Even avatars deserve stylish accessories.
So says Snap Inc., developer of the Snapchat app and owner of a bustling Bitmoji digital fashion business. To prove it, the company is giving its characters the perfect finishing touch: designer handbags.
Promised at the Snap Partner Summit in September, the bags’ arrived on Tuesday and mark a first for Bitmoji in the category.
Prada and Miu Miu lead the launch with digital replicas of real-world products, Snap told WWD. This includes Gen Z favorites like the former’s Small Galleria Bag in Saffiano Leather and the latter’s Wander Bag.
The items are priced at the equivalent of 2 to 11 Euros. Bitmojis can wear the bags anywhere inside the Snapchat app, from profiles and Stickers to the Snap Map and Lenses.
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According to Geoffrey Perez, global head of luxury at Snap, the digital bags tie into a growing fashion connection between people and their avatars, more than 2.7 billion of which circulate in Snapchat alone.
For Prada and Miu Miu, Perez said: “I think they’re hoping to see brand equity at a young age and also have that engagement between their collections and consumers. It’s having something that’s more interactive, essentially, and the fact that the collections are available through Bitmoji, as well as in store.
Miu Miu x Bitmoji handbag collection, in partnership with Snap
Courtesy
“Eventually, it’s also about creating those bridges of buying it online and hopefully going to the store to try it on and buying the same outfits.”
Seventy-four percent of Snapchat users already see their Bitmojis as their digital fashion twins, dressing them in the same brands they love in the physical world.
The thinking reflects a phenomenon observed in gaming, from indie developers to major platforms like Roblox.
The 2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends Report found that 84 percent of users said their avatar style influences how they dress in the real world. As much as 54 percent said their real-life style is very much inspired by their avatar fashion.
One third-party developer explained to WWD that for young gamers, avatar fashion is “their first introduction to designer brands,” and it’s one that can establish a lifelong affinity.
The fashion potential in this case goes beyond bags.
According to Snap, users can also unlock other styles from its latest wave of Bitmoji partners, including Prada’s cashmere cardigan and re-nylon baseball cap and Miu Miu’s chino mini skirt and cropped knitwear. Altogether, the Miu Miu collection features 14 garments, with another 18 from Prada (or 24, with colorway options).
This latest update may be the first move into bags for Bitmojis, but not their first move into fashion. As Bitmojis have matured from 2D characters to 3D avatars, their digital wardrobes have evolved as well.
Users are able to stack their digital wardrobes with Ralph Lauren, Off-White, Carhartt, Levi’s, Adidas, Vans and more, mainly for free, although looks from Valentino’s Bitmoji Luxury collection last year were sold for Snap Tokens.
The prices for the new bags are nominal, especially compared to the real thing. But it’s a way of owning a piece of a brand that would otherwise be out of reach for many users, especially younger ones.
“[Bags] live in the real life, being an important accessory for humans. Well, those humans have digital selves, and they want to their Bitmoji to look like them,” Perez said.
Bitmojis are just one vehicle in Snap’s vision for fashion. Another is augmented reality. Prada Group, a long-time Snapchat partner, joined forces with the platform for its first-ever Bag Try-On AR Lens featuring the Prada Galleria in 2021.
When it comes to AR, fashion’s Snapchat purview may be rather expansive before long, given the company’s ongoing work on the latest Spectacles AR glasses.
At a demo of the developer version in San Francisco, WWD saw the promise of the technology and its potential for visual arts, education, gaming, apparel and accessories.
The most compelling reason: Snap’s AR development for the glasses is structured on the same graphics and tools in Snap’s Lens Studio.
This means that fashion brands building AR Lenses for the Snapchat app today can quickly translate them to AR glasses. So when a consumer version of Spectacles is ready, it could arrive with broad array of fashion experiences ready to go.
At that point, consumers could have a smorgasbord of options for virtual fashion, whether coordinating real outfits on avatars, through a smartphone screen in AR or in a mirror, as seen through the AR eyewear.
The choices are evolving, and they aren’t limited to Snapchat either.
Balenciaga’s Apple Vision Pro experience got a major update on Tuesday as well, with new spatial video footage of the latest collections, lookbooks of the Summer 2025 collection and other 3D content — including an accessories tab, where users can interact with select products from the collection.
It’s unlikely that Snap could have envisioned the trajectory of virtual fashion or Bitmoji’s role in it eight years ago when it acquired the business. But the digital art of dressing up has undoubtedly grown quite a bit since then — and it’s not done yet.
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