Design firm Crosby Studios has teamed up with augmented reality technology company Zero10 for a pop-up store in Manhattan that aims to provide a virtual retail experience.

The pop-up, which is located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood, lets visitors digitally try on a selection of outfits in interiors designed by local studio Crosby Studios.

The physical space of the pop-up was designed to complement the augmented reality (AR) experience and be a “physical entrance into the metaverse”, according to the team.

“This is my first experience working with digital clothes and rather than try to blend the digital with the physical — to soften the virtual reality aspect of it if you will — I instead sought to celebrate the digital nature of the collection,” said Crosby studio founder Harry Nuriev.

The facade of the store features a classic pillared SoHo storefront painted over with grey-and-white checkers to suggest the integration of the physical and virtual.

Visitors enter the space into a stark-white antechamber that leads into a hallway covered with a checkered fluorescent “pixel” pattern that features in many of Crosby Studios’ designs.

The goal of the project was to make consumers more comfortable with digital fashion by integrating it with the familiar routine of visiting a physical storefront, according to the team.

“Our project with Crosby Studios is a showcase of how the design and technology could co-exist in both physical and digital worlds that merge more and more,” said Zero10 CEO George Yashin.