Toyoshima & Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Hanshichi Toyoshima, Nagoya City Naka-ku ) held the 4th Sustainable Fashion Seminar on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, titled "What I Noticed Selling Fashion Products in the Metaverse Space ~From the Experience of the Pal Closet at KDDI's Virtual Shibuya~".
On the day of the event, we invited Ichiro Miura of KDDI Corporation, which develops the city-linked metaverse "Virtual Shibuya" officially approved by Shibuya Ward, and Satoru Hotta of Pal Co., Ltd., which held a two-week fashion exhibition in virtual Shibuya, to talk about examples that only operators and store owners can understand, as well as how to connect them to future monetization. In the second half, Hiroya Momikura of PocketRD Co., Ltd., which develops 3D avatars and blockchains, will serve as moderator Toyoshima & Co., Ltd. Tetsuyoshi Watanabe, who is in charge of "VIRTUAL STANDARD",™ a project that uses 3DCG to develop various contents in the fashion industry, also joined the talk session on what the fashion industry should do in the metaverse space.
■Part 1: Virtual Shibuya operators and store owners talk about "Introduction of KDDI's metaverse-related initiatives"
"Try opening a 'Pal Closet' in the metaverse space"
Mr. Miura said, "Since 2019, we have been working with Shibuya Ward to solve problems and create tourism resources with the latest technology, but due to the Corona disaster, we have not been able to implement measures for real expansion with 5G. In order to deliver a Shibuya-like experience to customers who are refraining from going out, "Virtual Shibuya" was created in a metaverse space of the real city of Shibuya, and was born in May 2020 as the first metaverse officially approved by a local government in Japan. One of the issues in Shibuya Ward was the Halloween congestion during the Corona disaster. By guiding them to the virtual space, we were able to avoid the density of the real space.
In the future, we aim to connect virtual spaces and real towns and lead to new experience value improvements. As an initiative, in November 2022, we announced "Digital Twin Shibuya," which digitizes urban spaces with realism. We plan to realize two-way communication between real and virtual," he explained KDDI's initiatives.
KDDI Corporation Business Creation Division General Manager Ichiro Miura
On the store side, Mr. Satoru Hotta, Executive Officer, General Manager of Promotion Promotion Department, General Manager of Communication Design Office, and General Manager of Web Business Promotion Office, Pal Co., Ltd., talked about his experiences and impressions of the virtual fashion exhibition in Shibuya under the title "Opening a 'Pal Closet' in the metaverse space."
Satoru Hotta, Executive Officer, General Manager, Promotion Promotion Department, Communication Design Office, and General Manager, Web Business Promotion Office, PAL Co., Ltd.Mr. Hotta said, "'Palcloset' is an e-commerce site that stocks about 50 brands of Pal Group Holdings. We hold Palcro Week once every six months, and in the fall of 2022, we participated in the virtual Shibuya Halloween Festival as one of the places to experience. On the metaverse, we set up a Pal room (you can access the EC site and get an avatar by selecting a mannequin), live in a virtual space, and an advertisement that jacked the city of Shibuya. The high level of awareness of Virtual Shibuya, the timing of Halloween Week and Palcro Week, and the presence of a reliable partner were decisive factors for participating."
In addition, the purpose of participation was "to raise awareness of Pal Closet, attract customers and contribute to sales, and feel and learn as an organization. As for what we were able to learn, first of all, it was difficult for participating companies to prepare in advance due to lack of knowledge of 3DCG data. It was also necessary to understand the current technology and future potential, such as the limits of data capacity."
In addition, as a lesson learned after participating, "Users were more interested in digital assets such as avatar acquisition than in purchasing real products. This time, it was meant to be a festival, but inevitability will also be a key point in everyday life."
Part 2: "The Future of the Fashion Industry and the Metaverse"
In Part 2, Mr. Hiroya Momikura, Representative Director and Producer of PocketRD Co., Ltd., was invited as the moderator, and Toyoshima & Co., Ltd. Executive Officer Design Planning Dept. Tetsuyoshi Watanabe, the head of the office, also participated in a talk session on what the fashion industry should do in the metaverse space now.
It started with a sharp question from Mr. Momikura to Mr. Hotta of Pal, "I want to hear your true feelings." Mr. Hotta said, "The advance preparation was more than I had imagined, and the most difficult thing was how to fit the metaverse with what the store owner wanted to do. We didn't know the technical stuff, so we had to proceed in a short period of time." Mr. Miura of KDDI said, "In the metaverse, it is important to try anyway, and in a short period of time, we worked together from concept creation to 3D data creation, and we were able to produce a certain amount of output. I hope it will lead to the next improvement." When asked about the response, Miura said, "We recognize that fashion and technology are far apart, and we are proceeding with some things through trial and error. We are very grateful that they were able to participate in the experiment, and it was a good experience."
Next, Mr. Momikura asked, "How much distance do you feel is between the image of the target of the metaverse space and real fashion?" Mr. Hotta replied, "The sense of distance from fashion is still unknown, but I was able to realize the hypothesis that something as easy to understand as IP (intellectual property) would fit." In response, Mr. Momikura said, "In Virtual Shibuya, we are teaming up with IP to create a theme, and wouldn't it be effective in fashion if we implemented it based on that?" When asked, Miura said, "As a rule of thumb for three years, celebrity fans participate, and I feel that they have been troutized."
In addition, Ms. Momikura asked about "what role the metaverse will play as a place of expression in digital fashion in the future of the industry." Hotta says, "It probably depends on how you perceive the metaverse, but there is already a change from still images such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube to videos. EC is also in the phase of including videos. As the range of expression expands, I feel that 3D has the potential to emerge beyond technological evolution."
Moderator PocketRD Inc. Representative Director and Producer Hiroya Momikura
Furthermore, regarding the shopping group in the metaverse space, he said, "I think it is meaningful that it conveys the goodness of clothes and is easy to purchase, rather than being able to have a game-like experience." In actually working on it, he said, "The key is for the person in charge to work on it after sharing the perspective with the partner and understanding what can be done. It is more important to incorporate experience into individuals and organizations. I believe that by continuing our current initiatives, we will be connected in the future."
Finally, Mr. Momikura asked, "I have come to understand that if you proceed with will, you will find the answer, but what do you feel is lacking in moving forward?" Mr. Hotta said, "From the point of view of the content publisher, we expect that the number of participants in the metaverse will increase, and the store owners have a relationship where they compete for share within the value chain. When you're working on something new, you never know what's going to happen to each other. I think it's important to talk honestly with other brands and partners and collaborate."
