In the summer of 2019, League of Legends publisher Riot Games unveiled “True Damage,” a virtual hip-hop group made up of five of the game’s playable champions. These streetwear-inspired “skins” were available for in-game purchase, as was standard for each re-imagining of a champion. But then a highly unexpected partnership was announced — one with Louis Vuitton, where Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquière would re-design two of the champions’ outfits as more expensive, “prestige” editions of the skins. In parallel, a League-inspired collection of real-life Louis Vuitton clothing, shoes, and accessories (or LVxLoL) would be released in December 2019.
The two partners could not be any more different. On one hand was a legendary fashion house with over a century of history, and on the other was a massively popular online game with over 100 million players worldwide. How did such a collaboration perform, and what does this mean for the luxury world?
Gamers are actually fashion-conscious now
Unsurprisingly, Louis Vuitton’s initial announcement was met with skepticism from both sides. Reactions in the gaming space ranged from cautious to outright hostile while the fashion side was mixed. Many journalists were neutral to optimistic, while some were critical of the brand’s choice of partner.
To critics’ credit though, at first glance, the LVxLoL collection does seem counter-intuitive in many ways:
- Gamers are not interested in fashion: Gamers were long thought of as among the last people to influence and be influenced by luxury brands.
- Gamers are students without income: Many League players are college or high school students while Louis Vuitton is priced for wealthy upper classes.
- Gamers have other spending priorities: Even if a League player were to have thousands of dollars in disposable income, they would likely prioritize purchasing new games, skins, or hardware upgrades.
- Gamers are mostly male while fashion skews female: The majority of League’s playerbase is male while LVxLoL has more women’s clothing and accessories.
However, this collection must have done something right if it continues to sell out in many geographies, reportedly stocking out in Europe within an hour of release. Unboxing YouTube videos of LVxLoL items receive thousands of views with animated customer discussions in each video’s comment sections.
If we re-visit the points above, it turns out that they are outdated misconceptions:
- Gamers are not interested in fashion: Gamers are more aware of fashion than ever before thanks to streamers and eSports icons, who now also serve as fashion influencers for this group.
- Gamers are students without income: According to Nielsen, eSports fans are on average 26 years old, tech-savvy, and highly educated, meaning a group with high potential customer lifetime value (CLV).
- Gamers have other spending priorities: Streamers and eSports organizations are seeing their clothing collections sell out in as little as minutes, evidence that gamers have a high willingness to spend on fashion.
- Gamers are mostly male while fashion skews female: One source estimates 10% of MOBA (League’s genre) players to be female, and 10% of 100 million monthly players is still a large market. In China, a key geography for luxury fashion, many women are avid followers of League eSports without playing the game themselves. Secondly, a number of League players reported purchasing LVxLoL items as gifts for female partners or relatives. Finally, many women, including actress Lucy Hale, purchased LVxLoL without necessarily understanding the game but because they appreciated the subtle yet unique designs.
LVxLoL’s success should be a wake-up call to the luxury industry that gamers are an increasingly powerful market segment that now seeks to consume luxury fashion.
The history between gaming and luxury fashion
The collision of these two worlds is not new. High fashion houses have long used collaborations to signal that they are innovative and in-tune with the younger, hipper demographics. When streetwear arose from the commercialization of skateboard culture, many fashion houses — including Louis Vuitton —were quick to release special collaborations with those brands and artists. When luxury caught wind that young people were purchasing streetwear via limited, exclusive online “drops,” the brands were quick to adapt to this model as well.
Today, one way to modernize a luxury brand is the gaming world. Gaming has already seen many successful collaborations and original collections in athleisure, which are fueled in no small part by the conspicuous love of designer streetwear of many eSports heroes. Harper’s Bazaar reports on the parallels of fantasy and creativity between fashion and gaming, seeing it in Burberry and Net-a-Porter’s efforts to produce mobile games.
League of Legends was not Louis Vuitton’s first foray into gaming. Their Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign featured Lightning, the heroine of Final Fantasy XIII, as their model. The Final Fantasy series has also seen virtual collaborations with Prada, Vivienne Westwood, and Roen. More recently, the two trends of virtual luxury and social media drops combined forces in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, where Marc Jacobs and Valentino released virtual clothing for players as downloadable codes on Instagram.
However, although luxury fashion has frequently stepped into the virtual world, games have not often been invited to join them in the real world— until now.
Not just in-game luxury, but IRL luxury
Real-life partnerships between gaming and luxury fashion are still few and far between. In 2015, Moschino released “Super Moschino,” a collection featuring Mario designed with Nintendo. Then in spring 2019, Moschino designed in-game clothes for The Sims 4 while simultaneously releasing The Sims x Moschino as a real-life collection, predating Louis Vuitton on the model of parallel virtual/real-life releases.
In the future though, there is no doubt that there will be more “gaming x luxury fashion” collections as the gaming and eSports industries grow, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the success of LVxLoL, more luxury partnerships have already sprung up in the League of Legends world in just the past few months (not to mention more athleisure and streetwear appearances).
Earlier this summer, Gucci partnered with eSports team Fnatic on a watch after inviting the five members of Fnatic’s League of Legends team to sit front row at their F/W 2020 show, a spot typically reserved for Hollywood celebrities. To celebrate the 2020 World Championship, Nike will be releasing a special Jordan collection, led by an Air Jordan sneaker inspired by the Championship trophy. As the play-in stage of Worlds begins this Friday, a third member of True Damage will receive a “prestige” skin, designed this time by AAPE (a secondary line of A Bathing Ape). Similarly to Louis Vuitton, AAPE will simultaneously release a line of League-inspired wearables.
Gamers have long embraced luxury virtual clothing, but they are also ready for luxury fashion in real-life. Brands should be urgently competing for the loyalty of these young, high lifetime potential customers. More “traditional” market segments do not seem to be alienated by gaming collections, and in fact, they may even eagerly welcome the innovation and unique designs. LVxLoL shows that there is an appetite for gaming-inspired luxury goods that needs to be filled, and it can be done in a way that excites both shareholders and future customers.
