• by Gaetano Pollice , November 29, 2007

Those who can’t be bothered to try on clothes in the store can give it a whirl online, instead. And they can do it with moose horns and a nose ring, to boot. Levi’s Virtual World, launched late October in Hong Kong (levisworld.com.hk) and China (levisworld.com.cn), lets users log on and try on the latest Levi’s collections in a branded social networking community. Aimed at the 15–24 crowd, users can create personalized avatars, join online events like DJ music nights to chat with other members, and earn virtual money to buy the newest collections in a virtual store. The Virtual World has drawn a crowd: the online October “red-carpet” launch party for the Hong Kong site drew nearly 7,000 visitors within its first two hours. During the three following days, the sites drew a combined 73,000 visits and 1.97 million hits. During this time, of the sites’ 10,000 registered users, 40 percent logged in for five to 15 minutes and 10 percent actually stayed over an hour.