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User Avatars help to build an immersive metaverse of unified digital worlds. Today, they have become a convenient medium for Meta to link user identity across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms is launching a digital designer clothing store called the Meta Avatars Store as announced yesterday by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on his Instagram Live with Instagram’s vice president of fashion partnerships Eva Chen.
Though the Meta CEO sees this as a medium for users to express themselves via fashionable avatars, one cannot say with certainty as to how many people will shell out money to dress their avatars in designer clothing. The new virtual store launching on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger will offer virtual outfits designed by fashion brands Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. A Meta spokesperson said they would be priced between $2.99 and $8.99, much less than the real outfits by those designers. For example, Prada’s Matinee ostrich leather bag actually costs $10,700. The roll out will commence next week in the United States, Canada, Thailand, and Mexico. The free clothing options for Meta avatars will still be available.
Meta plans to become an open marketplace where developers can create and sell a wide array of digital clothes, according to Zuckerberg. In a statement, he said, “We’re launching our Avatars Store on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger so you can buy digital clothes to style your avatar. Digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy. We’ll add more brands and bring this to VR soon too!”
