Digital Fashion in the Metaverse and Innovation for Sustainability in Fashion

The metaverse is an online social environment where customers can participate experiences, socialize, build their own identity through avatars, possess virtual property. Many companies in the fashion industry have become interested in the metaverse for the construction of experiences, events or to propose digital fashion items. The present works intend to focus on the research and practice on fashion industry in the metaverse focusing on the sustainability challenges within this sector. The metaverse can emphasise the search for sustainability, particularly in research and development, innovation and communication, allowing companies to think about sustainable transition, circular business models, minimising environmental damage and satisfying the needs of selected target customers. For the users active in the metaverse, the interaction with the brand in its digital experiences or objects can in fact constitute a form of experimental and immersive market research, from which the company/brand can draw relevant implications as a market pre-test on a selected target and on the relevant stakeholders, making it possible to focus on the designs and projects that are believed to be of interest in real life, shortening the time and minimising the resources for the creation and dissemination of innovations or collections that are not in line with the needs and tastes of customers. In this way, companies are faced with the possibility of interacting in a much more active perspective than that allowed by social media platforms and Web 2.0, providing valuable managerial and scientific indications for anyone interested in fashion sustainability and R&D in the coming years.