AVATAR FASHION AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE METAVERSE

The increasing relevance and affirmation of digital interaction environments, including virtual communication, metaverse and gaming, are stimulating the attention of consumers and companies. In particular, generation Z seems very attracted to these contexts and also seems to pay attention to the appearance and clothing of their avatar. At the moment, research on the topic of identity and cultural identity in one's avatar is quite limited, especially in marketing field, but the growing trends in the manifestation of cultural identity that are spreading in the world of fashion by luxury and non-luxury houses only, they suggest that there may be needs and potential. This preliminary study involved N=9 Generation Z consumers with semi-structured interviews, to understand if and to what extent a clear image of themselves and their identity, in particular the cultural matrix, is important for these young users. Hence this article paves the way for future studies to investigate the ways and means of self representation and whether young consumers would be interested in using or buying cultural or even folk clothing in the metaverse. The results return managerial implications not only to the main metaverse platforms but also to the fashion houses.