Introduction
Hello, everyone! I’m Olga Chardashev, Chief Sustainability Officer at Dress X, and I’m excited to discuss the fascinating intersection of digital fashion, the metaverse, and sustainability. Dress X is known for its “Meta Closet” of digital garments, and from the very beginning, sustainability has been at the core of our mission. In this article, we’ll explore how digital fashion is transforming the metaverse, and more importantly, how it’s contributing to a more sustainable future.
The Sustainability Challenge in Traditional Fashion
The traditional fashion industry has long been associated with environmental concerns, including pollution and overproduction. Mass-market brands churn out multiple collections each year, fueling a culture of fast fashion that encourages consumers to constantly update their wardrobes. Content creators, an integral part of today’s digital economy, are also caught in this cycle, as they need a constant stream of new looks to engage their audience.
Digital Fashion as an Eco-Friendly Alternative
Dress X recognized this problem and set out to provide a solution. Our approach is not to stop people from buying clothes but to introduce a digital alternative. The environmental footprint of digital fashion is astounding. Compared to traditional fashion, digital fashion can reduce carbon emissions by up to 97% and save significant amounts of water. For instance, producing a physical cotton t-shirt requires 3,300 liters of water, while a digital one consumes virtually none.
Creating Use Cases for Digital Fashion
Our mission at Dress X is to create as many use cases as possible to demonstrate how digital fashion can help the traditional fashion industry become more sustainable. One notable example is our collaboration with Burberry and Farfetch. By digitally dressing influencers for marketing campaigns, we saved 2.5 tons of carbon emissions and 350,000 liters of water.
The Role of Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented reality is another powerful tool in the digital fashion arsenal. With AR, customers can instantly try on digital garments using their photos or videos. This not only reduces returns by up to 25% but also empowers consumers to make more conscious fashion choices. Google’s research has confirmed the effectiveness of digital try-on in reducing returns.
Augmented Reality in Action
American Eagle, a company with a strong commitment to sustainability, collaborated with Dress X to create a collection of jeans for Earth Day. These jeans came to life in AR with water-themed animations, highlighting the water-intensive nature of denim production. This campaign alone saved a staggering 86 million gallons of water.
Connecting the Dots: Metaverse and Digital Fashion
The metaverse is the next frontier for digital fashion. Dress X is building the Meta Closet, a bridge between digital fashion and various virtual worlds. Through blockchain technology and tools like MetaMask, users can seamlessly transition from our NFT marketplace to Dress X’s app, and then to virtual spaces like Decentraland and Roblox. This integration offers users a holistic and interconnected digital fashion experience.
The Shifting Perception of Digital Fashion
Over time, Dress X has witnessed a significant shift in people’s attitudes towards digital fashion. In 2020, only 21% of our community had bought a digital garment, but by 2022, this figure had risen to 52%. Moreover, 44% believed that digital garments could replace physical ones for content creation.
A Sustainable Future with Digital Fashion
The ultimate goal of Dress X and the digital fashion industry as a whole is to reduce the production of physical garments while integrating digital fashion into our daily lives. By replacing even just 1% of physical production with digital, we could annually decrease the carbon footprint of the traditional fashion industry equivalent to that of an entire European country.
Conclusion
As we venture further into the metaverse, the relationship between digital fashion and sustainability becomes increasingly vital. Digital fashion is not just a trendy concept; it’s a practical solution to reduce the environmental impact of the traditional fashion industry. With more people embracing digital fashion, we are inching closer to a future where the metaverse and sustainability coexist harmoniously.
Thank you for joining me on this journey through the world of digital fashion, the metaverse, and sustainability. If you have any questions or want to learn more, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can make fashion more eco-friendly and stylish than ever before.
Speaker links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ochernysheva/
https://metaverse-summit.org/speakers/olga-chernysheva/
Blogpost
https://metaverse-summit.org/digital-fashion-and-the-metaverse-revolutionizing-style-and-sustainability/
Podcast episode https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/metaverse-summit/episodes/Metaverse-and-technology-with-Olga-CHERNYSHEVA-e2a1u3j
Video
https://youtu.be/tdm-Xl83Dvs
Metaverse Summit
https://www.linkedin.com/company/metaversesummit
https://mobile.twitter.com/metaverse_conf
https://t.me/metaversesummit
https://www.facebook.com/metaversesummit
www.metaverse-summit.org