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Virtual Fashion
H&M joins forces with DRESSX in virtual fashion UGC contest
LA-based company DRESSX sells digital garments of its own but also serves as an online retailer for luxury brands and emerging digital designers.
By MARTINA TEDEBRING
17 Jan 2022

Considering the impacts of the pandemic, many brands needed to postpone events and adapt to new safety regulations. This has forced the industry to find new ways to showcase collections via digital channels, and has even inspired new business models who are looking into the future of fashion. 

A particularly innovative startup is DRESSX, where you can build your digital wardrobe by buying both their digital designs and the ones created by fashion brands and 3D up-and-coming designers.

The latest DRESSX collaboration is with Swedish magnate H&M, which in conjunction with actor and sustainability ambassador Maisie Williams, includes a capsule collection including three digital outfits that can be won through their virtual fashion competition. From now until the 31st of January, participants can submit a fun and innovative name for the available looks on the H&M website. The winner for each look sends in a picture, and they will be dressed with the virtual, animated look. The garments to be won are an oversize blue vest made of an impossible material, an orange, oversized sparkling knit, and a pair of baggy, glowing pink trousers. To participate, go to H&M’s website under the Visual Fashion Competition campaign.

Maisie Williams for H&M and DRESSX.

The faces behind the DRESSX platform are Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, who intend to break the boundaries of the existing fashion industry, especially by allowing people to create fashion content for their social media without having to consume disposable physical goods.

— Everything has moved into the world of technology, and fashion definitely lacks that speed of progress, Shapovalova told Glossy.

DRESSX CEO Daria Shapovalova, COO Natalia Modenova and Head of Product Julie
Krasniienko, all dressed in digital clothes. Photography: Olga Helga.

Some brands that have collaborated with DRESSX are Fendi, Balenciaga, The Fabricant, and Gary James McQueen (nephew of legendary designer Alexander McQueen). They have also allied with the cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com to put exclusive digital couture designs for sale as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, that can be resold at a higher price point later on.

 — Some physical clothes don’t need to be produced, while others should have a physical original and also digital copies. Some people don’t want to possess physical wardrobes, but they do want to possess luxury things, which means they can buy non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrency to engage in the field, Shapovalova elaborated to Glossy.

In terms of ecological impact, the founders believe that DRESSX sets the model for a new way for the fashion trade, thanks to digitalisation, that will allow faster access to the latest collections, better stock control, better fit (inclusive sizing) from production to demand. This results in a reduced environmental impact by the shortage of material need, logistics, and the use of natural resources.

Mick Jenkins wearing a digital DRESSX jacket.

— We don’t want people to shop less. With digital fashion consumption can keep growing (this behavioural pattern is likely to stay in fashion, where newness and uniqueness are the important factors), but the environmental cost of such consumption will be significantly reduced, Modenova told L’officiel.

So how does it work? After looking at the platform’s catalogue, customers need to upload a photo of themselves with possible special requests and a credit card to complete the purchase. The DRESSX team proceeds to edit the image with the digital garment professionally layered on the customer, and a day later, the results are emailed back with an attached file of the purchased item. Future intentions include wearing the pieces in the metaverse, such as gaming platforms and in video calls like Zoom and GoogleMeet. As for now, the general public has access to the image service, but you can also try on some garments as AR filters in the DRESSX app. A sort of luxury, couture-focused Snapchat platform, that can be later be posted on social media channels such as Instagram stories, Snapchat and TikTok. 

Digital outfit from DRESSX.