Self-described “metafashion retailer” DressX and Italian lifestyle and fashion brand Diesel are bringing jeans to the virtual people.

In a recent collaboration, the duo are channeling signature Diesel aesthetics and the style company’s latest styles for an exclusive collection landing within the Meta Avatars Store. As a substitute of bending to fantastical designs, the partners selected to hew more to product reality. The lineup features 10 looks mirroring physical Diesel products, as rendered in digital form by DressX, so fans can dress their avatars in virtual versions of Diesel’s denim jackets, jeans, contemporary streetwear and sneakers, and showcase them on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Quest VR.

The primary drop offers five looks by DressX x Diesel, with plans to launch one other a while in the approaching weeks.

The collaboration marks a primary for the brand, because it wades into Meta’s store with its own digital denim, but Diesel is not any stranger to digital goods having racked up various NFT projects to this point. As well as, parent company OTB Group has been a significant proponent of the style metaverse, even establishing a dedicated company called BVX, or Brave Virtual Xperience, two years ago to advance its virtual initiatives.

In June, Stefano Rosso, OTB Group board member, chairman of Maison Margiela and chief executive officer of BVX, told WWD at its annual Tech Symposium that the metaverse remains to be a significant opportunity that may reinvent customer engagement.

“The Web3 crowd remains to be niche-y and it doesn’t necessarily know all of the luxurious market, so for us it’s an excellent opportunity to speak and interact with consumers that won’t know our brands,” Rosso said on the time.

The brand new Meta avatar collection looks like one other step in his plan. “This collaboration with DressX represents an exciting chapter for Diesel and remarks its commitment to engaging technology with fashion,” he said in a press release. “We’re thrilled to see Diesel’s timeless pieces reimagined within the digital realm, empowering users to specific their individuality in unique and unprecedented ways.”

In keeping with the statement, the businesses “worked meticulously to be sure that every garment in the gathering captures the essence of Diesel’s fashion identity,” with attention to detail extending from the distinct denim textures to the brand’s hallmark silhouettes.

Beyond the brand itself, the work seems to suit neatly into “the growing trend of digital expression,” because the statement phrased it. That could be a minor mention, but as a broader concept, that is more vital than it seems. Digital identity has change into a growing fascination for brands, tech-makers and others — even metaverse naysayers acknowledge that, no matter whether the web morphs right into a massively connected virtual world or not, this idea will only grow to change into more vital, not less. It’s even happening at a municipal level in the true world, most recently in California, where last week the state adopted digital driver’s licenses.

The lines appear to be blurring between the true and virtual worlds, and that puts digital goods in uncharted territory. What’s obvious, nevertheless, is that regardless that the speculators and headlines can have moved on, not less than from the “metaverse” buzzword, others — similar to longer-term investors, tech platforms, brands, gamers and other consumers — haven’t. They proceed to throw momentum behind avatar development, wearables and the like, and that matters for fashion, which tends to be a direct expression of identity in every realm.

Consider the trajectory of the worldwide digital avatar market: In keeping with Polaris Market Research’s latest evaluation in August, the sector, already a $12.89 billion market as of last yr, is predicted to succeed in $506.46 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of roughly 44.4 percent expected between from time to time.

DressX founders Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, honorees in WWD x FN x Beauty Inc’s Women in Power 2022, put it this manner: This collection is “a testament to our commitment to bringing essentially the most renowned fashion brands to the metaverse and giving a world-class experience to the digitally native customers developing avatar-commerce.”