Last week, leading fashion retailer Forever 21 announced its partnership with Barbie owner, Mattel, to bring one of the toy manufacturer’s most popular brands into Roblox with a suite of new virtual fashion apparel and accessories.

From a range of on-trend vintage style apparel items, swim, sleepwear, beauty, and home decor – all inspired by the Barbie DreamHouse – the new limited-edition collection will also be available in-store, online, and in “Forever 21 Shop City” on Roblox. 

Forever 21 tapped Web3 game developer and retailer, Virtual Brand Group (VBG) in creating its Roblox experience to create the Forever 21 x Barbie collection using Roblox’s latest Layered Clothing technology for hyper-realistic 3D clothing that fits any avatar body type.

The designs, according to the announcement, feature real-world fabrics and details such as intricate stitching on the collection’s Malibu Denim Jacket, embossed art, beadwork, and textured fabrics on jump-suits, dresses, hoodies, iconic t-shirts, trucker hates, and jelly bags. 

“Barbie, a SoCal native plays in the same inclusive, empowering and fashionable space that our customers love, appreciate and have come to expect from our business,” said Winnie Park, CEO at Forever 21. “We are thrilled to offer shoppers unexpected line extensions that include Barbie in store and online and virtual fashions in the metaverse. This was the perfect collection to launch first, under our Forever LA umbrella.”

As a leading global toy manufacturer, Mattel also owns the intellectual property for Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Monster High, and MEGA – among an entire host of other popular IP that it owns or licenses in partnership with global entertainment brands. 

Last year, Forever 21 began using Roblox as a “testing ground” to better understand its customers and product demand – taking its application beyond a mere gaming utilization. According to Jacob Hawkins, chief marketing and digital and omnichannel officer at Forever21, its virtual Forever 21 Shop City world has already hosted at least 260,000 visits. 

In other news, read about Microsoft’s exciting new AI updates from its Build 2023 conference.