adidas Originals has unveiled a limited collection of blockchain-based virtual wearables, released as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on adidas.com/metaverse. Representing the brand’s first NFT collection of wearables, which is a new, interoperable product category adidas calls “Virtual Gear.” 

Available within the wallets of existing Phase 2 Capsule NFT holders, the 16-piece collection is a creative and cultural milestone in the brand’s history – tying together past and future, virtual and physical, communities and creators, culture and identity. 

“We’re laying down a marker in this new age of originality – one that unquestionably serves the community, heroes the purveyors and collectors of emerging style and culture, benefits the value creators and supports the diversity of expression and utility that blurring virtual worlds has allowed us all to explore,” says Erika Wykes-Sneyd, vice president, adidas Three Stripes Studio. “I love the opportunity this collection represents for our most engaged community of holders. Every capsule holder has a choice at launch – burn and express their virtual identity with adidas’ first Virtual Gear collection, or list and allow others to join this community. With our community and creator ecosystem at the core, 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. No matter what, no matter where – adidas is synonymous with the boundary breakers. Now, in whatever realities they choose to inhabit.” 

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Designed to be worn by virtual avatars, and accessible through a PFP dressing tool, every piece within the latest NFT offering is interoperable with other identity-based projects and worlds. This means that the adidas collection is able to respond and adapt to the metaverse environments being built, so that the ‘Virtual Gear’ is ready for all frontiers of Web3. 

All 16 "Virtual Gear" items.

As part of the continued collaboration with the brand's earliest Web3 partners, the collection also includes three limited edition creator-led wearables – each representing the creative flair of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Gmoney and Punks Comics, respectively. 

“As a brand, adidas has always been about exploring the edges of creativity and pushing the boundaries to find what’s beyond,” says Nic Galway, senior vice president, creative direction, adidas Originals. “But Web3 offers our designers and collaborators a new outlet to imagine, and reimagine, how our brand can be represented in augmented and virtual worlds. Creatively, we’re extremely proud to say that this virtual collection represents more than just a historic first for adidas. It also represents an idea of wearable clothing that can transcend time and space, a community that is vividly diverse and a level of utility that can be explored and even discovered as worlds and avatars take new forms.” 

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