Meta to launch designer clothing store for virtual avatars

Meta Platforms is launching a digital store where users can buy designer clothing for their virtual avatars. This was announced by Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post. 

“We are launching our Avatars Store on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger so you can buy digital clothes to style your avatar,” Zuckerberg said.  

Zuckerberg also said that digital goods will be an important tool for people to express themselves in the metaverse. It will also be a big driver of the creative economy. 

Meta is working on adding more brands to the store and making them available to users in virtual reality (VR) as well. Prada, Balenciaga, and Thom Browne are some of the brands that will be launching designer clothing for virtual avatars. 

Also read: What does buying land in the metaverse mean?

Zuckerberg had said at the Facebook Connect event last October that his company’s metaverse will allow users to buy, own and sell products as non-fungible tokens (NFT). 

Virtual avatars are the digital representation of real-life users in the metaverse. Users can customise their appearance and dress them as they like using designer clothing and accessories of their choice. Many brands such as Nike are already selling their NFT collection of shoes for metaverse on OpenSea starting at $4,000 and going up to $100,000. 

Many companies are also building digital humans, a more advanced form of virtual humans, which can be used as influencers and customer care executives. Last week, the creators of PUBG games, Krafton unveiled its first digital human being called ANA. Developed using Unreal Engine hyper-realism character development technology, ANA can make facial expressions and movements, and even chat like humans. 

According to a June report by Mckinsey & Company, metaverse may generate up to $5 trillion in economic value by 2030. Out of which e-commerce is expected to account for $2 trillion and $2.6.