Have you been to Gucci Town? Fashion brands are setting up permanent social spaces in the metaverse

Brands are flocking to the metaverse, staking their Web3 presence for what is hopefully the inevitable: when the masses begin to adopt digital’s new frontier and start spending their time and money in alternate universes.

Gucci last week unveiled the curtains to Gucci Town, a virtual piazza in Roblox’s landscape. Powered by Vault, Gucci’s experimental online space, here visitors can find novel ways of connecting with the House, such as creating artworks or take part in branded competitions. The Florentine fashion company has been at the forefront of immersive digital experiences, starting with its award winning digital Gucci Garden in 2021.

Vault is an emissary of Gucci’s presence within the metaverse, which is constantly evolving through creative endeavours with the online community. Here Web3-based initiatives including NFTs can be experienced alongside a curation of rare vintage pieces, exclusive capsule collections, limited-edition styles and other items from a selection of brands, as selected by Gucci's Creative Director, Alessandro Michele.

Evolving digital experiences

True to the Roblox ethos of building connections through shared creative experiences, Gucci Town is home to a broad range of activities that will evolve through time. In a media release the Kering-owned brand says it seeks to map out new territory to build meaningful experiences. Products and content were developed hand-in-hand with independent content creators from the Roblox community such as Rook Vanguard, Bunnexhand and Lirn.

Millions are flocking to Gucci Town

To date over 18 million visits have been made to Gucci Town, proving that fashion has a prominent place in next generation social media. Other brands are following suit, with Tommy Hilfiger launching Tommy Play space, where users can see fashion items in collaboration with the Roblox creator community.

New technological advances called Layered Clothing system enables brands fit clothing and accessories to any avatar body type. Users can now outfit existing Roblox avatars with up to 6 layers of clothing, on top of any existing classic clothing.

Roblox said creating any 3D clothing system is to design a system that works, not only with the enormous amount of bodies already on the platform today, but also to work with the creative avatars expected to be formed in the community ‘s future. Brands are tapping into new digital communities and formats, so much so that Tommy Hilfiger employs 4 digital fashion creators and a developer studio for their experience. Other brands working with Layered Clothing include DRESSX, Puma, Alo Yoga and Forever 21.