H&M partners with DEPT® and Journee to launch its first virtual showroom

Spearheaded by H&Mbeyond – H&M’s open innovation retail lab based in Berlin – the brand co-created a pioneering virtual environment, in which visitors can experience campaigns and collections in a unique way. Here the brand can build and maintain relationships with media, celebrities, influencers and stylists as an extension of the physical showrooms located all over the world.

The Virtual Showroom’s first campaign is the 5th Innovation Story collection ‘Cherish Waste’, however the virtual space has the potential of hosting events, meetings and launches to a larger audience in the future.

“The H&M virtual showroom is designed to be a space for brand activations such as fashion campaigns. They will be brought up to life in a whole new and exciting way, by integrating innovation, digitalization and sustainability. It makes me very proud how much energy, heart and soul our colleagues have put into this project across national borders and departments. We look forward to exploring its potential in the countries in Region Central Europe and beyond in the future.” Thorsten Mindermann, Regional Manager H&M Central Europe.

Visitors can walk around, talk to other guests, and meet direct contacts who are present in the virtual space. This gives the opportunity to connect at any time without physically traveling to any of the brands offline showrooms. 

DEPT® supported with strategic guidance and conception of the user flow and user experience. This is the first time within the region of Central Europe, that the brand offers a virtual experience as an additional layer to one of its fashion campaigns by displaying the garments in life-size 3D for users to experience in an immersive and innovative way.

H&M‘s Virtual Showroom is built on the Journee, the premium platform that enables brands and creators to build hyper realistic metaverses, directly accessible to the world.

‘’H&M asked us to create a virtual showroom. Something that would ‘raise the bar‘. So that’s what we did – technologically and creatively. It’s time to enter a new world, and we’re just getting started.’’ Jeremy Hofmeister Mac Lynn, Creative Director, Journee.

“We’re at the dawn of a new digital era; brands now have the opportunity to build fully immersive, virtual worlds from the ground up, and extend the customer experience into a whole new reality. We’re thrilled to have partnered with H&M, pioneering technology and marketing to put them at the forefront of digital innovation.” Jan Gutkuhn, Managing Director, Dept.