style in progress 1/2023 – THE FUTURE IS NOW

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Frank Fitzgerald has spent most of his life innovating and securing digital spaces. Now, he is aiming to make the budding virtual spaces of the metaverse more accessible, grown-up, and full of opportunities for businesses, but also places where true connections can blossom. Brand strategist Anne-Liese Prem, an expert on future trends, is also with us in his metameet world. Together we want to find out what the metaverse has to offer the fashion industry in concrete terms and what possible business models might look like.

Interview: Stephan Huber, Anne-Liese Prem. Text: Georgmaria Prock

Let’s get phygital! Anne-Liese Prem and Stephan Huber met Frank Fitzgerald, founder of pax.world and metameet, for an interview at Paxworld.

Stephan Huber: It seems like we are looking into the future right now, a future where interviews, business meetings, trainings, and such will take place in the metaverse. Is this the future?

Frank Fitzgerald: That’s why we started building this a long time ago, yeah it absolutely is. We’ve been sitting in 2D for so long that it’s a natural transition to 3D, especially with the younger generations that are now moving forward. They’re much more comfortable in these environments. Once you move towards a 3D environment, where you can choose who to talk to in a large group, or bump into new people that you didn’t know you were going to have a conversation with, it’s amazing how much value that provides.

Stephan Huber: Jumping back to the present. Could you briefly explain to us what you’re doing? metameet and pax.world, what are they exactly about?

Frank Fitzgerald: What we’re actually building with pax.world and releasing at the end of this year is revolutionary, from the size of the world’s lands to the customization. Users can create their own environments and online systems, where they can put up new images and brand their world in the way they want, but all without having to program anything. You can run this right through the web, your phone, eventually also in VR, and can customize those worlds just like you would with a simple online tool browser for a website. Doing it for a 3D space is really powerful, and we’re going to have something that’s so simple to use that you can either use one of our templates or just upload a 3D model of a world and auto-set it with a couple of scripts. And that’s the revolutionary technology that we’re setting out. It’s not just using someone else’s world or someone else’s platform, it’s using your own platform.

Stephan Huber: Right now, metaverses are mushrooming. One of the most important aspects in the near future will be to get an idea of the direction it’s heading. So, what’s the special USP?

Frank Fitzgerald: We basically have two systems in place. One is pax.world that I already mentioned, which is a web 3 token-based system, for NFTs, creations, and enhancements. And then we have metameet, which is our non-web 3 business platform, metaverse as a service. They’re both intertwined and integrated from an interoperability perspective. Right now, there are a lot of businesses out there that aren’t ready to take that leap into the NFT space, but they do see the value of the metaverse and begin training their employees, their people, and their customers on what is to come in the metaverse in the future. And that’s why we set up metameet, which allows you to utilize very similar technologies, but do it in a non-web 3 fashion. So, it’s all about a transition phase, of being able to customize those areas for exactly what your needs as a business are.

Stephan Huber: Speaking about business. As you know, I am in the fashion industry. Almost everybody seems to talk about the metaverse or seems to be super excited, but some – and they’re some of the most intelligent people that I know in this business – say: ‘Okay. Super exciting, the future, no question, but what’s the business model?’ So, is there an answer to that?

Frank Fitzgerald: So, often people come to us and they just say: ‘I want to be in the metaverse.’ My first question to them is always: ‘What do you want to do in the metaverse and what is your purpose for being in the metaverse?’ There are all sorts of different things, like the web 3 side of doing NFTs and combining the virtual digital ownership piece. But then there’s also consumer engagement and community building, which is huge with brands, because if you have a system that allows people to interact, to talk about your specific brand with each other, or to have your employees interact directly with them in a non-planned way, you actually create huge value for the underlying system. Right now, they say if people are in the metaverse or they actually have a technical play in the metaverse, there’s a much bigger brand awareness, and it makes that brand look technically savvy and forward-looking. A lot of what we’re doing right now as well is even linking web 2 with web 3. In these spaces, you can throw up your image banner, your information about your product, and you can link off directly to a store. So, you can do traditional markets, but you can also do in-game purchasing as well.

Anne-Liese Prem: What I was interested in, which devices are you basing this on? Now we’re on our desktops, on our laptops, using the metaverse. Will it be VR (Virtual Reality) glasses, or where are you taking it to?

Frank Fitzgerald: I actually built this initially on VR. What I found very quickly is people don’t want to be in VR for more than 20 minutes, they get fatigued very quickly. Also, 2 percent of households currently have a VR headset and the average use time of that is about 17 minutes per session. Even this interview would be too long to do in VR with today’s technology. That’s why we moved to a system you had to download, and then we realized half the companies won’t allow you to do that, right? Or people just don’t want to install something on their computer. That’s why we moved to the web, because it’s simple to use. I get people in with just a link. Being able to link it into the underlying phone systems, as well, was huge for us, because that’s how most people actually spend their time on the web at the moment.

Anne-Liese Prem: That makes it very easily accessible.

Stephan Huber: You were describing multiple business models. My readers are mostly fashion retailers, from big department stores to small family businesses. I see a huge openness towards the metaverse among them, and an awareness that this is the future, but they don’t know what’s in it for them. Maybe we can describe a little how they can take their first steps, how they can adapt to this new technology and vision.

Frank Fitzgerald: Many of your readers probably know about the opportunities for the fashion industry inside the metaverse, from being able to upload a model of yourself and then see what you look like in a particular fit, being able to NFT your online fashion bag and hold it in the real world as well as the metaverse, being able to have avatars switch out clothes... those are all really great business models that are flashy right now. The biggest thing that is currently being developed is retail spaces for stores. What do I mean by that? What we are creating and actually currently prototyping is being able to go to a store and actually view it, see the real-world store, what it looks like, and then get directly connected to the people in the actual store who can show you around or answer your questions. So, as you walk into that area, each person in the store has their own app that immediately alerts their device. And the first employee who picks up can now have a video chat and talk to that customer. What does that mean from a retail business perspective? It means that my wife, during the French sale season in June, can go to the Champs-Élysées and actually go shopping at stores there without having to be there in person or speak to someone in French. Now you broaden the ability to connect with communities, and the retail potential that’s outside of the general geographic area of a physical store. And I think that’s one of the biggest things that you can do in the fashion retail industry, being able to have that customer service representative who may just be sitting around the store at the moment, doing nothing, all of a sudden be notified and now be able to show someone around in the metaverse of their actual store.

Stephan Huber: That’s also a huge upgrade to this job. We are always discussing how to interest young people, Gen Z and then Gen Alpha, in working in a store or becoming its manager. And now there are totally new perspectives. So, would you agree that it’s super important to understand that the metaverse is a phygital idea?

Frank Fitzgerald: Exactly. And, many stores are tourist destinations, right? So, as I am walking down a street in the metaverse that replicates a real-world street, I may be doing that because I’m going there next week, or next month, and I want to see what stores there are. Having that sort of walk-through feature, and maybe even talk to someone, to ask questions about the stores or what’s in there, what’s in retail at the moment at that specific store, means that next week, when I’m in Paris or Dubai, I can go pick it up. I think that is a huge new value added to what’s actually happening in retail spaces.

Anne-Liese Prem: That’s amazing. So, brands can come to you and say: ‘Can you set up my store?’ or ‘Can you set up my replica, or even make it more creative?’. Put logos in there, my products in there, and then people talk to each other. There are lots of functionalities that make the shopping experience more immersive, no?

Frank Fitzgerald: When I go to a store online right now and I browse different items, I’m not doing it with a friend, and if I am, I’m doing it via a zoom call on the side. While we’re talking with someone in the metaverse, we can say let’s go to the store together, and now we can look at the different items and browse through them together. And then when they say: ‘Hey, wasn’t this from last season?’, they can actually ask that question to someone working in that store. That is where you’re going to get this huge value add of interacting with that customer and driving that sale to fruition.

Stephan Huber: That really is an amazing perspective, because for me and for my community it’s so important to understand that the metaverse is not a kind of counter idea, but that it includes us. Let’s take an example. Someone is planning their winter holiday at their usual place, and they definitely have their favorite shop there. In the future, it will be possible to visit the shop before, and make conversation, and also say: ‘Hey, can you tell me how the snow is at the moment? Because I’m coming next week.’ It’s taking the private connection that you have when you’re in the store into this new area.

Frank Fitzgerald: That’s a perfect example. I love to snowboard, so if I was going down to Zermatt next month and I was thinking about getting a snowboard or a jacket, I may not want to take that with me on the train. And that way I can go and see a store down in Zermatt, talk to them, and see if they have what I need, as well as the extra things I’m not even thinking about. And if they don’t, they can make sure that it arrives at that store. Then I just show up at the store and it’s there. It’s harder to do that on just a web 2 interface, where I just sit there, look at the site, and don’t have that interaction with the salesperson, and most likely end up doing it here.

Anne-Liese Prem: Making a web 2 e-commerce site more immersive is exactly where the next generations are heading towards, because they’re not going to be happy with a shop where they can just see a two-dimensional product. So, I think these are great applications for the fashion industry, and for the future of the fashion industry as well.

Frank Fitzgerald: I completely agree. I always say this is like when I see a website from 1997 and when I get prompted for credit card information, I’m like: ‘I’m not putting my credit card in there, because I don’t trust it.’ And I really see a scenario in ten years where my kids are going to be 25 years old, 26 years old, and they’re going to go to some website and it’s going to be two-dimensional and look like Amazon does today. They’re going to go: ‘I’m not sticking my credit card in that.’ And that’s just consumer psychology over time. When you see people going: ‘Oh well, is this 2 trillion, 3 trillion-dollar fantasy really coming to fruition?’, then my answer is: ‘It absolutely is.’ It’s just a matter of time. We’re not going to be sitting in two-dimensional views of the world for the next 20 years. It’s just a matter of when is the time, how do we get everyone educated, and, you know, just people learning to actually walk around in the 3D space. My kids have no problem with it, anyone under the age of 25 knows exactly what to do.

Dancing in the street… on my way to the meeting.

Stephan Huber: So in the end, my question whether a company should already address the topic now is already answered in a way, because it’s not starting somewhere in the future. It’s starting right now and everybody, also small businesses, should now take the opportunity to find entry into the metaverse, their metaverse business model.

Frank Fitzgerald: Yeah. I mean, absolutely. It’s all about a learning process, right? A lot of people say we’re in the nineties right now with the dawn of the internet and what’s happening with web 3, where they compare it to social media early on. We’re probably a year or so off from the adoption of what we saw with websites in the 1990s. But I think from a social aspect, from the general community sense or of the adoption of that technology, it’s more a rate similar to what we see in social media, where there was a very quick adoption rate. And so, if you add all of those together, you can probably graph out that line of where it really becomes mainstream.

Stephan Huber: If we now take it back to your company. When you think into the future and into this future of the metaverse you described, where do you see pax. world?

Frank Fitzgerald: Well, when I look at pax.world as it moves forward, my true vision is to create a more mature space for people to interact in, so that we can have a serious conversation and not be a wizard or mage running around the system, but, you know, actually us. I think that’s what pax.world is for me, a space for having more adult conversations inside the metaverse. But even when I’m going to a concert or something inside pax.world, Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example, I’m not getting dressed up as a wizard as I go in there. What I want to do is go in there wearing my nice piece that I just got from Hugo Boss and actually look nice on my system.

Stephan Huber: So, it’s a reality, but you can enhance this reality in any way you feel or like.

Frank Fitzgerald: Yeah, exactly. I can enhance this reality, have crazy sunglasses, spike my hair up, or do something weird like that. And you can set it up that way. But I’d also like to just go in as me, with a real replica of who I am, in a space for adult conversations.

Anne-Liese Prem: For me, the big takeaways from these conversations are that we’re early, but at the same time we’re not. So, if you are a fashion brand and you have nothing to do with the metaverse yet, what are your three tips on how to get closer and learn about it?

Frank Fitzgerald: So, what we’re doing with a lot of companies is holding their hand as they enter the metaverse, as much as possible. It’s all about getting your people inside the metaverse, understanding what’s possible throughout different metaverses that exist today. What are the capabilities that exist? Where are the problems that are there right now? What will be solved and what won’t be in the near future? And you can get a good feel for that just by experiencing some of these places and really seeing what fits with your brand style as well. There are different art technologies, different graphics levels. There is also just an education of what these things cost. The fact of the matter is, when you take something that’s flat and you put it out into three dimensions and create a world, it probably involves three times the cost. And that’s just the reality of the effort, work, and modeling that actually has to take place in order to make stuff really good at an excellent quality level. We’re trying to make that more inexpensive for everyone. But at the same time, I think it’s also about understanding different technologies. In our presentations, you might see photorealistic images, the most beautiful things in the world. And what you don’t realize, it costs a dollar per user per hour to actually run. So, when you’re running for 50,000 people, you run 1,000,000 US Dollars a day in server costs. We do it in a different way, as we’re actually running on client-side rendering. So, if you’re looking for a persistent metaverse that’s always there, always available for everyone to go into, that’s the only cost-economical way to do it. If you want to run a one-hour event for 10,000 people and are happy to go spend 40,000 US Dollars to do it, server-side rendering might be the way to go. Understanding those different cost structures and the measures to make your business model correct and profitable is very key. It’s those education pieces that we need to get out there.

Stephan Huber: Amazing. Also, beyond what I expected. I was really hoping for a perspective for my core readership, and now there is such a clear perspective. As I said in the beginning, there is a super clear awareness everybody has, but to understand: ‘Hey, there’s something in it for me also. I just have to be interested and have to have the right people around me.’ That’s a really important message.

Frank Fitzgerald: Because the metaverse is so new, there are so very few people with experience, who know what the social interactions are, what the technology is, and where it’s going. So, they say: ‘I’m going to go out and hire a metaverse person.’ And it turns out that person has very little knowledge as well. But that’s going to change over time. So, people are getting better educated, moving further and quicker. Everyone wanted that to happen this year for them, not realizing it takes time to hire people, gain expertise, and move these projects forward at a faster level, which is what we’re trying to help companies do.

Stephan Huber: I would advise many companies out there: ‘Hey, take a good look at your people, at your staff right now. There might be someone young, someone talented, who is only waiting for something like this to happen. Are they listening? Is this their field? Go for it. But take me with you, because I need you to help me understand it, too.’

Frank has been a CTO and consultant in the technology industry for over 20 years and has won several innovation and start-up awards. For the past five years, he has worked on the Metaverse platform pax.world, which is used by adults for business, entertainment, and shopping. With a Wall Street background in asset management, Frank understands the needs of businesses. With pax. world, he offers a customised and simple journey into Web 3.0 and the Metaverse.

If you want to see and hear the interview in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPb-eBKzCs