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The Avatars store in Meta will sell virtual clothing from major brands.

"The Metaverse seems so far away. I have such a hard time imagining someone going to design school and then making their first collection in the Metaverse, and having that resonate. – Amy Odell, Substack fashion journalist

"Basically, it's a clothing store for your avatar, [...] but we also want to create this market, so that all kinds of designers can, over time, design clothes and sell them “, Zuckerberg says on Instagram.

Digital costumes are big business, but will designers find value?

Meta's launch of the Avatars store will feature styles from Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne that mimic the look of their real-world counterparts. This deluxe outfit could cost thousands in the real world, but will prove more affordable in the Metaverse, with prices ranging from $2.99 ​​to $8.99.

"I was really surprised, completely shocked at the price, that it was so little," Amy Odell, fashion journalist and author of Anna: The Biography, said in an interview.

This is the latest in a long and sometimes tricky alliance between fashion and Meta's social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

"Even the parades were closed," Odell said. "Fashion brands didn't want to do that, for various reasons."

The vast reach of social media has eroded industry resistance, however, as Meta has put considerable effort into the relationship. Eva Chen, former editor of Lucky magazine, was hired as head of fashion partnerships at Instagram in 2015 and has held the position ever since. Zuckerberg also made efforts to build bridges, sharing photos of himself and the late Leonardo Del Vecchio ahead of the Ray-Ban Stories launch.

Meta is not without competition. Roblox, an online gaming platform that lets players create their own experiences, has courted Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, among others. Hilfiger decided to collaborate with Roblox after learning that users were already creating unofficial Tommy Hilfiger clothing on the platform.

Introducing: Tommy X Roblox Creatorswww.youtube.com

While not as well known as Meta, Roblox, which claims over 200 million monthly active users (MAUs), is significantly ahead of Meta's Horizon Worlds, which claimed 300,000 MAUs in February 2022 These users are also spending: The company's Q2 2022 report indicates that an average Roblox user spends around four dollars every day on the platform.

Clearly there is a demand for fashion on the metaverse platform...