Metaverse & Sustainability in Fashion: Opportunity or Threat?

Amidst the progressive sustainability targets and bold corporate proclamations, the newly published BCG x Vogue Poland report Metaverse & Sustainability in Fashion: Opportunity or Threat? discusses growing engagement between fashion and the Metaverse technologies, exploring its consequences to the carbon footprint of the traditional fashion industry.

Our analysis shows that, since 2020, one-third of the world’s 120 top fashion companies have already experimented with the Metaverse and, by 2030, most industry leaders will have established a presence in the Metaverse. In the base case scenario, digital fashion may generate sales of up to $25 billion a year in 2030, out of which $6 bln would come from video game skins, another $6 bln from digital fashion, and $13 bln from NFTs. How will these trends affect the sustainability of the fashion industry?

Among digital users, online appearance is equally important as physical appearance for 45% of respondents in Asia and 25% outside Asia. As much as 20% of digital users buy apparel only to create digital content. While TikTok and Instagram rapidly grow, the snap and send back phenomenon clearly gains momentum. Digital fashion can be seen as a way to reduce wasteful overproduction in the traditional fashion sector, although many are skeptical of it.