Take an in-depth look at Gen Z’s avatar style preferences
Join us November 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT for our virtual panel “What’s next in metaverse fashion?” » where fashion and metaverse experts will dive deeper into these trends and what’s yet to come in digital fashion on Roblox and beyond.
Long before the vast potential of digital fashion caught the attention of media and brands, members of our community were designing, sharing and wearing their own avatar fashion creations. They’ve been redefining digital identity and personal style for over a decade, but over the past few years we’ve seen incredible leaps in the evolution of self-expression on our platform.
Iconic fashion brands have established presences here on Roblox by partnering with our community of creators and rolling out Layered clothes – our new technology powering hyper-realistic 3D clothing – has once again raised the bar for what our creators are capable of. As opportunities for self-expression and personal style accelerate, we decided to take a moment to connect with our amazing community and better understand their experience with digital fashion. We conducted extensive research, drawing on both our own platform and survey responses¹ of a thousand members of Generation Z active on Roblox and familiar with digital fashion.
To offer an in-depth look at the digital fashion trends we’ve seen, we’ve partnered with one of the world’s leading art and design education institutions, Parsons School of Designto launch our “2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends” report. Here are the top 5 trends.
2. The influence of designer communities on fashion is accelerating
In 2022 alone, more … than 11.5 million creators designed more than 62 million virtual clothes and accessories on Roblox. These designers dress millions of people around the world and impact the way they express themselves in both the digital and physical world.
To put this into context, there are at least 200 times more creators design clothes and accessories on Roblox as the estimated number of fashion designers creating physical collections in the US².
In 2022 we have seen a great influx of global fashion and beauty brands create digital fashion and immersive experiences for Roblox (or integrate with existing popular experiences on the platform) – including Gucci, Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Tommy Hilfiger, NARS, Hello Yoga and model and entrepreneur Karlie Klossas well as metaverse-only fashion companies like ROBESX. Most of these brands tap into the vast expertise of Roblox community members who can help create beautiful digital fashion and other engaging content on the platform.
2. Self-expression and inclusivity in digital fashion is key to Generation Z
The vast majority of Gen Zers active on Roblox said in our survey that they have customized their avatars, with half of them changing their avatar’s clothes at least every week.
Just like in the physical world, people tend to connect and react to others around them based on how they look and dress, which can have a profound impact on their self-confidence and relationships. Dressing up their avatars allows consumers to express their individuality (47%) and feel good about themselves (43%)but also to show off their digital collection and feel more connected to their peers – in the digital and physical worlds.
In reality, 2 out of 5 respondents said that expressing themselves with clothes and accessories in the digital world is MORE important than expressing themselves in the physical world.
Various avatar customization options are important to the majority of community members who can easily customize Roblox to be whoever they want to be. In our survey, they noted the importance of having a full range of skin tones (says 70%) and a full range of body sizes (64%), as well as a full range of hair colors, textures and styles (70%).
seven out of ten consider inclusivity in digital apparel designs be “very” or “extremely” important. This challenge can be met by new technology like Layered Clothing, a new feature that has been embraced by creators and users in our community. During the year 2022, more than 157 million Roblox users have already acquired free and paid items created by the Layered Clothing community.
3. Nearly 3 in 4 Gen Z say they spend on digital fashion
People express themselves through their avatar style and Roblox fashion choices the same way they do in the physical world, with more than half (53%) saying that their style changes depending on their mood or feelings on a particular day, and 37% changing clothes depending on where they are going in the metaverse and what they are doing. Many (42%) would change clothes to immediately try a new purchase.
Of those who say they spend money on digital fashion, 31% of users said they typically spend up to $5 per month and another 30% says up to $10-$20 per month, while almost 12% will spend between $50 and $100 per month. More than 1 in 4 say they spent between $20 and more than $100 on a single virtual item.
4. IRL trends influence avatar fashion (and vice versa)
In our survey, 70% of Gen Z said their avatars dress at least somewhat like their IRL style, with as many (70%) saying that they also take inspiration from the physical style when dressing their avatars.
Take the #Barbiecore trend, which started on social media as part of the excitement over the upcoming ‘Barbie’ movie, or year 2000 nostalgia: the Roblox community has been quick to mirror these key trends. of fashion 2022, both in the creation of articles and in the style of their avatar.
The timely launch of Forever 21 x Barbie allowed shoppers to quickly (and literally) gear up for their metaverse adventures, and the Y2K trend peaked on Roblox, with total purchases of Y2K-tagged items exceeding 188 million from January to September 2022.
5. The prestige of digital fashion is on the rise
Recent Industry Research points to the “disproportionate impact of Gen Z on culture and the economy”, given that this group of consumers represents around a quarter of the world’s population and already has a purchasing power of hundreds of billions of dollars just in the United States. With this demographic spending more time in immersive social spaces like Roblox, the prestige and impact of digital fashion is on the rise.
More than half (58%) of respondents consider a career as a digital fashion designer as equally impressive, if not more impressive than the role of a physical fashion designer. This number increases significantly among people who spend up to $100 per month on avatar mode, where 54% said being a digital fashion designer is more impressive.
As we look forward to the near future, we expect the next generation of fashion designers and brands to be deeply immersed in digital fashion, dressing up avatars, designing 3D digital versions of their collections and creating exclusive to the Metaverse.
We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with thought leaders at Parsons School of Design to see, together with brands, designers, and our Roblox community, how we can further enable self-expression and allow our community to become whoever they want. be – on our platform and beyond.
¹To get the most up-to-date consumer data, Roblox, in conjunction with Parsons School of Design, commissioned a survey from Momentive (creators of the SurveyMonkey platform) conducted September 19-21, 2022 among 1,000 seniors 14 to 24 years old, living in the United States. The sample was balanced by sex using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic makeup of the US population in this age range.