SL Businesses Move to RL?

SO, SL retail designers with really good brands in SL could feasibly move to RL, don't you think? Ones that are well differentiated and have something with just a little kink, just a little SL cache`. Of course, there would be a huge barrier of actual fulfillment, but that could be contracted out. SL folks would have to partner with RL clothing manufacturers and license their brand, with creative oversight for example, as a line to be sold at ... oh ... Abercrombie? Just speculataing here ... maybe CKS could sell to Ann Taylor ?? I could see it.

Frankly, I think that businesses moving to RL for fashion, possibly prefab homes and (dare one say it) sex toys ... might where the real money will be made from SL. I can think of a few great SL brands -- Bare Rose, Form, Falln, perhaps ATUI and many that I've never hear of, I'm sure, could possibly move to RL eventually. Or has this already happened?

IF not, owners of those businesses, lol, contact someone NOW for investment!!!

My mind LEAPS to the first life bling link

There's a guy that makes clothes (FORM is the name of his business) that I had to IM to tell him to get off his ass and buy a silkscreen setup and start making those shirts IRL. His stuff is nice!

Of course now that even Target has the whole "worn out silkscreen on weird parts of the shirt" style going it's a bit played out and would be behind the curve if he were to try now. I had IMed him about this last year when it wasn't totally played out yet!

Here's the problem with fashion in SL. Most of it is actually either just following RL trends and is in reality behind the times or only works in a computer game. Just like most outfits worn by comic book heroes would look silly IRL, so would a lot of SL fashion.

For those that are ACTUALLY doing something that could translate to RL AND be unique there's still the problem of the transition. If you aren't already established you run the risk of becoming out of date by the time you get anything on a RL rack. That's a problem I think most would have regardless of starting in SL or not.

Otherwise the only business I see translating from SL to RL is graphic design which is mostly what SL fashion is anyway.

SL still lacks any RL value other than entertainment so just about every principle that applies to RL doesn't apply to SL or vice versa. This is part of why RL corporations are having a hard time getting SL to be viable for them.

*groans* i'm in denial about that First Bling. i was thinking more about resident designers branching out on their own.

I absolutely think it is possible, especially with fashion.

I have seen some great clothes in SL and i'm sure they would sell if you made the RL equivalent.

I agree. This can definitely be done, except there would be safety in designer numbers. Say someone open stores in N.Y.C, L.A, and London, and all they sell is one of a kind designer clothes from the top designers in SL. This project could be heavily advertised, and women will gravitate to it because there will be exclusivity in the brands and styles. For a little while anyway. I don't believe i just wrote a "pitch" for someone.

@squeeze: well, i'm not so sure clothes need to be all that cutting edge to succeed in the open market. I would think that being dressed like your avatar would have a LOT of appeal to certain players. You might note that FORM is one of the brands that I mentioned, too, lol.

@Jamil: I like the idea of an SL store for multiple designers in RL!!! I like it a LOT.

Yeah, but someone would be wasting their time to try to compete in RL with the very brands they're emulating in SL. That's what I was trying to say. You're nothing if you don't set yourself apart from the competition in SOME way!

Squeeze, I think I'm not getting through here. I'm proposing that the differentiator IS the SL designer's brand name. Not that the clothes themselves are intrinsically different somehow ... tho of course they must have a respectable degree of fashion. That people would want to buy an outfit if part of it was a belt with a Bare Rose logo (which, interestingly enough, is already part of one of my favorite Bare Rose outfits).

Can you see a department in a RL store for Analise silks and lingerie? Oh yeah. Big time. With faux collars.

You're getting through...just not making sense. Not even Bare Rose has enough brand recognition to rely on for RL success alone. I love their stuff but a lot of it can already be found if you look hard enough. Hell I found crazy futuristic armor vests for sale on the internet! Also, a lot of their stuff falls into the "comic book character" category I mentioned before.

And silks? That's called "dressing like a belly dancer and putting on a designer dog collar". Not that original and not that appealing.

The thing is, I've dealt with RL fashion stuff as have a few friends of mine. I've been designing shirts and whatnot with the hopes of getting something started. It's super hard to get started even at a local level. You HAVE to set yourself apart with more than just "As Seen in SL!". Most retailers would laugh at that.

I just don't see it happening unless SL was to get to the point that the internet had at the dot com boom. It's not taken seriously enough by the right people yet.

Not yet, no. But it would take a year to put together anyway. Hmmmm.....

Heh, try 5 years AT LEAST! Like I said, it's hard to break in when you're on the outside.

I didn't mean to imply that it was impossible, just improbable any time soon.

I'd like to see ETD wigs in real life.

I'm not knocking all the SL designers, but their clothes pretty much are in RL already. Most of what I see in SL is patterened after RL. A SL designer would need something monumental, I would think to get any attention. Now I can see SL designers bringing their talents to RL designs, as there re quite a few excellent designers in SL.

Squeezeone is right, a popular SL brand wouldn't mean much in RL, so you'd be starting from scratch pretty much, and that is very very very difficult to do. Anyone who thinks building a fashion business in SL is the same as building a fashion business in RL is pretty naive. For starters, anyone in SL can imagine some clothes and mass produce with practically no costs; that's not how it works in the real world. However, I did want to respond to this tidbit here:


In case you haven't noticed, most popular clothes brands look the same. That the clothes from an SL designer would look pretty much the same as what already exists isn't an issue. The differentiating factor for clothes lines is the brand name, and building up a brand is a tricky thing.

A Small vancouver based fashion designer began offering her RL designs in SL, after a short time she was designing fashions exclusive to SL,, a short time after that she was test marketing in SL, THEN taking the designs to RL.

I see NO reason at all one couldn't use SL, as a Virtual Sketch Pad, and Test market, and take a successful SL label into RL.

Angel.

True; you have a host of potential 3d models, although you can't take into account the way a fabric hangs based on different cuts.

As for SL fashion - a lot of it IS tawdry, comic book material that wouldn't stay up! Not all, but a significant amount. And much of it only fits perfect bodies. And don't get me started on photosourced material - that is, by default, already in the real world.

If you think there's an over-abundance of people trying to make clothing for Second Life (which, btw, there is...like freakin' EVERYBODY IN SL has tried making clothing...some with much more success than others of course)...just wait until you try to look at how many people make clothing in RL. It's freakin' RIDICULOUS. The competition is stifling, the start-up costs aren't heavy...but the advertising and brand-promotion is. Profit margins aren't huge (at least at first), and everyone is doing what you're doing. I'd say there are more failed clothing companies in a year than probably anything else.

Oh...and let's also not forget that 60%+ of the population of the United States (I know we're a worldwide market, but I live in the US and know the stat for the US) is overweight. Stuff that looks good on an SL avatar isn't gonna look good on your average RL person...

I just saw an ad in the Sept. issue of Cosmo Girl about a fashion contest in Sims 2!

At least one top virtual design will be marketed in real life H&M stores!