Can AI take you to the next level in your sustainable fashion journey? TCBL has teamed up with VLGE to offer our extended community the opportunity to explore the technical intersection of AI and circular fashion through an online challenge that will take place on Tuesday April 28, 2026, from 15-19 CET.
The challenge, which takes the form of a short online hackathon, will introduce you to AI world building and let you try your hand at it. Working alone or as a team, you’ll address one or more sustainability objectives and have the opportunity to pitch your idea as well as hear others’ pitches. And yes, there will be a winner!
Details of the challenge
Wondering how you can integrate immersive worlds into your brand story, prototyping, or sales processes? VLGE is a platform that makes it possible to build worlds with established and flexible themes, so that anyone with a good idea can create AI environments that become measurable, playable systems.
With this challenge, we want to test the potential of virtual worlds to experiment, prototype, and reimagine how textile, fashion, and cultural brands can communicate, engage, and create value in more ethical, resilient, and responsible ways.
🎨 The Challenge: Designing an Immersive experience to meet with one of your sustainable objectives.
Participants, working individually or in teams, will choose one company or initiative of their choice.
Using the VLGE platform, they will design an interactive immersive world exploring one of the following themes:
🛍️ Gamified Creative Sustainable Retail Experience
🌱 Immersive and interactive sustainable brand experience
📖 Interactive Storytelling Journey to raise awareness about the challenges of sustainable fashion
🌍 What Your Immersive World Should Deliver:
- Your world should go beyond visuals and propose a rich experiential journey that:Offers high levels of interaction, including choices and decision-making moments for visitors
- Integrates movement and navigation, with multiple paths or spaces to explore
- Encourages interaction with objects, environments, or characters
- Creates emotion, meaning, and immersion
- Delivers a multi-sensory experience, particularly through the use of sound and atmosphere
The objective is not technical perfection, but clarity of concept, intention, and experience design.
🛠 Platform & Format: The challenge is 100% online
All participants will receive free access to the VLGE platform
Participants may work individually or in teams
An introductory workshop / live demo will guide participants through:
- World-building fundamentals
- Interactive experience design
- Best practices for an affective online immersive experience
Participants and prizes
👥 Who Can Participate?
This challenge is open any designers, creatives, innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and students... really anyone curious to explore AI and immersive technologies.
You can sign up as an individual or as a team. Teams can work together online or in the same space. Teams develop a single “world” together.
👉 But I don’t know how to program things!
No technical experience is required.
All you need is a computer, good internet connectio, and strong desire to learn, experiment, and create.
🏆 Prize:
1 year of free access to the VLGE Creator Plan
(Value: $1,068)
Awarded to all members of the winning teams
Program
The event takes place online, Tuesday April 28 at 15 CET
15 CET: Welcome & Introduction
Accelerated Exclusive Masterclass & Live demo by VLGE introducing:
a. World-building fundamentals
b. Interactive experience design
c. Brief Reveal
15H30-18H30 CET - World-Building Phase
Teams work on their worlds ( hours recommended) + VLGE mentors available for feedback during the build.
19 CET – Submission
Each team submits a 7–10 minutes recorded walkthrough, as well as either a video or a short explanatory text presenting: the story, concept, and objective of the created world; the intended visitor journey; and the value delivered by the experience (engagement, storytelling, commerce, community).
The jury will review projects and determine up to three (3) winners based on the following criteria:
· Global experience Impact & User Journey
· Spatial Experience & World Design quality
· Interaction Design & Engagement ideas
· Sensory & Audio Experience
· Creativity & Originality
Winners will be announced and feedback provided to creators in a future session (the time required to judge will be related to the number of worlds created); recording will be made available for anyone who cannot join live.
How to sign up
Sign up at the follwing link (google form) or use the embedded form below.
