Forever 21 Takes Barbie to The Metaverse
Forever 21 and Mattel are joining forces to launch a new ‘phygital’ capsule collection inspired by Barbie. The pieces will be available in brick-and-mortar stores and in the metaverse.
The fashion retailer will roll out the “Forever 21 x Barbie” 76-piece capsule collection in select stores, as well as it's mobile app and website. The companies have also teamed up with Virtual Brand Group (VBG) to fashion an AI-driven VR collection available on Roblox through the Shop City Barbie Experience.
Mattel and Forever 21 first collaborated last year, launching a smaller version of the Forever 21 x Barbie collection in the summer of 2022. However, with the release of Greta Gerwig’s hotly-anticipated Barbie movie in July, interest in the iconic toy doll has seen a recent resurgence.
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Expressing excitement at the collaboration, Winnie Park, CEO of Forever 21, said “We're thrilled to reintroduce Barbie to Forever 21 and embrace the growing Barbiecore trend that our customers adore.”
The Metaverse’s Role in Fashion of the Future
In many ways, fashion and the metaverse go hand-in-hand, with the ability to dress up virtual avatars increasingly appealing to shoppers. In fact, most (70%) of Gen Z users say their avatars dress at least somewhat like their real-life style, and a similar proportion says they get physical style inspiration from dressing their avatars, according to the Roblox 2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends report.
“Virtual fashion is an important part of meeting consumers everywhere they are,” said Jacob Hawkins, chief marketing, omni and digital officer, Forever 21. “This one-of-a-kind Metaverse Barbie collaboration between Forever 21, Mattel and Virtual Brand Group is at the forefront of bringing physical and virtual products together.”
Sunglasses retailer Pacsun recently gamified customer experience through avatar-building and metaverse-like technology, launching its second virtual experience, Pacsun Los Angeles Tycoon on Roblox. Similarly, fashion giant H&M launched an immersive playground, Loooptopia on the Roblox platform. This platform allows customers to interact with different materials and patterns within the Roblox world, create virtual wardrobes for their avatars within an immersive 3D experience, and participate in mini-games, styling sessions, and other events. The company partnered with Metaverse studio Dubit to launch the Metaverse experience.
Last year, Walmart deepened its investment in the metaverse-oriented space, rolling out two new Roblox experiences: Walmart Land and Walmart Universe of Play. Using avatars, visitors to these digital spaces can access a virtual store of merchandise and explore toy worlds in which they can earn coins to exchange for virtual goods.
