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Why the Fashion Industry is Keeping a Keen Eye on Gaming

High fashion is closely monitoring gaming, given its growing prevalence and the opportunities for profits they enable. It opens the world for more collaborations and compelling marketing strategies, laying the background for virtual sales that improve the company’s bottom line.

Roblox Corporation has over 60 million active users, making it a leading power in the gaming industry. It is a perfect example of an entity supporting digital transformation and innovation among the top companies introducing digital fashion into their offerings. This is a clear sign that transformations are welcomed into this industry, and the impressive progress made by the novel blockchain technology and related solutions in this industry stands as proof. Fashion brands are gravitating towards implementing cryptocurrency payments. This stems from the increasing number of individuals using cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance to check Bitcoin’s price, place orders, and further use it for transactions, buy NFTs, invest in video games, and other purposes.

This industry has been making forays into the rewarding gaming sphere, praised for showing openness to ever-evolving technologies and trends. And if big tech succeeds in creating a heavily monetized multiverse, fashion and gaming will grow increasingly interconnected.

The global gaming industry exceeded $300 billion, and the surge in e-commerce services has paved the way for new revenue channels for big fashion brands. But to what extent can these two industries intermingle, and what good can come out of this match made in heaven?

There are several advantages that the fashion industry gains from gaming

Video games have always been all the rage, sustained by loyal communities that would expand as more and more people turned their focus to them. However, they have picked up speed during the lockdown that kept many individuals stuck at home, bound to find new hobbies and immerse themselves in new or long-forgotten activities. Therefore, video games have gained a massive audience, meaning that brands that enter this lucrative market gain more exposure and appeal to a new category of consumers.

With an expanding audience come other benefits, too, including the following:

  • The video gaming industry laid the ground for a new market that big fashion brands could explore, with participants personalizing their avatars with digital accessories and garments. This called for better-developed and more complex in-game items, and the fashion industry took advantage by offering digital products inspired by everyday fashion. Two Sims games, “Diesel Stuff” and “H&M Fashion Stuff,” are good examples of big brands experimenting with virtual game environments.
  • Additionally, the fashion and gaming industry is finding new collaboration means, with big-name brands building unique virtual accessories and garments inspired by fashion brands. This unlocked opportunities for companies to appeal to a new audience and try new designs and styles in an environment yet to be fully explored.
  • As content creation and influencer marketing are gaining ground, the gaming industry has transformed into a platform that enables companies to promote their offerings, target new potential customers, and expand their clientele base. Influencer marketing is among the most important aspects of the marketing strategies in this industry, witnessing more collaborations between influencers and fashion brands to cast light on their products.
  • E-commerce’s growth has facilitated selling in-game items to players, implementing an undiscovered revenue stream and allowing the industry to find new ventures to capitalize on their products innovatively.

At the end of 2015, the venerated brand Louis Vuitton took the world by surprise when it announced its new stance on the spring-summer collection. Instead of a famous actor or pop star modeling the new line of accessories and clothes in magazines and on screens, it would be a game character – the warrior from Final Fantasy 8. More brands have partnered with giant video gaming companies. As you’ve seen above, Diesel and H&M also collaborated with Sims.

Lately, the bubble exploded, and a wide range of partnerships took the world aback, like Burberry and Lacoste in Minecraft, Ralph Lauren and Balenciaga in Fortnite, Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger in Roblox, and Valentino and Marc Jacobs in Animal Crossing. From most of these partnerships, it emerged both digital and physical clothing. The Minecraft – Lacoste partnership resulted in a full line of accessories and clothes. At the same time, Balmain’s implication in NFS resulted in a themed limited edition run of shoes.

The line between digital and virtual line

Each generation today is increasingly connected to the internet and everything digital. Three bn of people worldwide play video games, creating profits of $200 in 2022. It’s a massive entertainment industry with a diverse customer base, showing no signs of slowing down. The gaming industry’s growth can be associated with Hollywood’s, given the speed with which it picked up steam. Traditional marketing has developed and improved alongside gaming.

It all comes down to how players choose to spend their leisure time. From Fortnite to Minecraft, they’ve all become virtual hangouts where players chat and strengthen connections with others. As a representative of Burberry said, lives have become increasingly digital. For many younger generations, it’s hard to delimitate between personal and virtual life.

While TV is divided into particular fan communities and a wide range of rivaling streaming services, the video industry offers extended, reliable focal points.

Games and fashion nowadays

With some big-name luxury brands laying the groundwork for innovative products, consumers can expect to discover more labels working together to maximize their exposure to a broader consumer base, gain recognition, and improve brand loyalty.

Both virtualized shopping experiences and limited-edition virtual collections can create interest among fans and potential purchasers. For instance, Balenciaga made a 2021 collection public through Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow. Likely, the world will witness the exploration of mobile gaming, too.

So far, new custom-designed clothing and accessories have mostly been displayed in games. Still, they can come up with other innovative offerings to boost sales and appeal to more customers, educating a broader base of internauts on the advantages of product gamification and setting an example in a world revolutionized by tech innovation.

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