Top Second Life Fashion Brand Opens Up a Shop in Zepeto; Truth Hawks Compares & Contrasts the Platforms

Happy Halloween! 🎃 SL fam have you ever tried @zepeto_official ? I was recently invited as an official creator and my little concept brand Super Fun reached Hot Creator status 🙌 Here’s our @wednesdayaddams inspired outfit 🐈‍⬛🖤 pic.twitter.com/Q0dsLyrfuI

— Truth Hawks (@TruthHairSL) October 31, 2022

Truth Hawks, one of Second Life’s most well-known and popular fashion brands, recently opened a shop in Zepeto, a quickly growing metaverse platform from South Korea. Truth was actually recruited by Zepeto the company to do so, Truth told me, but through his non-SL design services studio.

“I much prefer the standardized avatar to create from [in Zepeto],” says Truth, when asked to compare the two platforms.  “I think that’s become a bit of a barrier to entry for SL creation-wise.” 

That barrier is a whole other post in itself! But for this post I’ll just highlight Truth’s thoughts on Zepeto as a secondary market for other SL brands:

“If you’re already creating 3D content in SL then the transition to Zepeto should be fairly easy. Most Zepetors only upload 1 or 2 variations of a creation, and as you only have to rig one shape, it could be a fun way to expand your brand with minimal time investment.

“Zepeto claims to have 15-20 million monthly users so I can see the potential, but I’ve just started out, so it’s something you have to build up with inventory. SL is definitely more lucrative and I think always will be.

“I’ve read some [Zepeto] creators are making 6 figures and with it’s large user base it seems possible. I’m not sure what the actual % split is, the currency is ZEMs and you can cash out a minimum of $103USD per 5000 ZEMs.”

More from Truth on getting started with Zepeto:

“Anyone can download the app and create an account. If you want to create items you can download Zepeto Studio which will give you a Unity scene. They offer downloads of the avatar and weights along with guides to help you create your items. There’s plenty of tutorials on YouTube to get started. You can then submit your items for approval and once approved they will be live on your account and in the Zepeto marketplace. There are geometry and texture limits so it’s no where near as visual as content in SL.”

Speaking of which, Second Life still has other advantages compared to Zepeto’s much larger user base:

“I haven’t been out in the worlds very much so from my experience just on the app’s message function, community isn’t its strong point. You also can’t have a home space like you do in SL and in some other platforms. Community in SL is one of it’s greatest strengths. Aside from the social aspect, even as a creator I’ve come to know so many of my customers on a personal level, SLer’s are generally really great people!”

But then again, the Second Life economy itself has some high barriers to entry, almost to the point where it’s fair to call the it an oligopoly in top sectors.  More on that next week.