxury labels Gucci and Balenciaga launched retail spaces in the Metaverse and announced cryptocurrency as a mode of payment. In 2022, the combined sales revenue from branded fashion NFTs circled around $260 million. Late last year, Farfetch partnered with venture capitalist firm Outlier Ventures in an accelerator program for Web3 fashion start-ups.
Traceability, authenticity and equality
Any transaction or entry into the blockchain cannot be deleted, altered or corrupted, making it a token for traceability, authenticity and licensing. The fashion industry’s highly fragmented supply chain can be integrated with blockchain to support and verify brands’ claims of ethical sourcing and production practices. At the same time, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) which are basically unique, inimitable digital markers or certificates that exist on the blockchain, can be integrated with the sale of physical products to solve authentication problems. Nike is already doing this. Moreover, this is especially handy in the resale industry which is expanding with no signs of a slowdown.
One of the most important aspects of Web3 is equal opportunity. By decentralising the power from a few to many, there has been a rise in independent digital designers and a thrust towards the creator economy. Turbina, an innovator in this space, launched Artisant in late 2021. “With Artisant, we unite artists, digital fashion designers, brands and tech to provide an opportunity not only to purchase wearable art as an NFT but also instantly use it. It is a perfect licensing tool, a cornerstone for the creator economy which is a big part of our mission and vision.” It is a Web3 project working on the decentralised Ethereum network, where all payments are enabled using the native cryptocurrency token, ether (ETH). Turbina revealed that Artisant sold over 75 NFTs for 18 ETH within 1 month of being launched.
Web3: A grey space in digital fashion
As the industry surfs the NFT wave and purchases real estate in the Metaverse, let’s not forget that the real world exists outside of virtual reality. Despite a perceived green footprint, virtual labels are still a large part of the climate controversy. How? Mainly because minting/creating NFTs onto crypto networks/blockchains results in high carbon emissions. Though advocates of this industry stand adamant on this point of contention, they believe this environmental cost can be reduced faster than the fashion industry’s historical oversight in waste management.
Furthermore, as IRL and URL identities blur, man-made virtual influencers take over socials, and Metaverse engagement rules remain unwritten, social ramifications are unavoidable. One such issue of representation and cultural appropriation that has developed is ‘digital blackface.’
There is no doubt that the commerce and marketing initiatives currently being developed across the Metaverse are problematic for the environment. But digital fashion does hold the promise of reducing footprint over time, especially with the substitution of a large volume of physical goods with virtual ones. Development to reduce carbon emissions is being looked into with haste, eg: EOSIO blockchain which boasts of carbon-neutral minting and zero gas fees.
As inquiries into building an inclusive and low-impact Metaverse continue, there is potential for the fashion industry to change its reputation.
FEATURED IMAGE: via SSI Life | IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Capture of Gucci Vault, launched 2022 in the Metaverse, models holding digital fashion merchandise in a 3d room, with a vivid green check surface