The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The Kering-owned brand is creating a dedicated business unit to explore opportunities for marketing and commerce in the buzzy “metaverse,” chief executive Cédric Charbit said, speaking at BoF’s annual VOICES gathering.
Virtual fashion has become a focus for Balenciaga, which released its Fall 2021 collection via a video game and collaborated with gaming platform Fortnite on a collection of digital skins for players.
Now, as pillars of modern life, from work to dating, become increasingly digital, Charbit sees more opportunities on the horizon for fashion brands to engage with consumers in the coming metaverse, a collective, persistent, virtual reality that some experts believe will fundamentally transform how we live and shop.
“The use-ability [of digital fashion] is the point that’s missing, but that’s making gigantic steps every day,” Charbit said. As this happens, he expects today’s consumers to become more “active participants” in the brands they follow. “Right now the climax of interaction with a luxury brand is that you click like, or comment or buy something,” Charbit said. “I think we can get to a next level.”
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In creating a dedicated team to work on projects in the metaverse, Balenciaga joins brands including Kering stablemate Gucci (which recently staged a virtual-reality fashion exhibition on Roblox and created a metaverse pop-up activation on The Sims) and OTB, the Diesel and Margiela parent that this week announced new business unit Brave Virtual Xperience.
VOICES 2021 is made possible in part through our partners McKinsey & Company, Shopify, Clearco, Klarna, Brandlive, Flannels, Snap, Getty Images, Soho House and The Invisible Collection.
The coming of a collective, persistent, virtual reality will fundamentally transform how we live and shop, writes retail guru Doug Stephens.
From a couture revival to winning the Met Gala, the Kering-owned brand is white-hot. Ahead of its buzzed-about Paris Fashion Week show Saturday, CEO Cedric Charbit speaks to BoF about the strategy behind ‘new era’ Balenciaga and his plan for pushing sales to the next level.
Robert Williams is Luxury Editor at the Business of Fashion. He is based in Paris and drives BoF’s coverage of the dynamic luxury fashion sector.
The app, owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has been promising to help emerging US labels get started selling in China at the same time that TikTok stares down a ban by the US for its ties to China.
Zero10 offers digital solutions through AR mirrors, leveraged in-store and in window displays, to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. Co-founder and CEO George Yashin discusses the latest advancements in AR and how fashion companies can leverage the technology to boost consumer experiences via retail touchpoints and brand experiences.
Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.
Brands are using them for design tasks, in their marketing, on their e-commerce sites and in augmented-reality experiences such as virtual try-on, with more applications still emerging.