Earlier this year, Jade spent £5 on a Gucci handbag. The 16-year-old did not buy it in the store, but in the Gucci Garden, a virtual space hosted in a video game. Roblox which simultaneously recreated the brand’s real-life Florence pop-up store. Although she doesn’t use it IRL, her avatar does as Jade plays with her friends on the platform. “We love it,” she says. “It has almost become a competition to see which of the avatars is the best dressed.

Jade and her friends are not alone. A global survey of more than 3,000 consumers found that 47 percent are interested in digital clothing, and 87 percent have already purchased some form of digital fashion. Whether you shop Balenciaga’s digital fashion line at Fortniteor shopping at the Selfridges virtual store hosted…