The Swedish fashion retailer H&M has partnered with Snap, Inc., the parent company of social media platform Snapchat, to release an augmented reality (AR) experience powered by the Snap Camera.
The Metaverse Design Story collection comes with five augmented reality filters. Customers can use H&M’s mobile app on iOS and Android, as well as Snapchat globally, to try on digital clothing using Snapchat’s AR “Try-On Lenses.”
The collection was co-designed by H&M and the Institute of Fashion (IODF) — a London-based digital atelier and think tank — and contains ready-to-wear physical garments as well as digital garments inspired by the metaverse and the natural world, including satellite images of Earth, vibrant flowers, and microscopic cells.
Snap’s Camera Kit allows brands to integrate Snap’s camera technology and Lenses into their own web and mobile infrastructures. The AR Lenses specifically features a partly digital collection consisting of two outfits and one accessory, with a matching physical collection going on sale online and in select stores on December 8th.
Now fashion brands can digitalize their collections for users to “try on” before releasing the actual physical product. They can also offer new digital products that consumers can use to express themselves online via their avatars.
Many people in fashion believe that by letting users “try on” clothing in a digital setting, they can have a positive effect on the environment by lowering the costs of production, manufacturing, and distribution of products.
Fashion Explodes in the Metaverse
As virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) continue to evolve, brands are recognizing the utility of implementing these nascent technologies into their business models. And perhaps no other industry has been quite as bullish on Web3 as the fashion industry.
At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered dozens of articles about fashion brands using NFTs, Web3, and the metaverse to connect with customers. Below are some of our top stories about Web3 fashion this year:
- Tommy Hilfiger & Roblox Team Up for NY Fashion Week
- Alibaba Showcases Web3 Tech with AR Fashion Show
- Bloomingdale’s Opens Metaverse Store for NY Fashion Week
- Balmain Fashion House Launches NFT Membership Program
- Nike Leads Fashion Brands with $185M in NFT Sales
As you can see, H&M is far from the only brand that’s experimenting with Web3 technology and the metaverse. And as the technologies continue to advance, more companies and brands will likely follow suite.
We’ll have to be patient to see if H&M’s Metaverse Design Story collection will be a hit with fans. But trying on clothes in an immersive virtual setting before purchasing them in real life could be useful. And for fans of the metaverse, having more gear to show off via their PFP avatars can’t hurt. We’ll be keeping our ears to the ground for any new developments in the story.