Meta
- Official kits and Liverpool-branded fashionwear go on sale for fan avatars
- Digital apparel will also be available in Meta Quest VR platform later this year
Liverpool have partnered with social media giant Meta to create a digital clothing line for the English soccer giants’ fans to buy for their digital avatars in the metaverse.
The digital apparel collection in the Meta ‘Avatars Store’ includes Liverpool’s home and away kits, alongside other club-branded sportswear. The ecommerce store is accessible via Meta-owned Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. A virtual reality (VR) version of the platform will also be rolled out later this year for use with Meta’s Quest headsets.
The agreement – which is active in seven markets, including the US, UK and Spain – sees Liverpool receive a cut of sales revenue.
Liverpool’s agreement with Meta is a first for a European soccer property. However, Liverpool’s rivals Everton and Spanish top-flight soccer club Real Betis also both sell digital avatar apparel via the Fancurve platform.
Liverpool’s past Web 3.0 initiatives have not enjoyed a large degree of success, with the ‘Heroes’ NFT collection failing hit sales targets, but the club insist it is their responsibility to explore technologies that offer new experiences to their global fanbase.
Drew Crisp, senior vice-president for digital at Liverpool, said: “This is another fantastic opportunity for our global fanbase to digitally engage with Liverpool football club and create their own individual club-coloured avatars.
“We have more than 70 million global supporters following our Facebook and Instagram channels, and we’re really looking forward to seeing many of those avatars change and don our iconic kit or lifestyle apparel.”
The deal represents the first time Meta has made sports apparel available to buy in its Avatars Store. Previously, Meta has partnered with the National Football League (NFL) for this year’s Super Bowl, in which it made official digital merchandise from the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals available for users for their avatars.
“We’re thrilled that Liverpool fans can now use our Avatars to express their digital identity through the iconic colors and logo of their favourite club,” added Jerry Newman, Meta’s Northern European director of media partnerships.
“We’re also excited to help Liverpool begin to tap into the new metaverse economy, with digital apparel revenue that will be incremental to the apparel sales the club generates in the physical world.”
