The apparel chain is turning digital goods that sold well in the metaverse into real-world merchandise.
There’s no shortage of skepticism about the metaverse, but one legitimate business strategy could be using virtual worlds as a testing ground for physical products.
That’s a hypothesis Forever 21 has been incubating since it set up a shop in Roblox a year ago. In the virtual world, the fast-fashion giant made a splash selling digital goods that users buy to outfit their avatars. A black beanie, a product it didn’t offer in the real world, selling for about 70 cents is on track to be purchased 1.5 million times this year, making it one of the brand’s top-performing items ever.
Forever 21 is now bringing that beanie and other digital-first items to its stores and website in what it has called the first clothing line tested in the metaverse.
“We love the idea of testing…
