While major fashion brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren are entering the Metaverse, according to a BBC article, it is also welcoming smaller producers; for example, a 28-year-old digital apparel designer is earning top dollar on Asia’s largest metaverse platform.
Based in South Korea, Zepeto’s software allows people to create avatars or digital representations of themselves and has nearly a quarter-billion users. However, avatars require clothing, and the BBC claimed that over 1.6 billion virtual fashion items are being sold on Zepeto.
Monica Louise, a Canadian lady, known as Monica Quin, who makes and sells digital clothes, is one of the platform’s most well-known users in the fashion world. ON THURSDAY, the BBC reported that Louise receives “an impressive six-figure pay” through her Zepeto avatar.
Louise likes to call herself YouTuber, streamer, studio creator, map builder, and verified zeditor. She has been using the ZEPETO app since September 2018 and joined the community activities in November 2018. On Zepeto, she is a designer, but behind that avatar, she is an engineer, web developer + designer, entrepreneur, and marketing professional.
Louise’s outfits, tops, and other products are priced from one to five zems each and are sold in Zepeto’s currency. Zepeto users pay real money for zems, while artists receive $106 for every 5,000 zem transaction. “There are outfits that I cannot afford to wear in real life, but I can buy them all in the virtual world,” Louise told the BBC. “I think that’s one of the main reasons I’m so pulled to this.”
Zepeto was founded three years ago (March 2018). It was initially released in March 2018, only for iOS devices. After five months later (August 22, 2018), ZEPETO officially released the app for iOS and Android. Last month, it received a $1 billion value in a fundraising round spearheaded by Japanese firm Softbank. HYBE, the firm that manages K-pop sensation BTS, was one of the investors, investing approximately $41 million. About 70% of its users are female, including teenagers. According to Chief Strategy Officer Rudy Lee, Zepeto is the first social network for many users.
Zepeto also has additional collaborations that include digital versions of Ralph Lauren and Gucci clothing. And fashion has been a focal point in other parts of the Metaverse. Decentraland virtual land in the Fashion District just sold for $2.4 million. “We think the Fashion District purchase is like buying on Fifth Avenue in the 1800s… or the establishment of Rodeo Drive,” Lorne Sugarman, CEO of Metaverse Group, told Insider of his company’s November deal.
The apps like Zepeto shows an example of the popularity of Metaverse.
Metaverse has opened many opportunities for newcomers like Monica Louise, and it’s gonna expand even more and be more significant than before throughout the time. On the front, The Metaverse seems like jingling bells of Christmas. Still, the critics say otherwise. Whatever the future may hold for the Metaverse, the bigger picture is, independent people are profiting from it and making a living out of it (well, more than living).
