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With the rise of virtual worlds, the burgeoning fashion market for avatars brought real-world brands and designs into the virtual realm. Now, the trend appears to be going the other way as companies begin to let consumers get their avatar fashions made into real-world clothes. Avatar clothes have become big business in the virtual world, and a new partnership between Swedish avatar dress-up site Stardoll and German t-shirt commerce site Spreadshirt could allow users to take virtual clothes they create or see online and get them made into the real thing for use in the real world. To start, users will be able to take logos or graphics from popular labels in the Stardoll world and get them emblazoned on real-life t-shirts, hats and other items. Eventually, though, the possibilities could expand dramatically, Matt Palmer, Stardoll’s executive vice president and general manager, told Virtual Worlds News in April. “We know through our research that kids would love to get their hands on them,” he explained. “The opportunity allows us to experiment with what we can take from our world that’s a simple idea that kids can customize, get made and have sent to them. That sort of translation of virtual world to physical world—I view this as the first step in looking at what that could look like for us.” Virtual world Gaia has also begun selling real-world fashion on its site, and one can’t help but wonder how long it will be before Second Life and other popular virtual worlds starts experimenting with something similar. From there, of course, the next natural step will be to let users sell their real-life creations for real-world money, just as they can currently sell their virtual ones. One to watch! Websites: www.stardoll.com — www.spreadshirt.com Contacts: www.stardoll.com/en/help/contact.php — www.spreadshirt.com/us/US/About-us/Contact-1336 Spotted by: Iconoculture via RK