This year, as fashion brands looked for reliable revenue streams, prioritized sustainable offerings, realized the power of being an early mover to a platform and faced obstacles in delivering engaging customer experiences, many found solutions in gaming and the metaverse. And Vans, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, among others, turned to Roblox.
Along with Roblox creators and developers, Christina Wootton, vp of partnerships at Roblox, ensured the influx of fashion brands took full advantage of the platform’s offerings and audience in an authentic way. In doing so, she opened their eyes to a world of possibilities for boosting their engagement and bottom line.
Wootton credits Gucci’s Roblox activation, in May, with best showcasing Roblox’s capabilities to the fashion community. Gucci launched on the platform a virtual representation of its Florence-based Gucci Garden, a museum-meets-retail experience featuring themed recreations of Gucci campaigns. In the experience, visiting avatars became stripped of their identities and absorbed visual elements of each room they entered. And digital Gucci pieces by Roblox creator Rook Vanguard dropped for an hour, twice a day. Gucci and Roblox shared the revenue driven.
Many of the limited-edition digital pieces were later resold for more than the cost of their physical counterparts, “showing the importance of digital fashion,” Wootton said. She noted that one in five daily Roblox users changes their avatar daily.
“Self-expression and your online identity are core [elements of] the metaverse,” she said. “Just as in the real world, where people want to wear different outfits every day, they want to experiment in the digital world — in fact, some Gen Zers value virtual goods more than physical goods.”
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One reason is that brand creative directors can work without the physical world’s boundaries, enabling more innovative designs, she said.
The Gucci Garden experience, which saw around 20 million viewers in its two-week lifespan. also proved Roblox as more than a place for kids to play games. It’s also a social platform and “the future of how people and creations by brilliant minds from all over the world” come together, Wootton said. According to Roblox, more than half of its users are 13 or older, and its fastest-growing age demo is 17-24.
Roblox’s latest earnings report showed that its outside creators and developers earned $130 million in the third quarter of 2021 alone. Also in the quarter, Roblox’s revenue increased 102% year-over-year, to $509 million.
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Most fashion brands coming onto the platform are seeking engagement, familiar with Roblox’s vast audience of 47 million daily active users. That was the case for Vans when it launched its ongoing “Vans World” skatepark on the platform in September. However, the company has since come to regard Roblox as a revenue driver, Wootton said.
It’s certainly proven its power to drive sales. For example, from May to November, Swedish singer Zara Larsson reportedly surpassed $1 million in virtual merchandise sales on the platform.
Wootton said that many of the fashion companies showing interest in Roblox are newly prioritizing the metaverse, even hiring dedicated individuals and teams to drive the brand’s presence in the space.
Considering the potential that the world offers, it seems a move they won’t regret.
“We imagine a day where people are co-creating [fashions] in the metaverse, trying-on things virtually and then getting the physical product, as a result of that,” Wootton said. “It’s exciting.”
