American Apparel made waves when it promoted its clothing through a virtual store in Second Life. Then it failed miserably . By and large, Real-world corporations found the Metaverse unwelcoming to their attempts at bridging the real-virtual gap. Now designer Norma Kamali is reversing the trend by selling her new clothing line exclusively in the Metaverse.
American Apparel even chained the virtual doors.
Kamali will sell her "Norma Kamali for Wal-Mart" clothing in the fashion-obsessed virtual world Roiworld, famous for bringing fashion snobbery to an entirely new virtual level.
For their part, Roiworld was so happy to have Kamali sign on that they gave her an entire section of the world as a modern day conquest prize.
An interesting point made in an article from PaidContent, the journal of soulless virtual branding and marketing:
What makes this interesting is that Kamali isn’t selling virtual goods in Roiworld.com—which is what brands like K-Swiss and Rocawear have done in the past—the designer is using the game as a platform to sell real clothes.
As anyone who has spent time in virtual worlds can attest, the vast majority of avatars are testaments to self-idealization. Heaving busts, tall, thin, tan, most bear little resemblance to the millions of people on the other side of the computer screen. Consumers purchase clothing based on how they'd like to look, and nothing enables that more than a customizable avatar.
It'll be interesting to see if Kamali's unique take on virtual marketing works out any better than American Apparel or the sea of corporate husks floating lifelessly through Second Life. If nothing else, she's gained invaluable publicity from the unprecedented move.
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