FULL-TIME FASHION WEEK: Now that New York, London, Milan, Paris and Tokyo trend weeks have ended, are you prepared for World Trend Week?
It’s the most recent brainchild of Finnish tech entrepreneur and sustainability guru Evelyn Mora, who’s billing World Trend Week (WFW) because the “final digital-first commerce and expertise platform” that’s immersive, gamified and “at all times on.”
As chief govt officer of Vlge Inc., which markets a virtual-world creation instrument already utilized by the likes of Parsons, L’Oréal, Charlotte Tilbury, Diesel, the Louvre and Ukraine Trend Week, Mora sees WFW as a greater manner for trend manufacturers to have interaction digital-native shoppers, and monetize their designs.
“This isn’t about NFTs and metaverse and blockchains: That is about gaming and immersive commerce,” she stated in an interview. “It’s about retail. It’s about serving to the bodily trend trade to restructure its schedule and sort out challenges round sustainability.”
In line with her analysis, conventional trend weeks result in overproduction, and the time lag between the reveal of designs throughout conventional trend weeks and availability results in a disconnect that alienates younger generations.
A pioneer in digital trend weeks in Helsinki throughout the pandemic, Mora argues that WFW would democratize entry to high-fashion experiences, and enhance engagement with shoppers by way of gamification, personalization and immersive experiences — all of the whereas decreasing the waste of IRL trend weeks and consuming much less water and electrical energy.
“We’re stepping right into a future the place trend is now not sure by seasonality, geography or gatekeepers,” she stated, revealing the challenge solely to WWD.
Whereas nonetheless in growth, she envisions a web based ecosystem spanning digital flagships, real-time commerce, AI-powered personalization — and interoperability with platforms like Roblox and Unreal Engine.
Given the surging reputation of on-line gaming, and Vlge’s interoperability expertise, the potential viewers dimension numbers are within the a whole lot of tens of millions. Mora envisions a year-long calendar of activations, sport launches, product drops, and digital and bodily occasions.
She is within the throes of signing on massive manufacturers, unbiased designers and tutorial establishments, with plans to launch the primary full version of WFW in 2026.
In her view, WFW will give a leg as much as rising and small manufacturers who battle to succeed in shoppers because the wholesale channel withers.
“The first product bought might be bodily, however it is going to be bought within the immersive video games experiences throughout completely different platforms,” she stated.
A display screen seize of Vlge this week that includes a Gucci shoulder bag.
Courtesy of Vlge
