American Apparel: RL fashions come to SL

Perhaps because people likely tend to shop with enforced time of day to get some reasonable lighting on their avatars, which throws the time-of-day scripts off and winds up with mis-matched textures that look funny? ^^;;

Um... its a box?

I don't waste money on designer labels in real life, and I'm certainly not going to do so in a computer game. Some people have more money than sense, that's the only reason these companies exist.

Lewis

well persoally i don't see RL brands coming to sl in a good eye, about the same way a wood artisan would see a wood furniture factory install in her village.

Anyway peoples will choose the quality i believe

I suppose, if you wanted to be a deconstructivist prick, you could say that. But I'm sure you meant it in some *other* way.

Um...you're a troll?

LOL. Anyways. I was asked to base my store on the American Apparel location in Tokyo which is ... a box just like many buildings in RL When they open a store on a spaceship, or in a treehouse I promise to not let you down.

But thanks for your unbiased opinion

A friend of mine (outside sl) told me about this as well.



Nah, why would you go after the person who was hired to make their store?


And as for competition from real companies in SL, I have to agree with Lo, there's room for everyone. It's got to look good on an avatar. That takes considerable skill.

Aimee, the build looks amazing, can't wait to see it up close.

I think that these RL brands should hire established SL clothing designers to turn their RL fashions into SL fashions, just like they hired an established SL builder over dropping a random 3D modeller in SL and saying "have at it."

RL brands coming to SL might finally provide RL design fees to SL designers, instead of working for L$5000 = US$2.67 for a custom texture that takes you 4 hours to make because that seems like a lot of L$ to most residents.


I used to do that but now with the new lighting I almost like the ambience of the nights in SL better.

Yeah, because people like you are so obviously their target market.

At that point the individual ceases to be a designer and becomes a copy/paste monkey for someone elses ideas.

As you know Wanda - because you are a very skilled designer [I love your stuff ] - making clothes in SL is part fashion design creativity, part Photoshop technical skills, and part knowing how things look on avatars.

I agree that the creativity part would be lost to some degree, but the other 2 skills would be valued and a RL design wage could certainly help support an SL designer when they want to make their own creative stuff. While you would be mimicing the design, a lot of skill would be required to transfer that to SL. And it wouldn't precluded the designer continuing with their own personal line of clothing.

I like the night in SL with just its natural light a lot, but it quite obviously wreaks havoc on colours of my AV, so trying to tell if what i see on the product box is going to match what i have, colours-wise... well, that kinda forces shopping with custom lighting every now and then ^^

Grats Aimee ~ Beautiful Store ~ Wonderful Opportunity

As a person involved in this project, why do you think a real life business want to establish a presense in Second Life. More specifically, do you believe that they see the SL population as a targetable market worth the investment of a sim and a contracted employee; or are they planning to market the site to their existing customer base in the real world?

Ah yes, that's why I wear a Personal Lighting System™

I think it's great that rl designers and companies are taking an interest in SL, and if they release something I like, I'll buy it, but my loyalties are still going to lie the strongest with the resident content creators, because they need the support more. They're doing amazing things to contribute to the world, and doing things that may be out of reach to them in RL. Largely, though, this is my taste in clothes too. I'm more into the kitschy downtown boutiques than the mallspaces. That's the way it is for me, but certainly not everyone, and I'm not 100% rigid in that.
Of course if RL clothing companies start to take over and treat SL designers like competition to eliminate, my opinion will change dramatically.

*mew*

The store looks wonderful, Aimee. But...I've been in an RL American Apparel Store and it doesn't...uh..."speak to me", like the SL designers clothes do. (Too plain, too plain!! >.<

But, hey, that's my opinion. Maybe they'll look around and be inspired by OUR styles.

Perhaps, perhaps..time will tell.

Nice question.

I can't speak for AA as they didn't give me their exact motives, but I think some RL companies want to be early adopters of a platform that may become very popular. It's a gamble for the marketing department of any company to get involved here as the current userbase isn't large enough to justify a lot of expenses by itself. But at this stage of the game there is some press to be had because of the curiosity factor and if the success of Second Life starts shaping up like the Web (and I think it is), nobody wants to have to play catch-up.

That's a real concern that I addressed in my first post here. How can a pair of plain boycut undies compete with a Xena warrior princess armored mega-thong? I think it's a matter of personal preference for most. Designers like Mistress Midnight, and Launa Fauna have done really well selling conventional clothing like plain t-shirts and jeans, so I think there is a market for it.


I would LOVE to see a symbiotic relationship develop between RL and SL companies. I wouldn't doubt that some RL designers are already being influenced by virtual fashions in some subtle ways.

I admit ;0 I've never heard of American Apparel ;0 The advertising worked!! I was induced to visit their website ;0

Lets hope they dont take it as an opportunity to "aquire" ideas and use them irl.

Of course the flip side is that RL desingers often go a lot of places to mine trends and fashions. In a cross-cultural platform like SL, they have a chance to see things that might be cool on the street. So having a presence in Sl gives them a finger on a pulse. SL is not a big market, but its a pretty good sample size.

And its an awesome build aimee!

Wow, can one imagine seeing someone wearing in outfit in RL and saying, "Hay, waitaminute, isn't that a Neph design?"

O.o Hmmm...

Oh yeah, and Baaabaaa...*poke*

Well, I don't try on things standing outside the store, heh. And often the lighting in the stores makes outside lighting meaningless, anyway? I like the night lighting, I'm a city girl/night person. It would attract my attention if I was flying around at night, that's for sure. And that is the point, I guess.