Sportswear brand Reebok is jumping into the metaverse with both feet.
The shoemaker, owned by Adidas, has entered into an exclusive partnership with crypto-tech startup Future verse to develop numerous AI and blockchain-enabled games and digital experiences, both companies jointly announced on Thursday.
The stated goal of the partnership is to expand Reebok’s brand presence into virtual realms and “revolutionize fashion in the digital world.”
While the partnership appears poised to upload numerous Reebok styles into digital wearable versions tied to NFTs, as footwear brands including its parent company Adidas and rival Nike has recently done, Reebok seems primarily focused on creating immersive virtual gaming experiences that give these digital shoes a reason to exist.
Next year, Reebok and Futureverse will debut “Reebok Impact,” a “spiritual and heart-wrenching digital footwear experience” that will integrate AI technology and on-chain digital wearables. The first announced project to emerge from the companies’ collaboration, ‘Impact’, was intended, according to its creators, to ‘show that life is not about your sneakers, but about what you do while wearing them’.
Excited to partner with @futureverse to launch @ReebokImpact in 2024, a mind-blowing digital footwear experience that will enable our community and beyond to delve into AI and digital wearables. https://t.co/uH4CgAiYQn
— Reebok (@Reebok) December 7, 2023
“Our ethos champions the principle of moving with purpose and entering the world as a participant, not a spectator,” Reebok CEO Todd Krinsky said in a statement. “Our partnership with Futureverse and the upcoming launch of Reebok Impact allows us to transcend traditional boundaries of innovation and engage our consumers in the digital evolution of our products in ways that redefine the realm of possibility.”
Futureverse, an on-chain gaming startup, has raised funding Series A of $54 million in July. The company aims to establish a “open metaverse‘ – a digital ecosystem of multiple platforms between which digital assets such as NFTs can flow freely – mainly by acquiring other crypto companies, games and metaverse experiences and rolling them onto Futureverse’s platform. However, none of the eleven companies under the Futureverse umbrella have yet delved into the fast-growing digital footwear sector.
‘Oops, you’ve stepped into the future’: Nike introduces sneakers with NFTs
In December 2021, Nike led the virtual assault of the footwear industry Take over RTFKT, an NFT sneaker studio. Since then the company has built up a significant size NFT Communityand has rolled out a number of exclusive physical sneaker collections digital twins. Numerous fashion and footwear brands have followed suit with similar ‘phygital’ drops, including Adidas, DiorAnd Cougar. Nike has also brought its digital fashion to the popular game Fortnite, albeit not as NFTs.
Reebok has not yet announced any plans to make physical sneakers tied to digital tokens. However, yesterday the brand announced a limited edition dropped sneaker in partnership with Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT brand CattleFriendswhich will go on sale exclusively to VeeFriends token holders on December 12, before going on sale globally on December 15.
Edited by Andrew Hayward