One of the topics of conversation in the consumer technology world over this past week has been Apple’s unveiling of its entry into the mixed-reality headset market, the Vision Pro. It’s a category of devices that hasn’t quite delivered on the hype to date, with the headsets of such brands as Meta and Snap having failed to catapult augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) into the mainstream.
Still, the Cupertino firm has a track record of getting itself involved in product categories later than others, only to then become the dominant force in that category.
This brings us neatly onto the subject of what the Vision Pro could do for the world of fashion. So, if you are currently devising or fine-tuning your brand’sluxury marketing strategy, in what ways could this device be used to deliver on your goals and support your business’s growth?
The fashion-sector experts have weighed in on the Vision Pro’s potential relevance
Various well-placed observers have come up with their verdicts on how the Apple Vision Pro could affect the fashion sphere.
The Glossy website referenced several of them in a recent article, including Camilla McFarland, VP of operations at the Mojito Web3 platform, who noted that Apple avoided using the terms VR, AR, or the metaverse when announcing the headset, in favour of “spatial computing”.
McFarland said that this tactic enabled Apple to “reset the conversation on their own terms”, adding: “Terms aside, it’s still about enabling a more digitally immersive future for consumers. For brands, it will be even more important now to have a digitally immersive experience and a digital product strategy.”
Certainly, Apple’s presentation videos for the device in its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote gave the impression of a headset that will help to make impressively immersive experiences possible.
In the words of Matthew Drinkwater, who helms the Fashion Innovation Agency: “With volumetric video through the Vision headset, you can imagine a very different catwalk experience in your own home.”
And the agency would have good reason to know; not long ago, it completed an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated catwalk project entailing the use of volumetric capture, which is a technique in which multiple cameras and sensors are used.
Headsets would seem to work well with such technology; as Drinkwater added, “from a designer or brand perspective, you can have any environment grow more immersively around you.”
The Vision Pro appears to hold a lot of potential for fashion ecommerce applications, too. Simon Windsor, founder of Dimension Studios, stated that “when you want to browse through a clothing catalogue online and identify specific items of interest to you, you’ll be able to bring them up, rotate them and interact with them through photorealistic 3D renderings, ultimately purchasing them through the headset.”
It’s also interesting to note that Apple has integrated the real-time Unity 3D development platform into the Vision Pro, given that such Web3 brands as The Fabricant and the Institute of Digital Fashion have already experimented with it.
However, the experts referenced by Glossy also mentioned the high price point of the device, and Apple drawing attention to the scope for people to depend solely on the headset.
In light of this, some of them anticipated that the Vision Pro’s principal rival would actually be the MacBook, with the former especially attractive due to how the headset could allow for the more seamless management of immersive projects.
Much remains to be seen about where the Vision Pro could make its greatest impact
Of course, at this point in time, so much that is suggested about how the Apple Vision Pro could reshape and influence the fashion sector is mere speculation, especially as the device itself is not set for release until next year.
Nonetheless, the potential for Vision Pro to play into your own brand’s luxury marketing strategy – and plan for growth – could yet turn out to be greater than you even imagine.
Would you like to have a conversation with the Skywire London team about how we could provide our own support to your high-end brand’s objectives for 2023 and beyond? If so, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our specialists today by phone or email.