Style
Meta’s avatar store upgrades with digital clothing provider DressX
Independent designers may eventually be allowed to create their own pieces through the partnership.
Meta avatars are getting a wardrobe refresh thanks to the platform’s new partnership with digital fashion provider DressX. Pieces from DressX’s digital-only inventory will be sold within Meta’s avatar marketplace, joining garments from Balenciaga, Prada, and Thom Browne. Meta’s free outfit options also remain available for avatars.
A range of styles, including a fitted mini dress and a DressX-branded sweatsuit, will be available from the digital fashion provider. The outfits can be used across Meta-owned platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and virtual reality headset Quest, which supports the avatar fits through stickers, messages, and feed posts. As of now, the DressX pieces are available in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, and Mexico, with plans to expand to other countries in the future.
Full of possibilities — Meta has allowed its users to create their own avatars since 2019 and has already rolled out features including free virtual clothing. Its partnership with DressX, however, may be the deepest the platform has delved into fashion: New DressX collections are expected to launch on a monthly basis, and Meta has implied it plans to eventually allow independent creators to sell their designs — a function DressX already allows on its own platform.
“[Over time], all different kinds of creators are going to be able to participate and design clothing and sell it,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a previous announcement for Meta’s avatar marketplace. “If you want to design fashion today, you need the physical materials and equipment, but in the future, anyone with a computer and an imagination will be able to come up with ideas for this.”
The DressX outfits are sold as complete looks and priced from $2.99 to $8.99. Meta will share a portion of its revenue with DressX, although it's unclear how the platform splits profits with designers, if at all. This uncertainty could cause problems down the line should Meta allow independent creators to sell their designs.
Bringing accessibility to digital dressing — “The opportunity of the scale that we can achieve with Meta is great,” DressX co-founder Daria Shapovalova told Vogue Business. “For us, it is a little victory because when we started, there was nothing [for digital fashion]. The goal is to make it easier to wear digital fashion. We want people to wear collections from DressX on Snapchat, Meta, Roblox, and more.”
DressX has already sold more than 38,000 pieces since it began offering items on Roblox’s marketplace earlier this year, and some of its most popular pieces inspired those that now appear on Meta. As of publishing, 3.8 billion monthly users are active on Meta, meaning the platform will only be expanding the reach of digital fashion — tapping into a growing community of cyber style enthusiasts (and their physical wallets).