Men’s apparel brand Saxx opens 3D metaverse showroom

A premium men’s apparel and underwear brand is opening an immersive virtual store that allows shoppers to browse 3D items in a 360-degree digital environment.

Saxx is partnering with the Emperia metaverse platform to operate the virtual store, which exclusively features underwear, tops and swimwear from its DropTemp collection, which uses proprietary evaporative fabric to cool the body.

Upon entering the virtual store, customers are transported to a metaverse environment where it’s snowing in the desert, designed to highlight the cooling qualities of DropTemp fabric. A short pathway lined with shoppable product displays leads to an open-air digital showroom.

More items are displayed around the showroom’s virtual swimming pool, including underwear, short and long-sleeve tops, polos and hoodies with

sunscreen rating that can be worn in the water. Shoppers can virtually “dive in” to the pool, which unlocks another retail area consisting of swimwear items.

"We like to do things differently than other brands, and a virtual store gave us the opportunity to bring our DropTemp technology to life in an unexpected setting,” said Wendy Bennison, CEO, Saxx. “This is an exciting step for Saxx as we’ll be able to connect with our customers in a new way. Not only does this mark our first virtual store, but it’s also our first-ever standalone retail location where shoppers can walk around and interact with our products – albeit virtually.”

“Emperia has been seeing a great retail shift in 2022, with many of our partner brands creating virtual flagship stores, extending their e-commerce presence into a 3D form,” said Olga Dogadkina, co-founder and CEO at Emperia,. “Saxx’s move into the virtual space will expand its reach into existing clients and enable its tapping into new, online-native audiences, with the aim to increase online engagement, grow sales and deepen the brand’s intimate relationships with shoppers, we are foreseeing this move expanding and aligning with retailers’ e-commerce efforts in the coming years.”

Visit the virtual store here.

Direct-to-consumer beauty brand opens new metaverse store

The metaverse is proving appealing to direct-to-consumer companies that can leverage its interactive capabilities to offer an immersive brand experience. For example, the new Tatcha online store immerses customers in a virtual outdoor environment, with a complementary physical pop-up.

The Japanese beauty brand is opening a new virtual store, also running on the Emperia metaverse platform, designed to immerse customers in an interactive digital replica of a Japanese hinoki cypress forest while promoting Tatcha’s new “Forest Awakening” collection.