The human arsenal might be expansive beyond all known limits, but if we are being honest, it doesn’t have anything more valuable than our tendency to grow on a consistent basis. This tendency, in particular, has enabled us big time in regards to hitting upon some huge milestones, with technology appearing as a unique member of the stated group. The reason why technology’s credentials are so anomalous is largely because of its skill-set, which ushered us towards a reality that we couldn’t have imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, a slightly closer look will reveal how the whole runner was also very much inspired by the way we applied those skills across a real-world environment. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. This revolution, as we discovered later, will go on to scale up the human experience from every conceivable direction, but even after achieving something so monumental, technology will somehow continue to deliver all the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident over the recent past, and truth be told, a newly-formed partnership should make that trend bigger and better moving forward.
Parsons School of Design has officially partnered with Roblox to educate the former’s students on digital fashion and trends. According to certain reports, the partners will conceive a specialized course where students can learn to create hyper-realistic and inclusive 3D digital apparels that fit any body type. Spanning across a 16-week long timeframe, the course will also see students working with an esteemed line-up of fashion designers from both Parsons and Roblox communities, designers who’ll help these kids in navigating through all the challenges that usually surround digital clothing. The final goal is, of course, to make them well-equipped in terms of developing a retail experience which can thrive in Parsons’ physical marketplace, as well as in Roblox’s counterpart for the same.
“Partnering with Roblox offers Parsons students working in creative technologies an exciting opportunity to engage the complex intersection of visual culture and social structure, and to play with how we make meaning when we dress ourselves–in digital and physical worlds,” said Shana Agid, PhD, Dean of the School of Art & Media Technology at Parsons School of Design. “We’re excited to see how students’ own diverse experiential knowledge, together with their research, critical thinking, and digital and visual design skills, shape the futures of these spaces.”
The partnership in question here provides an interesting follow up to 2022 Metaverse Trends report that revealed some huge facts about the Gen-Z consumer. For instance, the report, which was constructed through behavioral data from Roblox platform and survey responses of over 1,000 Gen-Z consumers, revealed how most people are now changing their avatar’s clothing at least every week. Beyond that, we also got to know that community members on platforms like Roblox tend to connect with and react to others based on the way they look and dress. Other important details included how nearly 3 in every 4 users are willing to spend money on digital fashion, while two thirds are excited to wear brand-name virtual items on their Roblox avatars, thus paving the way for a commercial avenue that we had never seen before.
“Gen Z consumers are spending more time in immersive social spaces like Roblox, where they have been expressing themselves through their creations and digital style preferences for over a decade,” said Christina Wootton, Vice President of global partnerships, Roblox. “With their growing economic power and influence on fashion, trends from the metaverse are expected to have a profound impact on physical fashion, while trends from the physical world will also continue to move into the metaverse.
The digital fashion course is expected to become available for Parsons’ 2023 spring semester.