CONNECTING BUILDERS TO BUILD OUR FUTURE

Tiny house: Roblox version and real-world version

Skilled trades workers have never been more in demand. For every five workers leaving their field, only one enters. So, to inspire the next generation of workers, we went to where a community of young people is building every day – the metaverse. The Builders Exchange Program is an industry-first idea that brings together a real-life and metaverse builders to understand each other’s worlds and work together to inspire the future of the trades by doing good. 

To illustrate and launch the first-of-its-kind initiative, Red Wing brought together leading virtual developer Naomi Clemens and General Contractor Kemi Ndolo to transform a virtual world design and build it in the real world. Red Wing partnered closely with BuildStrong Academy, an organization focused on closing the skilled trades gap, to make the real-world build come to life.

“More and more people are building today; the catch is that they’re building in the metaverse and not in the real world. The skilled trades are being overlooked and losing workforce as the youth focus on virtual reality vs. building in real life,” said Dave Schneider, Chief Marketing Officer at Red Wing Shoe Company. “We’re excited to bridge this gap with our new ‘Builders Exchange Program’ that encourages these talented virtual developers to learn from real life tradespeople and continue to build for a better future.”

Naomi Clemens and Kemi Ndolo working together

Naomi Clemens and General Contractor Kemi Ndolo

Red Wing did not stop there. Metaverse gamers will be able to visit the Red Wing BuilderTown in Roblox to help build virtual homes through collecting materials and consulting with the BuilderTown tradespeople, Red Wing’s General Contractor, Electrician, Roofer and Carpenter, to meet the building requirements. For every tiny home built in the game, a donation from Red Wing will be given to Settled., an organization that house the homeless via tiny homes villages. As more user generated virtual homes are built in the metaverse, more will be built in the real world. Participants are also able to visit the virtual store to purchase limited-edition Red Wing merchandise.

Alyssa Riegelman