Summer Breeze

I want to clarify that I don’t know the creator of Blueberry (Blueberryxx) personally. Everything I’m sharing here is based on public information and my own observations.

If you’ve been a resident of Second Life for a while, you’re probably familiar with the brand Blueberry. From my understanding, Blueberry is comprised of a team of creators and customer service representatives (CSRs) and has been consistently releasing content since 2012. This brand has been quite successful. In January 2023, it was announced that Blueberry raised $6 million in seed funding, which means they got investors. As you may know, when investors come on board, they take partial ownership in exchange for their capital.

A little over a year later, in April 2024, Blueberry informally announced the closure of the brand on Facebook. This news shocked their fans in Second Life, who refused to believe that the closure was permanent, thinking it might just be a break. The announcement remained inconsistent over several weeks, causing confusion about whether Blueberry was taking a break or closing for good. The CSRs in Second Life eventually announced that there were no staff members available, and they were effectively just volunteering while the brand was winding down.

Residents had several months to spend their store credit and come to terms with Blueberry’s closure. Then, in August, the creator of Blueberry announced a comeback under a new brand called “The Kiwi Co.” under a new avatar (Kiwi Blossom). Side note: did you know that a kiwi is also a type of berry?

Here’s what we know: Blueberry’s investors decided to close the portion of the business operating in Second Life. Blueberry the brand is still active on other platform, such as Roblox. While the Blueberry brand remains closed in Second Life, all of the products are still available on the Marketplace. The creator of Blueberry decided to reopen without the investors, taking her former Second Life team back with her and launching The Kiwi Co.

I’m not certain why the creator chose to return to Second Life under a new brand, but I do know that it’s a savvy business move to leave the old brand behind. With the introduction of Physically Based Rendering (PBR) and several new avatar bodies since Blueberry’s launch in 2012, why not rebrand and start fresh? Very few brands in Second Life tend to update old content with PBR or new bodies; they prefer to move forward and create new products. Supporting new products is simpler than managing a vast catalog of old ones.

So, if you loved the Blueberry aesthetic, you’ll be pleased with The Kiwi Co. The launch includes a dress and a pair of shoes as a gift to customers. Offering a generous free gift during a brand launch or re-launch is a smart strategy. The Grace Dress and shoes are both fatpacks, available in PBR and non-PBR versions.

Transferring Blueberry credit to The Kiwi Co

If you have Blueberry credit that you want to transfer to The Kiwi Co, please contact Blueberryxx resident in Second Life to facilitate the transfer.

I’ll show you the difference between the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) version of the dress and the non-PBR (Blinn–Phong) version. I photographed both with the same lighting in a PBR viewer. My EEP is optimized for PBR, which makes the non-PBR version appear a bit flat. Both versions look great, but if you know how to adjust your lighting, PBR will always stand out more. This dress features very subtle PBR effects, as it’s not a shiny fabric. I experimented with extra light sources to highlight the fabric, but most users probably won’t notice this while wearing it in-world.

I won’t endorse any specific PBR viewer, but if you’re still using a non-PBR viewer, consider upgrading (if possible). Second Life is evolving, and many brands might stop providing fallback textures, focusing solely on PBR optimization.

If you want to check out this dress, visit The Kiwi Co. in SL!

Read More “From Blueberry to Kiwi”