- Nike acquired digital sneaker company RTFKT (Artifact).
- RTFKT creates digital assets for metaverse gamers and creators.
- Also, Nike created a digital showroom on Roblox.
Global apparel brand, Nike, acquired a digital fashion and sneaker design company called RTFKT. RTFKT, pronounced Artifact, creates digital sneakers and other designs using augmented reality. RTFKT designs are then used by metaverse gamers and creators.
Notably, this is not Nike’s first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) partnership. Prior to this, Nike opened a digital showroom on Roblox. The top sneaker brand even applied to trademark its digital merchandise.
The crypto boom earlier this year (2021) fueled the hype around NFT. While some sceptics, like Keanu Reeves, maintain that NFTs are a fluke. However, many celebrities and leading brands have jumped onto the NFT bandwagon. This includes top Nike rival, Adidas, which partnered with Coinbase.
To clarify, metaverse is a term coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash. Stephenson imaged a virtual world with lifelike avatars offering an alternative reality. However, the metaverse as we now know it combines technologies like augmented reality, 3D avatars, holographics, videos, and more.
The potential metaverse application is limited only by its users’ imagination. Matthew Ball, managing partner at Epyllion Industries, a venture capital firm, equated metaverse to the next internet.
Notably, minor versions of the metaverse exist on gaming platforms like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Popular social media platform, Facebook whose parent company recently rebranded to Metaverse. In fact, Bloomberg predicts that the metaverse will be worth $800 billion by 2024.
