Mark Wallace over at 3pointD is reporting on one of the first real-world brands to enter the fake-world domain. American Apparel, known mainly for producing sweatshop-free, made in the USA T-shirts and hiring a porn star or two for their marketing campaigns has opened up shop in the virtual world of Second Life. The clothes being sold in the virtual store, much like American Apparel’s real offerings, will include somewhat-revealing, colorful t-shirts and will similarly retail at “high-priced reasonable”. The brand has been receiving some help from the popular in-world brand *PREEN*, created by Aimee Weber.

The store itself has some very cool features. The design and layout is based on the hip, minimalist glass-box style of the American Apparel Tokyo store and features lighting that is scripted to change with the time of day. Inside the store, you’ll find familiar touches including rows of brightly-colored t-shirts displayed in the colors of the rainbow on industrial steel racks.

We’ll have to see whether brand recognition alone is enough to propel AA to the top of the Second Life economy. For a community that thrives on out-there clothing designs, AA’s minimalist duds would seem to be out-of-place. And it’s hard to hold the moral high-ground for sweatshop free clothing when you’re clothes don’t even have to be produced. Still, a lot of their success has come from creative advertising and clever marketing, and those skills may transfer well to the virtual world.