Balenciaga Forms Team Dedicated to Metaverse Opportunities

Balenciaga announced plans to create a team dedicated to discovery marketing and Commerce chances inside “reverse“.

Speaking at Fashion businessVoice of – an annual conference that brings together important figures from fashion industry – Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit said the unit will work to engage customers through virtual reality and transform the way they Shop.

A metaverse is a virtual world where people can play games, work, shop and socialize. It combines virtual reality and augmented reality technology.

“Usability” [of digital fashion] is the missing point, but is making giant strides every day,” Charbit said.

“Currently, the peak of engagement with a luxury brand is that you like, or comment, or buy something. I think we can take it to the next level.”

This is not the first time Balenciaga has taken steps towards the virtual fashion landscape.

In December 2020, the fashion house released Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow, a video game with a Fall 2021 collection.

Additionally, this year Balenciaga teamed up with Epic Games to create four high-fashion skins that Fortnite players can purchase for their avatars.

Also at Voices, which is taking place at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, Dame Vivienne Westwood gave a keynote address telling attendees that she believes the “war economy” and capitalism are to blame. climate crisis.

“The whole world is competing with itself to be superior, to create better and smarter weapons,” says Westwood.

“War is our big polluter and our big waste. The temperature is rising. As we saw in Cop26, without cooperation nothing can be done.

“We don’t have time. Governments will bring the world down instead of submitting to popular demands for peace. Tomorrow is too late. SOS. ”

Tommy Hilfiger also took to the stage to discuss the brand’s focus on “adaptive fashion” which aims to include people with distinct tastes.

“It makes me uncomfortable to see big companies not opening up to the world,” says Hilfiger.