A virtual concert experience a decade ago inspired Gizem Mishi McDuff to launch Wake Forest-based digital fashion brand House of Blueberry.
Since its founding in 2012, Blueberry has sold more than 20 million digital fashion assets, along with growing to over 10,000 SKUs (“stock-keeping units”, ie unique items) and over 400,000 unique customers. It collaborates with various popular online games, such as Sims 4 and Roblox, releasing new styles for avatars.
Just like in real life, self-expression is important to people in digital spaces, said McDuff, who is the startup’s founder and CEO. Anyone in the digital world who cares about their personality is a potential House of Blueberry customer, she said.
With the metaverse – an interactive digital world – on the rise in recent years, many want to jump in. The company recently raised about $6 million to fuel its growth.
Blueberry partners with real fashion brands and recreates their designs digitally, said COO Katherine Manuel, but their biggest strength and focus is their house brand of digital wearables.
“We want to have our brand of wearables in every community and every platform where self-expression matters,” she said.
[Editor’s Note: Manuel was the guest on the Dec. 16, 2022 episode of The Friday Nooner.]
Last year, the startup teamed up with renowned luxury designer Jonathan Simkhai and metaverse tech builder Everyrealm to launch the world’s inaugural Metaverse Fashion Week in the popular multiplayer virtual world, Second Life.
Manuel recalls how cool it was to see one of the dresses they designed specifically for the metaverse in real life at Simkhai’s boutique in New York.
“We always tell designers if you’re going to go into the metaverse, don’t just do the digital twin,” she said. “Make it fun. You can fight physics in the metaverse.”
Entering the digital world of fashion
McDuff recognized this business opportunity fairly quickly in 2012.
Before starting college, McDuff had already started two companies in her native Turkey. At the age of 15, she and her friends started a social network called Xuqa and later sold it to Microsoft. The same group then launched a gaming-focused marketing company called Peanut Labs, which they later sold to a big data company.
She said she was a year or so out of college when she attended her first virtual concert, with the band Sky Galaxy in Second Life.
McDuff immediately pointed out all the components inside the virtual concert venue, including the microphones and piano. She had her ‘starter’ avatar, but saw all types: supermodels, fairies and warriors.
“It was fascinating,” McDuff said. “My mind was blown.”
That night she downloaded Photoshop and made herself a polka dot dress for her avatar, which she ‘wore’ to her next virtual concert. Many asked her where they could buy it, prompting her to create more dresses and open a virtual store.
McDuff said that within the first three years, she earned more than $1 million.
The power of digital communities
House of Blueberry’s Roblox group has surpassed 10,000 members despite only starting in September 2022. Its Second Life community has grown to nearly 400,000.
It’s different when you sell digitally, McDuff said — people don’t buy brands or products, they buy into communities.
“You co-create with your community and they’re grateful for the ability to buy that product,” she said. “Monetizing this while building a massive community around it (feels) like we’re creating the landscape for this industry.”
Manuel agreed, saying that the high quality of design combined with the community aspect is the company’s secret sauce.
Having been involved in Triangle’s startup ecosystem for several years, Manuel had long imagined herself on the other side of the Shark Tank table. During the pandemic, she became fascinated by the world of games thanks to her children. So she crossed paths with McDuff.
McDuff had moved the House of Blueberry brand to Triangle from Turkey in late 2018 because of the talent and reasonable cost of living. To scale and fund a team, the company raised a seed seed round in 2021.
Bringing Manuel on board helped Blueberry scale across multiple platforms, McDuff said. Their complementary partnership – describing it as ‘yin and yang’ – enables them to make fewer mistakes and ultimately run a healthier company.
It’s rewarding to be a woman-led business, she added.
“We need more women leading, especially community-focused businesses,” McDuff said. “We’re very good at it.”
