House of Blueberry's Katherine Manuel on the 'hard' economics of digital fashion

Long before the pandemic accelerated all things digital, House of Blueberry was selling digital fashion.  Founder and CEO Mishi Mcduff started House of Blueberry as an outfitter of Second Life avatars in 2012. In the 11 years since, the company has sold more than 20 million units of digital clothing across 10,000 SKUs. It’s also collaborated with fashion brands including Jonathan Simkhai and hosted the first metaverse fashion show. It currently has a customer base of nearly 500,000 and growing.  House of Blueberry’s chief operating officer, Katherine Manuel, joined the company just over a year ago after spending more than a decade at the data firm Thomson Reuters. In her last four years with Thomson Reuters, she was its vp of innovation. Manuel said she realized the potential for gaming platforms while watching her daughters use Roblox to socialize at the height of the pandemic. And, as these platforms increasingly connect technology and art, their impact over the next 10 years is set to be “mind-blowing,” she said.  House of Blueberry, therefore, is well positioned. “We’re a digital-first company,” Manuel said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “We're really forward-thinking about fashion, but [fashion] entirely for avatars.”  Manuel also discussed current investor interest in digital fashion, and the ways digital and physical fashion can work to each other’s advantage.