How Valuable AR is in Fashion & Merch Design, Social Commerce, and the Metaverse (with Derrick Ikenga)
“Hi guys, so this might seem like a new kind of topic hitting your inbox, but I’m a sucker for exploring where my curiosity leads me. Since I have always been curious about social NETWORK & communities, blockchain NETWORKS & Web 3.0, I decided to begin to create more content in this space, as this is the future of the web, and it is important in my IT journey.”
“Yesterday, I had a guest, Derrick Ikenga, on my podcast to discuss AR, Non-Fungible Tokens and how it's providing value in a social network space.
Derrick was the perfect person who I knew was building and leveraging on Web 3.0, so I knew he could explain this concept better to me.
You can find the episode on Spotify
An Intro to AR Fashion Wearables
In the episode, Derrick introduces his Voyager sleeves which was inspired by a need to create merches for companies that its users will love to wear. By leveraging AR experiences one merch can have different designs. A customer or fan can take a picture with one cloth, generate different AR experiences with the same cloth, and then share it on social media. The AR experience gives the cloth different designs when the image is taken via their smartphones.
Voyager Sleeves by Euphorialabs
Below is an example of how the image will look like with an AR effect.
Voyager Sleeves with AR effect by Euphorialabs
Derrick made me understand that this can reduce the cost of merch designs by creators and companies.
Influence of AR on Social Commerce
A company like Cisco, Paystack, or a youtube creator like Korty EO, can hire a VR/AR creator to make a single merch with many AR filter design that their fans or customers can try on and post on social media without having to produce any physical goods.
He also mentioned how AR can help in virtually prototyping your product and shipping it without spending cost on shipping, in other to get feedback.
From what Derrick explained to me, this Voyager NFT drop is similar to what is being performed by Vyking artificial reality shoes and what he was previously doing while at Taeilo furniture. But in this aspect, using clothes, this is just amazing!
Image credit: Next Reality
Derrick trying on an AR shoe by Vyking shoe
But one drawback is that anyone (non-true fans specifically) can make a fake sleeve to enjoy this luxury. So, how does true fans get proof of ownership?
Proof of Ownership for an Item Leveraging NFTs
The previous version of the internet (web 1.0) made it possible for users to have access to information by just a click on a web browser, and then consume it.
The current version of the Internet (Web 2.0) was more interactive, making it possible for users to not only consume contents but also create contents (E.g: This article was a created content leveraging the Substack platform on the Internet).
The new version of the Internet leveraging blockchain (Web 3.0) is making scarcity & ownership of digital contents valuable.
As we continue to grow dependent on the internet, the ability to own scarce digital items is more important now, more than ever.
A VR/AR creator like Derrick can monetize his digital work to fans who value his work.
This is done by uploading the digital file on the blockchain network which assigns a barcode to it. This barcode is used for assigning ownership to only specific users who value and love to pay for their work, thereby providing proof of ownership.
When a file is put into a blockchain network via a platform like Flow, it makes an NFT out of it.
Open Flow Featuring the NBA top shot NFT
Hence, Non Fungible tokens are files stored on the blockchain network. Think of it like normal wallpaper files on the Internet which you can download from free websites. But in this scenario, only users who are assigned unique keys can access, the file, with proof that they are a rightful owner, while the creator earns from it even though it is a digital file. NFTs dissolves copyrighting that wasn't possible on Web 2.
As an example, the Voyager Sleeves will be airdropped as both a digital image NFTs & also a physical clothing. These sleeves are then used by customers to create immersive 3D experiences which they can post on their social media accounts.
AR Collection Inside the Metaverse
A Metaverse is simply a virtual world. This kind of virtual world take forms like an online multiplayer game.
Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft are the top 3 multiplayer games in the last ~3 years. With a revenue larger than even the movie industry, or the music industry.
The key towards this revenue growth isn’t about playing to win missions, but it is influenced by the following:
In-game Social Networks
Gaming of today runs on the cloud, making it possible for players to access it from anywhere. This comes with a bonus to hang out & chat live with players. Gaming is now a new social world.
Virtual World Live Experiences (aka The Metaverse)
During the pandemic, music artists like Lil Nas X leveraged Roblox for a virtual event.
Gaming Enthusiast Earning Money by also Being Game Developers on their Favourite Platform
The Use of Game Engines like Unreal Engine or Unity to Build Movies like Game of Thrones
In-app game purchases: Epic games made $5.1B in revenue in 2020
My friends kid asking her for some Robux coins to be used on Roblox
All of these things influences shows how the virtual world is emerging and becoming part of our daily lives from work, to music events.
Voyager Skins
Just the way Marvel has their skins available for purchase on Fortnite, Derrick told me he and the team are working towards making it possible for customers who purchase the Voyager collection to import their skin.
Black Panther Skin on Fortnite
For e-commerce business, having your logo imported as a skin on games like Fortnite creates a powerful brand fondness.
How the Metaverse Could be Utilized in Africa
Travis Scott Virtual Show On Fortnite
As seen above where I mentioned Lil Nas X and now Travis Concert, we see the physical world and digital world mating and having a baby called the Metaverse.
As Derrick shared with me, some interesting ways the Metaverse could be used is as follows:
First of all, the blockchain network is a public ledger. Meaning a users data is stored on a public database that can only be queried and not changed.
Say, schools are providing direct to student learning like, Lambda, this school can be a part of the Metaverse network. Now an individual who is part of that same Metaverse, with a good spending history, can take a student loan from the network, thereby owing the network, without a government entity. Then over some time, payback.
In conclusion, I find AR an interesting technology with amazing use cases, I can't wait to try out new experiences as time goes on.
Thanks for reading! Bye!