Gucci plots metaverse as it snaps up virtual real estate in The Sandbox
Luxury fashion house Gucci is launching into virtual reality with plans to build its own space on digital real estate platform The Sandbox metaverse.
Gucci took to Twitter to announce that it would build on the metaverse to expand the presence of its platform Gucci Vault, described by the brand as an experimental space envisioned by creative director Alessandro Michele. The brand revealed it had purchased an undisclosed amount of land on The Sandbox, which lets people and brands buy and develop virtual reality spaces.
Gucci Vault’s official discord server, which has more than 73,000 members, said that Gucci Vault users should expect “multiple NFT drops, rare vintage finds, noteworthy designer selections and discord exclusives” which are all “on the horizon.” The Sandbox revealed that Gucci will create metaverse fashion items which will be available for people to buy, own and use in their own Sandbox experience, in comments to Vogue.
The announcement comes as big brands face pressure to expand into digital worlds. Major sports brand Adidas has made its metaverse ambitions clear, while Facebook’s recent rebrand as Meta signalled the company’s belief that virtual reality holds the key to the future of social interactions.
Even PwC has bought real estate in The Sandbox, indicating that firms are looking at providing services to customers in virtual reality spaces.
Regulators in Europe have signalled their wariness about companies curating new environments in which to interact with consumers. The EU’s antitrust regulator this week confirmed that the bloc is looking into the metaverse with a view to rolling out new regulations.
In the UK, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) also has plans to look into regulating virtual reality.
Read more: EU mulls metaverse regulation as businesses jump into virtual reality