Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the company is launching a digital designer clothing store called the “Meta Avatars Store.” Zuckerberg made the announcement during an Instagram Live with Instagram’s vice president of fashion partnerships Eva Chen.
It’s unknown how many people will actually want to fork out money to dress up their avatars in designer clothing, but Zuckerberg sees the new fashion clothing options as a way for users to express themselves via their avatars.
The new virtual store is launching on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger and will allow users to buy digital clothes for their avatars. The store will begin rolling out next week and will initially offer digital outfits from Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. Meta hasn’t revealed any pricing information for these digital outfits. It’s worth noting that the free clothing options for Meta avatars will still remain available.
Zuckerberg said Meta plans to make the store an open marketplace where developers can create and sell clothing.
“We’re launching our Avatars Store on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger so you can buy digital clothes to style your avatar,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “Digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy. I’m excited to add more brands and bring this to VR soon too.”
The Meta Avatars Store will start rolling out next week in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Mexico. The company plans to introduce new brands for the store soon.
Today’s announcement comes after Meta has been working to enhance its avatars as it continues to invest in building the metaverse. Earlier this year, Meta brought its 3D avatars to Instagram and rolled out updated avatars to Facebook and Messenger. The update brought more expressions, faces, skin tones and accessibility devices to avatars. The company now also allows users to bring the same avatar across all Meta platforms, including VR.