The rise of mobile gaming via fashion styling of virtual avatars has flipped the script for the fashion industry and provided a growing cross-over platform for tech, video gaming, mobile phone culture, and fashion. The latest in this space is Rachel Zoe’s social gaming company called Crowdstar which is launching a mobile fashion game called Covet Fashion this month.
Basically, the phone app allows users to dress their virtual avatar in current designs, which they can then share with others and potentially win virtual currency and real-live prizes. The game itself is centered around getting ready and styling your avatar for specifically themed events such as a Newport regatta, or Hampton’s white party. The aspect that we find missing however, is that teen element such as themes like getting ready for a music festival, or first day back to school, prom night, or a beach party. Perhaps in the future such a fashion game will be created.
However the reason so many brands are now jumping at the chance to engage in the growing market of virtual mobile fashion gaming (and other types of engaging online platforms such as Rent The Runway) is because each design links back to the brand’s site, usually their ecommerce platform which gets participants from gaming to actually buying, or at least increasing the awareness of the brand that’s within the app.
Crowdstar has signed 60 designers so far for the fashion game including Hudson Jeans, Halston Heritage, and Three Dots.
Other fashion games gaining a lot of momentum include Me Girl where you can play as a Teen Vogue intern, Fashion Week Live which is played via Facebook and backed by DKNY and IMG.
Covet Fashion so far has $43 million in funding from Time Warner Investments and Intel Capital. Clearly, there’s a market opportunity with the merging of fashion, mobile, and gaming while creating new platforms for fun experiences, increased brand awareness, and unique forms of shopping.
