Sansar debuts virtual reality fashion market for budding designers

Social virtual reality platform Sansar is launching an online market for user-created avatar clothing, encouraging creative users to get entrepreneurial.

The company has teamed up with CLO Virtual Fashion Inc.'s design software Marvelous Designer -- used by multiple mainstream designers -- to allow users to create virtual fashion pieces with realistic cloth simulation that can be customized to fit and style on their avatars. The software is capable of virtually replicating fabric textures and physical properties to extreme detail, including buttons and folds.

It might sound like fun, but Sansar's fashion market offers up a potentially lucrative opportunity -- in the popular virtual world Second Life, avatar fashions account for a major portion of the $500 million (USD) user-to-user economy, the company reports.

"Our integration with Marvelous Designer means that not only can you change what you wear, you can customize the fit and style to adjust how you wear it in Sansar," said Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, in a statement. "For example, you can roll up your sleeves, loosen your collar, and arrange your scarf just as you like it."

"Innovative fashion companies, world-leading film and gaming studios, and creative hobbyists around the world are already using Marvelous Designer to create incredible virtual clothing designs," added Jaden Oh, CEO & CTO at CLO Virtual Fashion Inc. "Our integration with Sansar is the first of its kind, and it makes it easy for our users to sell their creations in this new market."

The move is symbolic of the growing overlap between the virtual and the analogical when it comes to the fashion industry. Multiple brands have made increasing efforts to branch out into the virtual recently, including Stella McCartney, who opted to unveil her latest activewear collection for Adidas via a virtual reality showcase called ‘Stella's World' back in July. Augmented and virtual reality technologies have also become a huge marketing tool for the beauty industry, with brands such as Lancome, Estée Lauder and L'Oreal teaming up with developers to offer customers an immersive online experience.