Sports apparel giant Adidas continues to expand its Into the Metaverse initiative as it drops the “Virtual Gear” Genesis NFT Collection to “accelerate Adidas Originals’ drive towards strengthening its community-based, member-first, open metaverse strategy.”
According to the announcement, the 16-piece limited edition collection marks the launch of a new Adidas Originals product category called “Virtual Gear.”
The rollout comes after a teaser campaign with the Adidas Discord community, which is also crucial to the Adidas business plan.
Next week, Adidas will release a PFP dressing tool that will allow PFP avatars from compatible partner collections, starting with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Inhabitants, to wear this initial edition of the Adidas Virtual Gear collection.
Although it had previously been able to permanently “burn” virtual clothing into a PFP, the new PFP dressing tool will allow users to modify their PFP’s costumes exactly like they can with ordinary avatars.
The community can expect more PFP and avatar communities to be incorporated into the system in the future.
Each owner of the 24,280-piece Adidas Originals: Capsule NFT Collection, which debuted in May 2022, will receive a free random item from the newest Virtual Gear collection.
They won’t know which one, though, unless they decide to “burn” their Capsule NFT, which is equivalent to replacing it with an item from the Virtual Gear lineup of digital wearables.
The holders can also wait until Phase 3 while holding onto their capsule NFT without burning it.
A secondary marketplace like Opensea will sell items from the Virtual Gear collection for individuals who don’t already own the original Adidas Originals: Capsule NFT.
Also Read: Adidas Unveils ‘Unbox The Impossible’ for Capsule NFT holders
The Virtual Gear collection features jackets and hoodies of various types, including the WALLRUNNER quilted jackets made of 3D layered toweling trefoils, inflatable style PFD (Personal Flotation Device) puffers, and NEOBONE tops inspired by the rubberized sole pattern of the Adidas Superstar sneaker.
Bored Ape Yacht Club, GMoney, and Punks Comics are three of the 16 pieces in the limited edition NFT wearables collection that pays homage to Adidas’ original Web3 partners and underlines their continued partnership with the brand.
The Punks Comic leather biker jackets and fluffy red balaclava hoodies are the BAYC signature pieces. Black puffer jackets make up the GMoney collection and each item is co-branded with the partners’ logos.
While Adidas hasn’t released the numbers, these three partner trait NTFs are the rarest of all with the Bored Ape Yacht Club red hoodie set to be the Web3 equivalent of the mythological Golden Fleece.
VP of the Adidas studio, Erika Wykes-Sneyd stated, “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.”
