How Virtual Influencers Are Bringing In Real Value For The Fashion Industry
If digital garments are a reality today, digital humans could not have been far away, right? And no, we are not talking about robots. We are talking about digital avatars and virtual influencers, who are born on digital platforms with the help of advanced CGI. They only exist digitally, but seem to be overtaking human influencers as far as popularity and relatability are concerned.
A virtual influencer is a digital character created in computer graphics software, then given a personality defined by a first-person view of the world, and made accessible on media platforms for the sake of influence.
Virtual Humans
Image via via Cameron-James Wilson from virtual humans
But Why Should Brands Take Note Of These New Virtual Influencers?
Immense Popularity:
Miquela Sousa aka Lil Miquela is a global icon, and one of TIME Magazine’s 25 Most Influential People on the Internet.
Shudu from South Africa is a supermodel with 218K followers on Instagram as of today.
Lu, the spokesperson for Magalu, a Brazil based retail company, has 24 million followers on the internet.
What’s common among all of them?
All are influencers who were built from scratch virtually and came to life on digital media. In fact, Shudu is the world’s first digital supermodel and Lu ranks third among the virtual influencers in the world!
Image of Lu from magazineluiza on Instagram
No wonder fashion brands have started leveraging their influence to reach a wider audience.
Miquela has already attended quite a few fashion shows and recently also promoted Prada’s new collection.
Image of Miquela from Influencer Matchmaker
Aliona Pole, a virtual influencer, model, and digital fashion designer, was also invited as a guest at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia where she introduced her own virtual collection.
Image by @aliona_pole on Instagram
Shudu has graced magazines like Vogue Australia and Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Image by thediigitals on Instagram
Noonoouri, one of the virtual influencers in the modelling industry, has modelled for Miu Miu, Dior, Gucci, Versace, and even Kim Kardashian’s make-up line!
Image from Virtual Humans
Another reason why brands ought to take notice of them is the changing preference of the consumers. As per Influencer Matchmaker, virtual entities are found appealing by 54% of all UK consumers. Since these virtual influencers have well rounded background stories, real-like story lines, and the capability to communicate in a relatable fashion, their acceptance is at an all time high.
2. Accurate 3D Production Of Clothes:
In today’s world, where digital garments for humans are customised with precision, designing for a perfectly made virtual model could be so much simpler and easier, right?
They have a personality molded to be exactly what you want. They can literally be whatever you want them to be. These things are massive plus points for brands because they can literally make the perfect ambassador.
Harry Hugo, co-founder of The Goat Agency
Source: The Drum
Shudu’s creator, Cameron-James Wilson, predicts that 3D clothes will occupy a larger space in the industry, in the next three to five years.
Image by thediigitals on Instagram
3. Promote Sustainable Fashion:
Associating with these popular virtual humans or making such a digital influencer for your own brand will showcase your inclination towards sustainable fashion. In fact, there are virtual influencers who focus on this aspect specifically.
For instance, Noonouri and Aliona Pole. They preach and practice consumption of digital fashion and emphasise on the importance of rational, sustainable methods through virtual clothing. In fact, that’s the reason why Aliona became a digital fashion designer. Recently, H&M showcased their new virtual collection - The Billion Dollar Collection by making a digital avatar from scratch!
Image by H&M
Digital avatars who once belonged to the world of gaming only are now finding a space in the real world and in the lives of real people. Direct to Avatar (D2A) commerce is already gaining recognition as creators sell game skins to these avatars. The demand among gamers is so high that it is predicted that this industry could reach around $50 billion by 2022.
D2A economy is made by Digi-sapiens, who comprise around 3.5 billion individuals globally, with more than 55% of the total spending power. They have grown up blurring reality and fantasy, with the virtual world becoming their second home. They are trendsetters, trend chasers, and early adopters of any technology that upgrades and frees up their existence.
-Kerry Murphy, founder of The Fabricant
Source: Forbes
This need to express themselves better is going to be the fuel for this booming industry. Like Emily Groom, a British director who created a digital avatar Lil Wavi so as to get a better creative and free outlet for expression.
Key Takeaways:
While virtual influencers are created by humans using computer graphics, they are given well rounded relatable human personalities which have made them quite acceptable and popular today.
Thanks to their rising popularity and immense following on social media platforms, fashion brands have started to collaborate with them and promote their work.
Since the images of these virtual influencers can be perfectly edited, brands can present their digital garments exactly as they envisioned.
Working with virtual influencers is a step towards making fashion more sustainable. In fact, there are some virtual influencers who constantly highlight this cause.
Direct to Avatar commerce is a hit among today's generation which grew up amidst advanced technology and consciously chooses things that enable them to be their true selves.
Humanised digital experience is the future of fashion. This inclination towards authentication virtual experience coupled with technology getting better is a signal for fashion brands to get into the game of digital fashion right away.
We at Neo Marche, have specific services to help you set your foot in the emerging era of digital fashion. Let’s get you started!