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Musicians sell the virtual shirts off their backs

What?: Fashion may have won over the high street with music’s backing recently, but can it draw users to the virtual market place?

* 50 Cent is to set up his own boutique in social networking virtual world Zwinktopia. Visitors to the virtual boutique will have the opportunity to listen to 50 Cent’s next album, Curtis, prior to release and try on G-unit clothing.

* 3D virtual world Doppelganger Inc will now offer users the ability to dress their avatars in clothing from US rapper Jay Z’s Rocawear range.

* Electronic Arts has partnered with H&M – home to Madonna and Kylie in the real retail world – on a new online promotion. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Runway sees users designing virtual clothes and personalised H&M stores.

So what?: As High Street fashion and music tie-ins start to become tired, the music industry turns its attention to fashion in virtual worlds.

One of the most successful virtual stores to date is owned by Reebok. Their online shop distributed more than 27,000 pairs of
digital shoes in its first 10 weeks. American Apparel’s entry into Second Life however saw very small sales as a result.

With Message Technologies Inc currently developing Virtual Sales Associates for bricks and mortar stores, expect convergence between virtual and real retail to become big on the agenda.

http://zwinky.smileycentral.com

http://thesims2fashionrunway.ea.com