Releasing alongside our DPC Report 2022, this episode of The Interline Podcast is a deep-dive into the ways that fashion brands and retailers can manage Metaverse expectations – creating realistic goals for digital experiences, and delivering near-term value from investments made towards a longer-term horizon.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Ben Hanson, spends this show talking to Cathy Hackl, Founder and Chief Metaverse Officer for Journey, about how fashion can unpick its complex mix of optimism and pessimism around the Metaverse. And together Cathy and Ben consider how tightly interwoven fashion’s digital tools and processes are with its physical production cycles.

This show is sponsored by Cotton Incorporated, whose commitments to keeping the cotton industry ahead of the curve, and to making cotton-rich digital fabrics available to use in your DPC tool of choice, are fuelling digital product creation at the same time as powering smart, digital sourcing strategies.

Listen now:

Use the embedded players to listen to this episode of The Interline Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or click through to follow the show on those popular platforms so you’re notified when future episodes release.

The Interline Podcast is also available through a range of other podcast services. Search for “The Interline” on your platform of choice, and then follow or subscribe.

Our special festive episode, looking back at the ways fashion technology has evolved in 2022, and making predictions for 2023, is scheduled for release before Christmas. In the meantime, you can find key talking points from Episode 7 below.

Key talking points:

Taking a pragmatic perspective on the evolution of fashion’s relationship with the Metaverse – and a realistic viewpoint on the progress of the Metaverse itself – this episode tackles some critical topics that will be top of mind for fashion brands, retailers, and producers as they evaluate where digital product creation and digital fashion can go:

  • Can (and should) the idea of the Metaverse be separated from the direction that cryptocurrencies and Web3 are taking? Or is that sector’s chequered reputation set to spill over into the new era of fashion?
  • How closely aligned are the fortunes of fashion’s Metaverse visions and the plans that large corporations have to take ownership of that space?
  • What does it mean for a fashion brand or retailer to get started on a Metaverse strategy,, how do they manage their Metaverse expectations, and how does the industry go about making money from it?
  • Are futurism and optimism inseparable, and should fashion be building towards an idealistic future, or one that recognises the various crises that the world is currently embroiled in?
  • What does the future of personal and professional computing look like? Will digital fashion be defined by software, hardware, or a combination of both?
  • Should fashion brands be looking to establish separate digital and physical business units, or to bring the two strands together?
  • How can digital-for-digital workflows, tools, and processes that have an uncertain return on investment potential in the long-term deliver value in digital-for-physical use cases here and now?

Interested in exploring digital fashion, Digital Product Creation, or the possibility space of Metaverse fashion in more detail? Explore our editorial archives, download the DPC Report, and consider following The Interline on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram to keep up to date with our newest stories.

Don’t forget to follow The Interline Podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or your platform of choice. And look for our last episode of the year, very soon.