How Roblox Is Coming for Real- world Retail
● Roblox's Winnie Burke talks to WWD about fashion's trajectory in the virtual world and the platform's moves into retail, for both digital and physical goods.
Fashion and retail
are part of the Roblox DNA — and now they're about to power the next phase of the gaming platform's evolution.
Roblox has been giving users ways to style their game characters, or avatars, almost since its launch in 2006. Over the years, it steadily expanded its users' digital style options with new features, projects and partnerships from some of fashion's best-known names.
Although some brands may be rethinking the whole virtual thing, given the decline of metaverse hype, there's no whiff of that at Roblox. For Winnie Burke, global group director of fashion and retail at the gaming company, the opposite is true.
“We're having a very hard time keeping up with the volume,” Burke told WWD, referring to partnerships. “The volume is increasing, and the relationships are getting deeper. They're becoming multiyear relationships.”
Fashion's latest Roblox push, a digital necklace from a creator collaboration with Adidas, sold for 2 million Robux — roughly $20,000.
Adidas has more in the works, but that one will be tough to beat: The necklace was the highest-priced limited virtual item ever sold on Roblox, taking the crown from Lamborghini. The luxury car brand pulled in 1.5 million Robux, some $15,000, for three virtual mask-like hats inspired by the automaker's golden bull logo.
Limited-edition items — or “limiteds” in Roblox-speak — didn't exist before last year, at least not directly from brands. Limiteds could only be published through the developer, before they opened up to the broader world in April 2023.
That kind of growth is just part of the hustle and bustle of a gaming ecosystem teeming with 77.7 million daily active users, as of the first quarter.
That's more than the entire population of England.
Keeping a huge crowd engaged isn't easy for anyone — doing it for 18 years is something else entirely. Roblox's formula relies on a technical backbone and user experience that are constantly iterating, a highly engaged creator community and the company's long-standing relationships with world-class brands.
Over the past year alone, Roblox has been a key destination for Walmart, L'Oréal, Hilton Hotels via Paris Hilton, Versace,
Hugo Boss, LoveShackFancy and Givenchy, among many others, including Adidas.
And yet, for all of the bustle, the platform needs to hustle a bit more.
Roblox says that more than 1.6 million digital products were sold on the platform between January and September 2023, a year-over-year increase of 15 percent.
But its latest first-quarter earnings report signaled that user spending is slowing. Although revenue for the quarter jumped 22 percent, landing at $801 million, its lower bookings guidance for the second quarter stoked worry among investors.
Put another way, the pressure is on for Roblox to find new revenue streams.
The effort has already begun. In April, the Roblox Marketplace ditched its application process, so digital items can be sold by anyone who meets the eligibility criteria. Last month, the company launched video advertising via virtual billboards.
Its next stop: Retail — and not just for avatar fashion and accessories.
Apparently its pilot with Walmart, which has been testing both physical and virtual commerce on the platform, has been enlightening, because the gaming company is now coming for real-world retail.
In a conversation with WWD, Burke discussed the relationship between Roblox and fashion, how it's growing and the opportunity in the game's latest commerce and ad moves.
WWD: Roblox has had fashion partnerships for a long time now. The latest one was Adidas. How did you work with them?
Winnie Burke: Adidas is a really thoughtful and progressive brand in their approach to this space. We worked really, really closely with the Adidas team, helping them to strategize and stay on top of trends on the platform, and giving them a consultative approach in how they're managing their virtual economy, their virtual business on Roblox and the items that they're creating.
WWD: How many fashion brands are you working with at that level? W.B.:
It's a lot, dozens and dozens probably. We have over 300 brand activations across categories who we're working with.
Our vertical alone in fashion and retail is pretty endemic to the platform, because self-expression and digital identity are so important to our community. We're working with brands, from traditional retailers like Walmart up to luxury fashion brands like Burberry and Gucci and everyone in between, including Adidas and Nike and Puma, and fast fashion. The list goes on and on and on.
[We] provide them with a lot of consultative support and approach when they're creating content and different
types of activations — whether it be persistent experiences or virtual items or shops, like Adidas is doing, all the way through our newest offering: advertising.
This is more traditional advertising for brands who just want to reach a really highly dense population of Gen Z consumers through video ads, and other traditional ad products.
WWD: Roblox often gets lumped into the metaverse bucket. But as an isolated game or virtual world, you’re not reliant on other ecosystems, so you’re insulated from that bubble popping, right? W.B.:
I would agree with that. But you know, “gaming” can also feel limiting. What's enjoyed most about our platform, on the content side, is that it's a hybrid between gaming, entertainment, socialization and all of those activities you can do and experiences you can make with your friends.
Sure, it's traditional gaming, role-playing experiences, “beat-the-clock” and other things along those lines. But it is also attending a concert, meeting an artist, connecting with people who are likeminded on private servers, participating in a fashion show or dressing up your avatar.
Dressed to Impress is one of our top experiences on the platform currently.
WWD: Roblox is pretty much a selfcontained environment. But if I spent $20,000 on a virtual outfit, I might want to wear that in other places. Is interoperability with other games or platforms of interest to you? W.B.:
We're a company that's built for the community, and when or if the opportunity for them to take [items] offplatform is resonant with the community … it's currently not something that we have plans for, but it is a space that we're always watching.
I think the difference with Roblox is that the utility for those items exists on the platform. If they want to be seen wearing that or [showing it] as a status symbol, they can do that on Roblox with a massive audience and with their peers. That's where the self-expression component really gets to be displayed.
We have nearly 78 million users … and there are millions of experiences. So while the platform is confined, the experiences are decentralized, so you can have that utility throughout all those branches.
WWD: Tell me about fashion’s trajectory on Roblox. What does that look like, from where you sit?
W.B.: Luxury fashion was an early mover in this space. At that time, when we first saw Gucci coming in three years ago and creating that awesome Dionysus bag that sold for more on Roblox than it does in the real world, that was a moment.
[In 2021, Gucci's digital Dionysus bag with Bee set off a frenzy of secondary sales, leading one buyer to pay roughly $4,115, beating the physical bag's $3,400 price by over $700.]
It created a moment that opened the door for other luxury fashion brands to experiment. Some still took a wait-and-see approach. This happens in the industry. It happened with social, back in the day. But it just opened up the floodgates, and very similar to social platforms' trajectory 10-plus years ago, those who were ready came quickly thereafter — and they still felt like they were late.
Even brands who we're meeting with now and who are activating now for the first time feel like they're late. But nobody is late. This is definitely a space that is evolving. They're meeting consumers where they are.
WWD: And with advertising …
W.B.: With advertising in a more traditional way, we have a way for brands to activate without a ton of, not just [financial] investment, but time investment on their side. They can use it as a more traditional channel.
WWD: Let’s talk e-commerce and realworld products at Roblox. In terms of
your journey here, how have you come to it, as a platform? W.B.:
In the last 18 months or so, we've really been listening to not only our community's needs, but also our marketers' needs, and the brands who are on the platform — in terms of helping them tell their stories and allow their customer to complete the lifecycle, complete the purchase.
We have such a massive audience who's spending so much time on our platform that we want to enable brands, and also our users, to participate in e-commerce on Roblox, if they so choose, without having to leave the platform. And we're seeing all platforms moving in this direction, like Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.
Everyone's been doing this, experimenting and moving into a more established business model. We have such a captive audience. It sort of makes sense in such a robust brand ecosystem.
WWD: Like your tests with Walmart? W.B.:
We did the pilot with them. Last month, it was three highly resonant and trending products within the Walmart ecosystem that they were able to offer for e-commerce. [In] the translation of those items on Roblox, the virtual item was slightly different. And I think that's OK. You're sort of inspired by it.
Like Adidas doesn't produce that necklace in the physical world. But maybe they should, right? Is this a platform for them to test and learn and see what's resonating? Like using Roblox as an R&D?
I'm not suggesting that they are, but this is how brands are thinking about Roblox.
We saw that with
Fenty last year, where users created different versions of a lip balm, and that will be produced into a physical product, chosen by Rihanna based on the Roblox community's participation. Forever 21 did this as well with the black beanie. So there are a lot of examples of [phygital] coming to fruition.
I think we'll definitely see more of it.
WWD: Adidas’ virtual necklace came with physical sneakers, and the Lamborghini Golden Bull hat unlocked a trip to Lamborghini’s HQ in Italy. So is Roblox venturing into “phygital” or physical-digital goods and experiences? W.B.:
We are experimenting with a lot of different formats of this, and yes, the goal is that our technology will ultimately enable anyone to be a seller on the platform. It can be brands who wish to sell digital goods within [Roblox] experiences.
We want to make it easy for brands, and also easy for creators to host physical product within their experiences with a digital companion. So it really is meant for everyone to participate in, and we'll be experimenting with a few different formats of that this year, while we establish a more formal solution.
Alejandra Alonso Rojas' collections tend to start with inspirations from beachy destinations, but this season, the Spanish designer was feeling homesick for the city she was born in: Madrid.
“I was having a lot of memories from there. For some reason I had the sky in my head, so the whole collection actually started about the blue sky,” she said. “They always say that there's no blue sky like Madrid.”
The hue also reminded her of Picasso's blue era; tiles of the city's streets and her favorite paintings — "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch and "Las Meninas" by Diego Velazquez, which she saw at the Museo del Prado as a child.
She said the inspirations came together organically to produce the pretty bright and light blue hues running through her resort collection, as seen on a striking cowl back silk gown. Here, color was the main story, further amplified by bright fuschia, red and golden yellows inspired by the traditional Terreiro bullfighting outfits. However, her monochromatic black looks were equally alluring with their subtle, tonal jacquard watercolor print of the Botero sculpture that welcomes visitors at the Madrid airport with hidden “Madrid” and “Alejandra Alonso Rojas” scripts.
Texture and elegant silhouettes also came into play. Cloudy skies inspired new hand-dyed Japanese Shibori looks — most directly, an airy new caftan, and less obviously, punchy pink bias dresses. And memories of her father donning tailored suits inspired the designer to not only up the ante on sleek tailoring (including a playful new red skirt suit), but also create her own herringbone motif using another Shibori technique crafted by folding fabric around a pipe, wrapping it with cord and dumping the pipe into the colorful dye.
It's just one of the experimental artisanal techniques that has come to signify Alonso Rojas' eight-year-old brand, which has been growing and maturing with the addition of a new bridal category, and the opening of a New York showroom.
Thoughtful, hand-done processes speak to her overarching ethos of "reinforcing the concept of slow fashion and a closet that has so many possibilities,” she said.
In that vein, the designer adapted her well-known slinky, evening silhouettes into sophisticated mix-and-match sets for day and evening. There were tied cashmere cardigans that could be worn front- or backfacing with full-length bias skirts and fluid silk or sheer organza blouses with skirts or trousers. A standout new red ladder stitch detailed bias skirt could be paired worn with a cutout bustier top for evening or ombre cashmere sweater for day).
The feminine collection exuded elegance and ease with just enough boldness that customers are seeking as fashion moves out of its quiet luxury era.
Also notable, crochet — a mainstay of Alonso Rojas collections — was noticeably pared down this season. The reasoning was her desire to go heavier into core and woven styles for resort, with the plan to go heavier on crochet for spring.
“Sometimes for resort and winter collections, people don't understand crochet as much as when it's a summer collection,” she said, also noting the importance of balancing the collections when they inevitably hang on the retail floor together. Alonso Rojas said this positioning comes from her close relationship with customers.
“I'm actually the one receiving the emails from customer service. It's a lot of attention — our return rate is really low because I ask them for the measurements; we advise them, and we also offer free tailoring for the customers when they shop from us," she said.
She relishes being hands on, both online and in person at her New York showroom that opened six months ago as a place for customers to shop by appointment for her thoughtful ready-to-wear and new bridal collection.
"That's what people come to us for, so we try to deliver that as if it was a boutique,” she said. — Emily Mercer
“The sky's the limit, that's the New York experience,” Hermès artistic director Nadège Vanhée told WWD ahead of part two of her fall 2024 collection which hit the runway Thursday night.
The mood was set as soon as guests walked into the Pier 36 venue, where dozens of hanging yellow traffic lights swayed above the runway. The house brought out a strong mix of global customers, including Usher, Tierra Whack, Morgan Spector, Rebecca Hall and more to experience the New York minute, which extended well into the night.
Immediately following the show, the curtains dropped to reveal an Hermès “Manhattan Rocabar” afterparty on an outdoor terrace along the water, with DJ booth (featuring musical performances by Rahill, Caroline Polachek and Honey Dijon), passed cocktails, and catering by the iconic Carbone eatery.
During a preview Wednesday, Vanhée described the show as a cousin to her February Paris Fashion Week runway outing. While ultimately as luxurious as its predecessor, there was a distinct shift in this second chapter to something more youthful with an urban edge and sex appeal.
“The zigzag between Paris and New York” kicked off with brightly colored and patterned takes on traditional horse riding and motorbike riding classics, mixed with eclectic New York style as observed by
Vanhée, a former New Yorker.
Leather-trimmed, taxicab yellow outerwear; stoplight red and bright blue double-rosette collar turtlenecks; wool knit equestrian sport jackets; quilted moto layers and loads of sleek leather pants set the vibe to the tune of A Tribe Called Quest's “Luck of Lucien.”
She continued to amp up the energy with silk scarf tops and hybrid cashmere knits boasting the brand's heritage “Rocabar” blanket stripe motif. Pushing knitwear further were striped knit dresses and sets with luxe leather inserts, as worn by Paloma Elesser and Irina Shayk. As the palette transitioned to graphic black and white, lambskin overalls stood out as one must-have item, although there were plenty.
The looks were accessorized to the nines with slick, city-stomping footwear, including luxe leather cowboy boots from the Paris show, now also in white. She also layered-up high and fashion jewelry including studded Colliers de Chiens cuffs and stacked bangles; edgy leather mariner caps (worn by each model), and scarf, chain and leather belts. Handbags came big and small, perfect for city schlepping or nights on the town, with envelope-style options and mini bags worn around the waist among the standouts.
Vanhée wanted to create a patchwork of New York personalities, psychologies and styles inspired by the street, and the mix of heritage Parisian luxe and Big Apple grit was well worth the trip. — Emily Mercer
“Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” the six-part TV series now streaming on Hulu, is sure to fan interest in the fashions of the early '70s, which have proven a winning starting point for Chloé's new creative director Chemena Kamali.
The mood board for her resort 2025 collection for the house captivated with photos of Lagerfeld's Saint-Sulpice apartment, whose shell-shaped sofa and other Art Deco furnishings served as the set for many a fashion shoot, including one for Italian Vogue by David Bailey that focused on a 1975 Chloé collection.
Kamali cross-pollinated the colors and textures of that sumptuous apartment with Andy Warhol's Factory universe, which collided with Lagerfeld's clan in his underground movie “L'Amour.” She's been a fanatic for the bohemian glamour of the period, exemplified by models Pat Cleveland, Jane Forth and Donna Jordan, also pinning photos from Billy Mane's 1997 book "All Tomorrow's Parties," a favorite of hers since forever.
She applied just the right dose of all that eccentricity, decadence and eclecticism into covetable Chloé archetypes — frothy blouses, billowing Empire dresses, wispy camisole tops and groovy jeans — and tossed in a few outliers, including leather knee shorts, knit Bermudas, gold lamé tunics and used-car salesman checkered blazers.
"I wanted it to look really like a girl's closet, not too merchandised, to give a personal feeling," she said as racks of opulent black-and-gold fil coupé fabrics yielded to punchier colors, and quirkier styles like fringed leather jackets and extreme bell-bottoms. Buttery-soft Henleys, a logo T-shirt and squishy sneakers resembling boxing boots grounded ensembles in contemporary times.
Despite all the razor-sharp references plucked from Chloé's vast visual archive, you can tell Kamali also designs instinctively, and with practicality in mind. The former is evident in her sudden penchant for accumulations of busy costume jewelry, which brought Loulou de la Falaise to mind, and the latter in her nifty leather bucket bag, which seals up when a gold ring is tugged down over the handles, and those distinctive sneakers in makeup colors and the suggestion of broderie anglaise in the mesh sections.
There's humor, too, in the little pineapple and banana charms sprinkled on ballerina flats, bracelets and dangling from day bags. "There's always a banana," Kamali said with a laugh. "There is something spirited about this collection that is relatable rather than escapist." — Miles Socha
“You are loved by so many that your name will continue on, a beacon of inspiration for others, and especially for me” were the words closing the heartfelt tribute Fausto Puglisi shared when the news of Roberto Cavalli's death broke earlier this year.
During a video call to discuss his latest collection for the brand, Puglisi revealed that even if he and his team were aware of the late designer's condition, the news still stung. Yet it contributed to pivoting Puglisi's approach toward the label's resort 2025 collection.
If so far the Sicilian designer has filtered Cavalli's heritage through his individual point of view and updated the sexy codes of the house to make them relevant for today's take on sensuality, with this collection Puglisi wanted to lean more on the founder's signatures and celebrate his key fashion moments, especially his gilded age in the early 2000s.
No surprise then to see wild animal patterns dominating the first part of the collection and rendered in different ways, from prints on silk shirts to 3D jacquards on charming tuxedos. Zebraprint trenchcoats particularly stood out, either with statement volumes that instantly channeled diva vibes or in a leather version doubled with nylon for a more contemporary and daywear take on the theme.
These motifs also informed the more seductive pieces, from bias-cut slipdresses with lace intarsia and devoré frocks to minidresses covered in thermo-stitched crystals. Cavalli's body-shirt design sensually revealing hips also made a comeback, either covered in leopardlike spots or splashed with a rose print that built the second big chapter of the collection, introducing a jolt of color.
Worked in red and pink, the floral reference shone on vibrant pieces, from fluid slipdresses with a jour detailing to relaxed T-shirt frocks, enriched by pleated or crinkled effects that contributed to early 2000s vibes and the overall sense of relaxed glamour.
“Very Puglisi” interventions made the collection credible for today, including poplin overalls, oversize shirts and cargo pants in zebra patterns and denim baggy options replicating the animal motif via sparkling applications. A western flavor — which Puglisi already explored in precollections two years ago, before Beyoncé took the theme to a whole new level — added to the accessories and contributed to the confident yet nonchalant attitude the designer conveyed with the lineup.
“I have the utmost respect for Roberto and his history. To be honest, every moment for me is a celebration of Cavalli,” concluded Puglisi. — Sandra Salibian
With his full focus on womenswear as the men's collection is now being overseen by an in-house design team, Filippo Grazioli is even more dedicated to tweaking the familiar look of Missoni's signature patterns.
He showed glimpses of this commitment in the opening part of the concise resort 2025 collection, which hinged on simple and slender silhouettes and reiterated that sense of ease and spontaneity on which Grazioli is basing his vision for the fashion house.
With safari destinations serving as inspiration, the designer brought in a more subdued palette of earthy and natural shades to present Missoni's signatures in a less literal way, best exemplified by a belted overall covered in a chevron pattern that was reworked to mimic an animalier motif. The printed cotton look made for one of the few pieces in the lineup that weren't actually knitted, which is also news when it comes to Missoni.
Elsewhere, Grazioli went back onto the knit track while keeping things relaxed and unfussy by working elongated crochet pants and buttoned pencil skirts in stripes in sober colors, as well as addressing more nighttime occasions with easy-breezy black-and-white knitted dresses enriched with Lurex threads.
The initial laid-back palette — which Grazioli said he embraced to make Missoni's chromatic world accessible to a wider audience, easier to mix-andmatch and more everyday — gave way to vibrant pops of color in the second half of the collection. Here, the designer spun stripes into youthful knitted mini sets and asymmetric tops, as well as introduced fluid tailoring in upbeat shades of pistachio, coral red and baby blue, showing there's no escaping colors for too long in a house like Missoni. — Sandra Salibian
Nicky Zimmermann looked back to her time in design school in Sydney in the ‘80s and the films that made an impact on her and her classmates, such as “Pretty in Pink,” “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo's Fire,” for inspiration for her resort collection.
“It was very much about that era and what those films meant to me,” Zimmermann said. “It was also about the music and when [the actors] weren't in the films. These guys also had such incredible, iconic style and to me it's timeless. The ‘80s can be sort of a polarizing fashion era, but to me, it was more about the mood of these films and these actresses and their personalities — like they had really strong personalities — they all had individual style, and it was a very strong influence on myself.”
The designer's prints stood out, balancing the nostalgic with the present day. There was the “dear diary” print, which gave a nod to the past with an array of motifs like cassettes, lockets, lipsticks and dove birds. The print was seen on sheer fabrics and superimposed on lace details, giving a whimsical and light feel that balanced out the more structured styles.
“The lace print is really just the idea of taking units and an iconic texture of the
'80s and trying to reinterpret it through art in a very modern way,” Zimmermann said. “Also the florals, we could have approached it and just sort of gone down the line of doing a take on a Laura Ashley type of printing — which was the classic kind of Molly Ringwald print — but what we did is we worked with our artists and I wanted to do very a soft, unusual [print] — something that we would call dirty pastels.”
Zimmermann juxtaposed the airier feminine styles with heavier materials like denim and leather and constructed silhouettes, including biker and jean jackets, that she said gave a nod to the male protagonists in the films.
Her spin on ‘80s fashion trends combined with her skill in craft and design details made for a strong resort 2025 collection with myriad pieces fit for her go-to customer. — Layla Ilchi