adidas’ first foray into Metaverse fashion might look ridiculous, but I think that’s a good thing
When it comes to apparel companies diving headfirst into the Metaverse — adidas and Nike are leading the pack. Both are making moves in different ways but I wanted to do a deep dive into what adidas has been up to lately for anyone who might have missed the moves they’ve made, and what’s ahead.
Before I go any further I might as well warn you — what’s to follow might look ridiculous, and that’s not only okay, it’s welcomed when it comes to The Metaverse. Fashion has been confined to the constraints of the real world, well, forever — The Metaverse changes all of that which means the concept of self expression changes, a lot.
Digital fashion can and will be different from the fashion world today, and the companies and designers that realize that are already flexing their creative muscles. So let’s dive in, starting with the end and working our way backwards because I think it’s a lot more fun that way.
adidas released their “Virtual Gear” (as NFTs of course) about a month ago, here’s two of my personal favorites from the collection:
And here’s a quick description of each from adidas:
adidas Virtual Gear: Genesis 01 — Wallrunner
Wallrunner is crafted from adidas Originals’ iconic trefoil. Cushy and comfy, it’s a material concoction of fairy floss, answered wens, feathers, your favourite teddy, virtual hugs — and the feeling you get when the !floor price is up. You name it, Wallrunner is made from it.
The trefoil’s three leaves represent the three different continents where adidas products were sold in 1972. We’ve come a long way since then — and the infinite trefoils represent the infinite nature of where the adidas community now exists: the metaverse. Dress up in Wallrunner: a trait so cushy, you can run through walls without feeling a scratch.
adidas Virtual Gear: Genesis 01 — C2172
A retro classic. From the future. Cut from 1972 with tech from 2172, C2172 is inspired by adidas heritage as a projection of the future. Sleek and chic with the ability to manipulate time, its otherworldly origin is brought down to (virtual) reality. Whether you’re walking near a swamp or battling a boss with your guild, C2172’s got your back.
Along with having the visual properties you can see in the images above, this digital clothing also comes with superpowers called “boosts” that are embedded into the NFTs themselves. Here’s the boosts that come standard with the Wallrunner:
Yes, in the Metaverse clothing can have a lot more function than in the real world and I think we’re going to see a lot of brands following adidas lead here when it comes to boosts.
So how did we get here? I started at the end, now let’s go back to the beginning.
In December of 2021 adidas announced “Into the Metaverse,” their first move into the web3 world in collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comic, and gMoney.
The collaboration all started with an NFT, this NFT to be exact:
and here’s a bit from adidas on the NFT:
The Into the Metaverse NFT digital collectible celebrates the adidas Originals collaboration with gmoney, PUNKS Comic and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Holders of the NFT unlock exclusive access to collaborative merchandise and virtual land experiences throughout 2022.
The NFT will be available to mint on adidas.com/into_the_metaverse today, December 17. Supply is limited, so be quick! (Source — adidas blog)
I snagged three of these myself and started on my journey with adidas. Truth be told, I’m not a current adidas customer — I don’t own any of their shoes or clothes, in all honesty the brand has never really been that interesting to me, but this move got me onboard.
This is something that I think many brands are going to discover over the next few years — by making moves into the web3 space, they’re going to start to attract new customers and expand their reach. I now wear adidas all the time so safe to say, this worked for me.
So what did this first NFT get you?
The first NFT, labeled Phase 1, gave everyone access to exclusive physical merchandise — a hoodie, tracksuit, and beanie. And this is where things hit a bit of a roadblock, and a somewhat surprising one. adidas just needed to make a few thousand garments and well, that turned out to be a lot harder than anyone would have expected.
For a long time we all just waited wondering what was taking so long, and eventually, after seven months of wondering when the heck are we getting our merch…the team had to come out onto Discord to share a bit more about why things were so delayed:
While you could complain, and well, many people did — I give the web3 team at adidas a lot of credit for just being honest. This sentence says it all:
“When you create something new in a company that is 72 years old, you can expect there will be some bumps, but it’s not always clear what those bumps will be.”
Honest, fair, and the of course none of us are in a life or death situation where we need a hoodie, neon tracksuit, and beanie…and for anyone who is I’d love to hear more.
I got my hoodie, and it’s pretty cool, here’s what it looks like:
As for the tracksuit and beanie…they’ve started shipping and while it might have taken about a year to get them, I can’t say I’ve ever worn a track suit before and haven’t really felt a ton of urgency around getting it…and since I bought three NFTs, well, three tracksuits. But hey, it’s safe to say I’m more than interested so here’s what I’ll be donning on my trail runs when it arrives:
Still for me, I was the most excited about the digital apparel side of the equation and that’s what came next…or more like in between since I ended up getting all of my digital Metaverse-ready apparel before they were able to make all the physical merch.
For every adidas into the Metaverse NFT you had, you were sent a capsule that looks like this:
With the capsule in your wallet, it was a pretty smooth process to reveal the adidas Virtual Gear. To turn your capsule into Metaverse-ready adidas apparel you simply went to adidas.com/Metaverse and clicked reveal at the top.
I know what you’re probably saying now…but what the heck is Virtual Gear? Here’s the lowdown from adidas:
INTRODUCING ADIDAS VIRTUAL GEAR, THE FIRST-EVER COLLECTION OF DIGITAL APPAREL FROM THE THREE STRIPES. DESIGNED FOR NEW REALITIES, THE GENESIS COLLECTION SHOWCASES AN EVOLUTION OF ADIDAS HOUSE CODES REIMAGINED FOR VIRTUAL WORLDS AND THE METAVERSE.
adidas did a much deeper dive in their Discord and it’s clear they’ve put a lot of thought into this and also know that as pioneers, there’s a lot that is still unknown, and that’s okay. If you want to really understand Virtual Gear and adidas plans for outfitting all of us in the Metaverse, here’s the full monty from the Discord:
- Virtual gear is so interesting. It is much faster to put together a collection and let the community give feedback on the collection immediately and even inspire what could go into manufacturing.
- This is why the range is so different. We tried to push different things. You get a crazy looking plushy outfit, that’s the Wallrunner. Then you got the Personal Flotation Device made with sustainable leather, puffiness, then you get the gmoney puffervest that is a hoodie but completely new luxury like 9dcc is operating. It is exciting to look the reaction and to think can this inspire us to make physicals. Now it’s about how do we iterate and co-create with the community to create something people would be proud to flex in real life and on their virtual identity.
- One of the biggest learnings for people in business is that in web3 you cannot be hiding in the ivory tower. People have given us very real feedback. We are watching it all. We also love the memes and love them. All that feedback is great. Design is meant to be subjective, it should bring conversation. Art is about finding something that personally resonates with you and maybe is not for everyone. That is the job of fashion stylists — to help people express their values.
- Negative feedback takes thick skin sometimes, but we are grateful to have it, because it shows people give a sh*t and care and we want them to care. It is emotionally exhausting. — We need to be better at sharing the bigger vision. Up to now, the team has a principle of not talking about stuff until it is live, but this all ties to what will happen in phase 3 which is the shift to identity.
- People need an identity to wear virtual gear on and some place to wear it to. Those are in the work and coming in the pipeline.
- A famous fashion designer and musician really wanted one of the pieces to be created in real world. People want to wear stuff which identifies them and makes them feel good. In order for the space to grow it needs to be accessible. Gmoney did it by putting the Cryptopunks on billboards. Gfunk did it with comics. Everyone knows what a comic is, it is as easy as picking up something to read. Suddenly you are learning web3. We do street style better than anyone. We do this with Yohji Yamamoto, Balenciaga, Gucci, Craig Green, Grace Wells Bonner and with so many other partners like this is what we do really well. We can find the codes of what is new luxury and art and what NFTs are democratizing and what adidas is doing really well which is blending sports style blended by lifestyle.
- This was a free airdrop we did, one of the largest per volume. We did spend a lot of time with the creative team on how to roll it out. There was a reason why not to do this as a primary mint, but to allow holders to chose if they want to vault it, trade it or reveal it. We heard people want more rarities and more bespokes. There is something that is coming there, but don’t forget that is the very first time the future archive is being built. There will be a sea of wearables in the future, but we won’t be recreating these. This is the first time and only time. There is something powerful to be amongst the first. Every the every single piece is going to be special in its own right and it’s going to sit in this like lore of web3 and popular culture.
- We underplayed the utility, we will make sure the profile picture dressing tool is not seen as the end of the journey. We will be working on dressing the full avatars in the future in 3D. Holders can have then multiple identities and can style them, and then take it off without having to burn the NFT either. The tool will help people get a sense of the dressing and styling and how it will evolve.
- The video which we created represents different communities who can wear the gear. There is a punk with a body towards the end of the film. A lot of collections unfortunately don’t give full IP rights. We want to invite all the other communities.
There’s a lot more to come, this is clearly only the beginning, and while there are a lot more mechanics behind-the-scenes with adidas right now, I’ll stop here for now.
What I can say is adidas is doing something different and yes, the digital clothes they made might look a bit ridiculous, but I think that’s great — heck, the Metaverse might be a bit ridiculous, but I think we all need a bit more ridiculous in our lives.
