Are Digital Running Products Here To Stay?
It seems everyone is talking about NFTs (stay with me). Usually when I think of NFTs, my mind conjures images of 30 year old, Elon Musk-ophiles, whose camera rolls contain more deep-fried memes than actual photos. But as NFTs become more mainstream, recent weeks have seen the running world start to open its mind to new and interesting digital ideas.
Last week it was revealed that Nike have submitted a series of trademarks with USPTO, (US Patent and Trademark Office) including those for its iconic “Swoosh” and slogan “Just Do It,” which suggest plans of creating virtual clothing and footwear. Nike has also listed jobs for Virtual Material Designers which, according to the job description, will be part of a team focusing on “igniting the digital and virtual revolution at Nike.”
Off the back of Mark Zuckerberg’s very exciting but also terrifying glimpse into the metaverse, it’s not difficult to imagine how brands will leave their mark on these digital spaces where a user can have many avatars with many different outfits. It sounds slightly ridiculous, but if Zuck’s vision is even half true, the metaverse will be an eco-system where we spend a large percentage of our time. And as these worlds become more immersive and complex, behaviours that we see in the physical world, will naturally spill into the virtual. None more so than the curating of our self-image and the vanities that come with this. Thus, clothing and footwear companies will want to be there.
This week also saw luxury running brand, Satisfy, launch their first NFT project. NFT, stands for Non-Fungible Token and, in short, is like a digital trading card. Unlike a normal ‘fungible’ currencies, you cannot swap them like for like. Where one Bitcoin can be swapped for another Bitcoin (which will be identical), an NFT is completely unique. It’s also worth noting that an NFT can be virtually anything. A drawing, a song/album, but most of the interest has been in the world digital art.
Satisfy’s project combined 20 physical clothing bundles that each contain a different colour NFT of their ‘Possessed’ logo, developed in partnership with hardware wallet company, Ledger.
Celebrating the renewed appreciation for vintage and the third running boom, these bundles offer a chance to invest in a piece of running history that come with a unique art object representative of a future cultural tapestry.
The idea with most NFTs (like any collectible) is to either own an exclusive part of a cultural moment, or see an appreciation in value so that you can resell for a profit. In this case, the former seems to be the angle with the company’s more hardcore fans wanting to own a part of Satisfy’s history.
One of Satisfy’s ‘POSSESSED’ NFT’s.
This strategy makes sense. For ‘brands with stans’, there will always be attention around the things they drop. Think of Supreme, who release new collections weekly which get lapped each time. But it will also be interesting to see if the running industry looks to adopt digital goods around events or moments. Will virtual finishers medals become a thing? What if you could buy a ‘1km split’ from a world record run?
Whilst the metaverse is still a bit of a wild west that is slowly taking shape, as long as NFTs and other digital goods appeal to our sentimentality, our desire for exclusivity and/or the curation of our self-image, exciting thing are ahead. Imma just look for some digital Alphaflys ;)
