In a genius move by H&M, the massive fast fashion retailer that always appears among the top stores in our European Youth Culture Study, they have collaborated with Entertainment Arts (EA) to produce The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff Pack game and The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Runway Showcase. Basically, if you have The Sims 2, you can download the Fashion Pack from H&M and dress your characters in the latest H&M summer collection. You can also create your own H&M store, including arranging fitting rooms, move around a cash register, organize clothing racks, and dress mannequins. The Sims is one game that tends to appeal to both males and females across the board and has been one of the break-out games that’s captured the marketplace, particularly increasing the gaming time played among young girls in the last few years. This collaboration obviously brings awareness to H&M’s summer collection, but also is a game in that you can create a virtual store and entire shopping world that has the potential to move from virtual to real. For some, this will be more fun than, say, creating your own designs in SecondLife because you’re also playing The Sims as well.
In addition, the release of H&M and EA’s Fashion Runway Showcase allows gamers to create outfits (again, very SecondLife) based on 6 specific design themes to create an online virtual runway. Currently, the themes outlined by H&M and ready for download include Party Time, which can be downloaded from June 16-22, Skate Park starting from June 8, and Streetwear, downloadable June 30-July 6. Each person’s designs will be judged by other online players and the 12 best entries each week are featured in the Fashion Runway Showcase. One winner will actually move on to be produced and sold in H&M stores.
There are two ways of thinking about this last game-play: H&M will be getting a constant feed from would-be designers for new ideas for their next collections and therefore using the public to keep them trendy and sell more clothing; or this provides an opportunity that moves from virtual to reality for someone to actually create a collection that may not otherwise have had an opportunity and actually will see it come to life. It’s not known if the wining designer gets a cut of sales from their collection if chosen to be produced by H&M.
Overall, the concept of The Sims 2 and H&M collaborations indicate how gaming and fashion can work together and crossover from virtual to real and back again while generating interaction from more consumers. It’s a unique model that we anticipate more retailers and brands will probably move into if there’s a game like The Sims that captures the hearts of would-be retailers and fashion designers.
