How to develop a Metaverse platform for your sportswear brand?

Every industry in the world is rapidly transitioning to the digital realm, and this transition in the fashion and clothing industry has also accelerated significantly in recent years.

The goal of every business is to continue to be relevant in the digital age. The same stands true for sportswear brands trying to build a metaverse platform for sportswear. While metaverse development poses significant challenges, it is also full of enormous opportunities.

The metaverse is currently in a developmental phase. It will allow sportswear businesses to gain maximum profits from the metaverse platform.

The opportunity to experiment and offer customers something fresh is thrilling for sportswear brands. The metaverse platform for sportswear clothing allows the purchase of digital apparel and the potential for quick purchases, but this is also an opportunity to increase customer engagement substantially. 

We can easily predict that only those sportswear businesses will succeed in the digital era, which attempts to strengthen their bond with their customers by joining them online. Clothing brings a sense of identity to oneself, and sportswear brands in the Metaverse can use this idea to market their new designs and experiment with new concepts.  

Metaverse fashion is taking a wide stride in the UAE and becoming a popular choice with a flashy entry. The global market for the Metaverse is already at $47.48 billion in 2022. Even UAE is stepping into the digital world as the Emirates of Sharjah has launched its metaverse project. Nearly 500 companies have started building their metaverse platforms. Moreover, more than 470 million users have already joined the metaverse world. This is the time to implement sportswear in the Metaverse and build a platform for your brand.

How can a sportswear brand enter the Metaverse?

Sportswear brands in the Metaverse can explore the technology and use creative ideas to engage customers and make their brand count. There are a number of ways your brand can enter the Metaverse space. Here is a list of a few methods:

Event Activation

The Metaverse allows you to bring an insight into the designer’s mind and show all your sportswear apparel from the designer’s viewpoint. One way of entering the Metaverse is by conducting or hosting digital events where your audience can come and interact. This can be fashion shows, exhibitions, or immersive experiences.

NFT Craze

A great tool that is now for more than just artists or blockchain experts is NFTs or non-fungible tokens. These can be used to create digital versions of clothing. By integrating their physical and digital collections, brands can give their collections digital value. NFTs can help you create the wackiest designs and use all your creativity. The psychology of scarcity and limited editions, which appears to be the driving force behind the NFT mania, may also work to the advantage of sportswear brands in the Metaverse.

Cryptocurrency payments

It is no longer a debate that brands benefit most from looking into ways to implement blockchain technology and accept cryptocurrencies as a substitute for traditional payment methods. Especially in the digital world, eCommerce through cryptocurrency is much more convenient for your brand and customers. Thus, you can use blockchain-based cryptocurrencies first to establish your presence in the metaverse platform.

Technologies needed to develop a metaverse platform for sportswear

The Metaverse has a few essential technologies that every business needs to use in its setup for efficient business functioning. Therefore, if you are trying to develop a metaverse platform for sportswear, do not forget to integrate these technologies:

Interactive 3D

Any functional metaverse platform will have a technology that can scan the physical world, turn it into a 3D model, and then transfer that model to the Metaverse. All of this happens quickly and produces top-notch graphics. The high-quality 3D aspect is what makes the Metaverse interactive and real-world-like. You must ensure that the quality is high because the replication, otherwise, will be less immersive. These technologies already exist, but they need to improve, much like Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox.

NFT Technologies

NFT, as we discussed earlier, is the beginning of your creative process. You will be able to own assets, build avatars and create object identity, which is all essential for your sportswear brand in the Metaverse. This is the best technology to identify and transfer ownership of digital assets between people and between metaverse platforms.

Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence will grip the digital world very strongly in the future, and that will be seen in the advancement of multiverses. Thus, it is necessary to engage users of smart assistants like Google Now, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana more directly in your metaverse platform for sportswear. 

AI is also required for software development and auditing and provides safer financial and data protection. 

5G 

When you are working on the internet, what do you primarily need? A speedy internet connection. A vast volume of data, like audio files, and high-resolution textures, would be transmitted through your metaverse platform, so a stable and speedy connection is necessary. Only the fifth generation of mobile networks (5G), whose peak download and upload speeds are substantially higher than those of 4G—10 GB/s against 100 MB/s—will be able to handle the additional load.

Steps to create a metaverse platform for sportswear

What route should you take for a metaverse platform development for sportswear? Before beginning, ensure that you know what resources you need. Keep a list of metaverse platform features for sportswear brands that you want to incorporate. Follow these steps to create your metaverse:

Analyze your business idea

Creating a mobile app, or a metaverse platform begins with idea analysis. Keep in mind that your concept can be novel. It should concentrate on meeting your customers’ wants and desires on Metaverse.

For instance, while developing cryptocurrencies, you might also add more avatars and things to multi-meta realities. Since the Metaverse is still blooming and has yet to be adopted by the majority, this is the right time to execute unique ideas and put all your creativity into trying new business ideas.

Essential market research

It is imperative to gain industry knowledge before beginning to develop a metaverse platform for sportswear. Knowing your rivals, target market, and other Metaverse-based initiatives will offer you a thorough understanding of everything.

Discover the weaknesses in the current system so you can ensure that no such gaps remain in your metaverse platform for sportswear clothing. You’ll also learn the finest strategies to implement your business idea and gain an early understanding of its main potential. Draw technical documentation that highlights everything based on the information you have acquired; this will serve as a roadmap for the future.

Search for a partner metaverse development company

Next, you must find yourself a metaverse development company that will handle the technical aspects of putting your idea into practice, like Appinventiv. They will get a good idea of your specific industry’s needs, what technology is available to us, and what solutions can be made from it.

You will need a team made up of different experts like project managers, designers, software engineers, etc., who will add different skill sets and knowledge to the development process. 

Start UI/UX development and prototyping

The user interface, content architecture, and design will all be in process at this point in the metaverse application development process. UX and UI designers work in this area. Once a rough piece is put together with all the main components, a prototype is ready.

A prototype or animated interface representation gives us an idea of how the product will be seen by customers and will be the ultimate result of the team’s labor.

Begin application coding

Your programming team now begins work on the code for your Metaverse application. Depending on the complexity of the project, creating the code itself typically takes one to several months. The front-end and back-end elements of the prospective project are implemented, and external services like payment gateways or liquidity pools are integrated.

Testing and deployment

Once the prototype has been approved, and the changes have been made, Quality Assurance experts thoroughly test the final product for any more bugs, its usability, functionality, and, most importantly, compliance with all of the detailed specifications. Up to 20% of the development time is required for this process. 

Test everything thoroughly, and keep in mind that testing is just as important as developing a platform. As long as your application fully satisfies your customers’ needs, it will be successful and profitable. 

Launch

Finally, successfully launch your sportswear brand in the Metaverse after completing all six of the steps above. Depending on the platform’s availability, add your Metaverse mobile app to the App Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Store, Amazon App Store, and other stores. It is yet another element that raises the price of developing Metaverse applications.

Customer support

Your job is still ongoing after the platform is out. It needs consistent support and improvement as it functions. You must serve and interact with the metaverse customers and enhance your business through the techniques mentioned above. Additionally, you must coordinate the efforts of a support team that will assist in resolving customers’ issues with your application and gather their feedback.

How much does it cost to build a metaverse for the sportswear industry?

The metaverse platform cost for the sportswear industry, like any other industry, is variable and subject to the platform’s features and the user’s metaverse needs. On average, it costs between $15,000 and $25,000, or a little more up to $40,000, to create a fully decentralized metaverse with around five virtual rooms and 20 people for the visiting rooms. Based on changes in user requirements and metaverse features, this cost estimate varies.

Factors that will majorly affect the cost of metaverse platform development include:

• 3D modelers 
• Database
• Developers team
• UI/UX designers
• Tech stack

Sportswear brands investing in the Metaverse  

In good news, multiple brands have opened a metaverse platform for sportswear, for example –

• Nike became one of the top brands transitioning into Metaverse. They acquired RTFKT and collaborated with an NFT artist to launch a metaverse collection of sneakers, which later had a physical launch.
• Under Armour partnered with Stephen Curry to launch the Genesis Curry Flow collection of 2974 NFT shoes that replicated the one Curry wore while breaking the all-time NBA record.
• Adidas awards its loyal fans with a proof of attendance protocol (POAP) in the Metaverse. In such events, NFTs are distributed to the community as a sign that they have been to the event. 

Become a renowned sportswear brand in the Metaverse with Appinventiv

Let Appinventiv, an artificial intelligence app development company, become your door to the Metaverse and create a platform for your sportswear brand, just like you want. We have been working with Fortune 500 countries and other notable international brands to provide digital solutions to their websites and apps. Our process constitutes a proper inquiry into the problem, thorough research, conceptualizing a solution, design, and deployment to see the final outcome.

We take pride in the innovative solutions that we have been providing to the diverse clientele base across the globe. We understand that no two problems are the same, thus, the approach taken by the team is unique for every industry. Our diverse portfolio of case studies and testimonies from our clients is the driving force behind our innovative solutions.

When we work with you, our goal will be the same- an effective digital solution. We are ready to create the metaverse platform for your sportswear brand needs. So, get in touch today!

FAQs

Q. Is Metaverse a good platform for sportswear brands?

A. With the frequency with which Metaverse is growing, it is a great platform for not just sportswear brands but for all businesses. The platform can help you define how you want sportswear in the Metaverse to look and how your interaction with your customers will be. Everything is becoming digitized, and with the availability of customers digitally, your sportswear business should also attempt to make its presence online. Therefore, in all aspects, it is a good decision to build a metaverse platform for sportswear and expect good returns.

Q. Is blockchain technology needed to make a metaverse platform for sportswear?

A. Yes. Blockchain is essential to the development of the Metaverse. It enables users to buy, secure, store, and trade digital assets on the Metaverse platform. So, to create a Metaverse app for your firm, get in touch with a blockchain development company.

Q. How will sportswear marketing work in the Metaverse?

A. Sportswear in the Metaverse is comparatively new; therefore, you have space to define how you want to use these technologies to market your clothes. You can hold digital events, awards, exhibits, and fashion shows or allow customers to interact with the new designs. You can use their interests to experiment with new concepts. Customers will be able to shop for your apparel through cryptocurrency, which is how your business will grow. NFTs will be essential to your business because you need them to hold assets in the Metaverse.

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director