American Apparel Finds the Right Fit in Second Life

Schionning echoes Weber's sentiments about the shift to a 3-D model. "There are flat pages of text and pictures on the Internet. People have to take a leap of faith with whether our clothing will look good on them," he says. "Second Life allows a much more convincing representation of yourself that you can map products onto."

American Apparel seemed destined to migrate to Linden Lab's online world, as the clothier's carnal image is a perfect fit for the sometimes risque nature of SL. However, there are countless other hurdles that many retailers may encounter while attempting to penetrate the virtual market.

"You have to understand what you can and cannot do," Weber says. "There is no standard formula that will work for everyone. You first need to identify the benefits that SL will bring you."

Schionning admits that American Apparel considers SL a laboratory for the moment as opposed to a profit-making venture. "When we look at this as part of digital marketing, Second Life doesn't have an objective return on investment. We have no way to understand what the possibilities or limits are yet," he says.

"The fact that we built a virtual store feels predictable now," Schionning concedes. "In a virtual world where people can fly, there's no need to stick to the rules."