adidas announces its first NFT drop of digital and physical products

adidas has officially entered the metaverse

earlier in december, adidas originals teased its entry to the metaverse, and now, the sportswear giant has announced its first NFT drop of digital and physical goods created in collaboration with bored ape yacht club, pixel vault’s PUNKS comic, and crypto investor gmoney.

the NFTs will provide access to virtual wearables for blockchain-based gaming world the sandbox, plus matching physical products for NFT owners in 2022. the collection is called ‘into the metaverse’ and it’s on sale today (december 17th, 2021) on the adidas website here.

‘we’re recreating what we do in the physical world,’  says andrea nieto, senior designer future at adidas.‘what i’m really excited about is how we’re going to start to separate and even eliminate gravity when we think of a garment and how it drapes, to also then aesthetics informing back to the physical shape of a product. we are keen to be more explorative in digital and be more mindful about the world with everything we do with physical product because we know the impact to the planet, and we’re committed to minimizing that.’

images courtesy of adidas

bored apes yacht club co-founders, gordon goner and gargamel, comment on the collaboration: ‘adidas has a storied history of marking iconic moments and cultural shifts. by adidas embracing the open metaverse, it signals a shift in granting stake to communities who participate in sport and culture. we hope this marks a shift in brands inviting creators to pioneer with us.’

‘I like how organically it happened,’  says pixel vault founder, sean gearin (GFunk). ‘it was always about exploring this new space, new opportunity, new method of expressing oneself. the team here has been just as curious every step of the way. watching the narrative change and shaping a project together has I think been an accurate reflection of our collective beliefs and what we all see for the future of this sort of decentralized metaverse, whatever that may be.’

gmoney adds, ‘we’ve seen a lot of rallying around what adidas has been doing with regards to people creating their own iterations and fan art. I think if people weren’t stoked about what was happening, you wouldn’t see that outpour of love. not just NFTs, but like in culture too, this is a monumental shift in strategy from a major brand that everyone in the world recognizes. and to me, that’s super cool, because adidas is paving the way for other brands to follow suit.’

the first NFT collection from adidas is on sale today (december 17th, 2021)

‘the opportunity with the metaverse is it creates infinite possibilities for us to connect, create and belong. and it’s especially that belonging part that we focused on initially. this has been a massive learning journey for us at adidas, working with the communities that surround gmoney, pixel vault and the bored apes yacht club. these communities aren’t collecting hyped-up tokens, they have a stake in the future of that community, and I think we can learn something about that,’  remarks tareq nazlawy, senior director digital at adidas.‘when we think about the role that we can play as a brand to be that trusted friend of our members looking to join this space. in essence, how can we help our current members, get educated, informed and show them the way?’

‘we’ve embarked on the new age of originality, we said from the very beginning that if we’re going to be the brand that’s going to stand for, represent and help push the values of this new generation into the world, then we must move at the speed of culture. this goes back to the principles of adidas, where we embrace the edge, open the door for the new and act with rebellious optimism,’  says VP of adidas originals’ brand communications, erika wykes-sneyd. 

wykes-sneyd continues, ‘we designed those principles back in april, the same time we were studying the values of web3 that really holds and galvanize the community around this new open metaverse environment. and both were so parallel that we believed we should organize originals to participate with this new generation. this is where people spend their time, how they want to express themselves and what’s going to force brands to act in ways that no one’s comfortable with yet, and it is already in our DNA to be a true collaborator brand. we would be first, we would be ambitious, we would pave the way in a way that’s equitable, fair and inclusive.’

project info:

name: into the metaverse

brand: adidas

collaborators: bored ape yacht club, PUNKS comic, gmoney