Adidas has launched the company’s first NFT collection of wearables, a new product category adidas calls “Virtual Gear”, the launch is part of a drive towards strengthening its “community-based, member first, open metaverse strategy”.
Revealed following a teaser campaign with the adidas Discord community, and available within the wallets of existing Phase 2 Capsule NFT holders, the 16 piece collection ties together past and future, virtual and physical, communities and creators, culture and identity.
Designed to be worn by virtual avatars, and accessible through a PFP dressing tool, every piece within the latest NFT offering is interoperable with other identity-based projects and worlds.
As part of the continued collaboration with the brand’s earliest Web3 partners, the collection also includes three limited edition creator led wearables – each representing the creative flair of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Gmoney, and Punks Comics, respectively.
Nic Galway, Senior VP of Creative Direction at adidas Originals, says:
“As a brand, adidas has always been about exploring the edges of creativity and pushing the boundaries to find what’s beyond.”
“But Web3 offers our designers and collaborators a new outlet to imagine, and reimagine, how our brand can be represented in augmented and virtual worlds. Creatively, we’re extremely proud to say that this virtual collection represents more than just a historic first for Adidas.”
“It also represents an idea of wearable clothing that can transcend time and space, a community that is vividly diverse, and a level of utility that can be explored and even discovered as worlds and avatars take new forms.”
The collection arrives on 16th November. Owners of the adidas Originals: Capsule NFT Collection, which was launched in May, will be able to discover which of the 16 unique pieces they have been allocated once they choose to reveal and replace their Capsule NFT.
This means they will have to agree to ‘burn’ the Capsule NFT they currently hold, in order to generate at random one of the 16 new digital wearable NFTs.
For those who don’t currently hold an adidas Originals: Capsule NFT, the new Virtual Gear collection will be available to purchase directly across the relevant NFT marketplaces, from 16th November onwards.
Also, community members who hold a virtual wearable NFT and a compatible partner collection NFT (BAYC, MAYC, Inhabitants) will be able to utilise a PFP Tool, coming soon, to ‘dress up’ their NFT with their adidas virtual wearable.
“With our community and creator ecosystem at the core, adidas will explore every viable utility, platform, and experience within Web3 to unlock new possibilities for our wearables, with a focus on tangible value and immutable utility for our community members,” commented adidas studio VP Erika Wykes-Sneyd.
“No matter what, no matter where – adidas is synonymous with the boundary breakers. Now, in whatever realities they choose to inhabit.”
While the collection is not yet fully realised, adidas is clearly having a play with its past, while looking brightly toward its future. The “NEOBONE” piece, for example, is inspired by the sole pattern of the brand’s iconic Superstar.
Staying true to an ongoing collaboration, three of the wildest designs in the collection feature the works of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Gmoney, and Punks Comics.
