Dive Brief:
- Men’s underwear brand Saxx launched its first metaverse shopping experience in partnership with Emperia, the company announced last week. The virtual store features cooling apparel from the brand’s new DropTemp collection.
- The brand said DropTemp’s proprietary technology wicks sweat and evenly distributes the moisture across the fabric, according to a press release emailed to Retail Dive. As the body sweats, the underwear helps evaporate moisture quicker.
- Saxx used Hohenstein Group, a third-party testing facility in Germany, to measure the performance of the underwear. Using a WATson device that tests a textiles ability to evaporate and cool, the DropTemp underwear beat other competitors.
Dive Insight:
The Canada-based brand sells products on its website as well as retailers like Nordstrom Rack, Dillard’s, REI and others.
"We like to do things differently than other men’s apparel brands, and a virtual store gave us the opportunity to bring our DropTemp technology to life in an unexpected setting,” Saxx CEO Wendy Bennison said in a press release. “This is an exciting step for Saxx as we’ll be able to connect with our customers in a new way.”
Men’s apparel offered in the virtual store include swimwear, long and short sleeve tops, hoodies, polos and of course, underwear. All of the tops feature UPF 50 and can be worn in the water.
Virtual experience developer Emperia has been working with other brands to help launch metaverse spaces, most recently helping beauty brand Tatcha. The developer also worked with Bloomingdale’s ahead of New York Fashion Week in September and Lacoste for its own virtual store.
Brands have increasingly been working with companies like Digital Village, Roblox and others as they look to experiment with virtual worlds and the metaverse. Brands like Pacsun, H&M and Gap have launched products set to hit stores on Roblox first through a virtual space, for example.
