While Meta continues to work on advanced VR interactions and has its sights set on hosting the next phase of digital connectivity, Snapchat charts its own path into the future of the Metaverse.

In addition to developing its own AR tools, Snap has been building out more advanced avatar options since 2007 through its popular Bitmoji platform, which allows users to create digital images of themselves.

The latest advancement on this front is Bitmoji Fashion, where various big-name brands have signed on to create digital replicas of their products, allowing users to dress their Bitmoji characters.

The latest brands to sign up for this are Carhartt is partnering with Snap on a new range of Bitmoji items.

According to Carhartt:

“Inspired by Carhartt’s most popular men’s and women’s styles, our new digital products empower Snapchat and Bitmoji users everywhere to truly express themselves in the digital world through a range of products and colors. Digital outfits include the brand’s iconic Detroit Jacket, K87 Short Sleeve Pocket Tee, Force Sweatshirt, BO1 Double Front Pants and Duck Bib Overalls.”

Carhartt joins the list of top brands building their own Bitmoji fashion collections, Adidas, converse, Nike, Jordan, crocs, Levi’s, american eagleoff white, van, Nickelodeon When ralph lauren We now host the official Bitmoji item set, expanding the branding possibilities for our products while giving Bitmoji users more customizable options for in-app depictions.

This is likely to be an important trend in the upcoming metaverse shift. Part of the recent NFT craze has been linked to the notion of “digital identity”, with many seeing cartoonish profile pictures as a new form of personalization and expression, which will eventually be used in the metaverse environment. is converted into an equivalent avatar or depiction for .

That looks unlikely, at least from an NFT perspective, as NFT sales continue to plummet. But as we’ve already seen in the early examples of what metaverse interactions might look like, the concept of people wanting to create their own digital characters to express their individuality in this new space is arguably It will become a major trend.

The current proxy for the wider metaverse vision is a game world that: Both Roblox and Fortnite generate significant income from selling in-game skins.Minecraft is actually Overall creator economy It’s all about designing custom characters and features, where users try to edit and personalize their in-game portrayal to stand out more from the crowd, using factors based on achievements, cost, rarity, etc.

Ultimately, if all goes according to plan, we will see similar trends in the metaverse. Branding opportunities with sponsored collections like these Bitmoji products.

And that will ultimately lead to the next stage of Snapchat’s vision: direct sales of digital clothing.

2020, Snap applied for a patent It outlines how the Bitmoji fashion process ultimately ended up with Snap partnering with various fashion retailers to offer Bitmoji versions of their items. This provides many new clothing options for avatars within the app, while also providing new opportunities for brands to showcase their latest products in an engaging and interactive way.

The dual benefits of selling products online and in the real world are compelling, and there is no doubt that they will become more and more popular as we approach the future of the Metaverse.

But again, there is the question of whether Bitmoji characters can make the leap into the metaverse, and whether they can use the same digital avatar across different apps and platforms.

This is the ideal vision of the future of the Metaverse. A universal schema will allow anyone to create avatars that can be used in Meta, Snapchat, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc. In other words, a character created in one app becomes a digital representation. in all the world.

It’s an ambitious undertaking and requires a lot of consent to make it work, but eventually Bitmoji caricatures could actually become a common avatar across all apps.

At least, that’s what Snap is looking to build, and it could drive all new promotions and product showcase opportunities.