How Much Would You Pay For This Virtual Dress?
Digital-only luxury fashion brand Republiqe offers customers the chance to be seen in high fashion – digitally.
Forty British pounds (S$70) for a silk gown sounds like an absolute deal. But what if we told you it only existed as an image in the virtual world? In August, James Gaubert launched Republiqe, which he describes as “the world’s first digital-only luxury fashion brand”.
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Based in Singapore since 2018, the former digital marketer and fashion designer by training decided to combine his key interests when launching his business. At the Republiqe website, people choose their clothing and upload images of themselves.
James Gaubert is the founder and creative director of Republiqe.
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The site’s team digitally fits the clothing and accessories onto them and then sends the completed images – most likely destined for social media and, hopefully, lots of likes – back to customers.
Gaubert shares: “Fashion is a challenging, congested market. How do you cut through all the clutter? You need to be doing something different. My company is built around three pillars: technology, creativity and sustainability. As much as possible, I want to challenge and disrupt the industry and consumer behaviour.”
He shares his thoughts on why virtual clothing will be more than a passing trend.
Who is your target audience?
"I thought our customers would be Gen Z, which is the 22 to 27 age group to me. But they are mostly between 18 and the mid-20s. It’s interesting because I didn’t think they would have the money to spend on something like this. But I’ve spoken to several of them and, as a demographic, they are born content creators and care about how they look on social media."
Does virtual clothing offer a unique way for fashion lovers to be environmentally responsible?
"Younger customers want brands with a certain degree of social and environmental responsibility. Because of my background in fashion, I’ve been to many factories and warehouses, mostly in Asia. I’ve seen huge amounts of fabric wastage. I was in a large factory in Vietnam, and there were four to five inches of fabric offcuts covering the floor. Today, because of fast fashion,
some outfits are worn just once before they’re headed for the landfill. We need a mindset change."
Are Republiqe’s designs supposed to look lifelike or are they meant to look more obviously digital in a cyberpunk way?
"It depends on the garment. We’ve sold a few jackets, for instance, to buyers who told us: 'I can’t believe it’s not real'. And then there’s our bestseller: a pair of trousers made of pink digital PVC that is less realistic and a bit more out there."
What’s next for your brand?
"I see several growth opportunities. At the moment, we can only fit clothing on images. But video is the number one consumed content, especially with platforms like TikTok. So, we’re looking to see what we can do in this area. Secondly, I think we have the potential to create virtual digital wardrobes where people can store more garments that could be easily fitted onto different photos or videos.
This means that, instead of buying one photo or image, they’ll have a wardrobe of garments to use multiple times. The third huge opportunity involves gamification and creating clothes that can be worn in virtual worlds. The way I see it, the only limitations we have as a digital-first business are the adoption, speed and growth of technology."
This article first appeared in The Peak