How virtual clothes could help solve fashion's waste problem

Key Facts

Italian company Lablaco is working with fashion houses and brands to digitize their collections in the burgeoning “phygital” fashion market — when customers buy both a physical fashion item and its digital “twin,” designed to be collected or worn by avatars in virtual environments like the metaverse.
Both had backgrounds in luxury fashion, but were looking to improve the industry’s sustainability credentials and promote circular fashion — the practice of designing and producing clothes in a way that reduces waste.
For example, a designer could release an item of digital clothing in 10 colors in the metaverse, and use the sales data to inform which colors to use for the real-world version.
With the phygital model, the transparency of the blockchain could allow brands to receive royalties when an item is resold throughout its lifetime — a way to “produce less and actually earn more.”