adidas Originals and Prada are collaborating on a non-fungible token (NFT) project, “adidas for Prada re-source”. Remember Beeple’s Everday collage or 5000 artworks that sold for $69 million at Christie’s? The adidas Prada project seems inspired by this and will feature 3,000 tiled photos taken by the community, with the final piece designed by Zach Lieberman.
Participants who contribute the anonymized photos will retain ownership of their individual pieces and be rewarded for taking part with NFTs. The combined artwork is to be auctioned on SuperRare, with most of the proceeds going to Slow Factory, an education non-profit that targets people who are marginalized.
This project is an extension of the existing collaboration between the two brands. Prada has a fabric made from recycled ocean plastic called Re-Nylon and earlier this month, they launched the adidas for Prada Re-Nylon collection featured in the image. For a relatively low cost, the two brands are substantially raising the profile of their collaboration.
The luxury brand is also a member of the Aura blockchain consortium that uses enterprise blockchain to prove authenticity as well as track sustainable practices through supply chains.
This NFT project uses the Polygon blockchain network for minting the NFT which is seen as one of several sustainable options, compared to the Ethereum mainnet.
Sustainability and inclusiveness appear to be the focus of the latest campaign. Arguably, the first adidas Originals NFTs were a little exclusive. adidas Originals minted its first NFTs in December in collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, PunksComic and influencer gmoney. The relatively wealthy owners of those NFTs were whitelisted, so they were guaranteed a significant proportion of the NFTs dropped.
Buying an NFT ended up costing around $775 apiece, bringing in $23 million. However, this was not a money earner for adidas. A large chunk of the proceeds went to the partners for helping with marketing. And after some glitches in the minting, adidas compensated users for wasted gas fees.
Like many other brands, adidas is experimenting with NFTs and certainly ‘gets’ the idea that NFTs are all about community.
Meanwhile, Nike acquired NFT company RTFKT known for its digital sneaker NFTs. Other brands to unveil NFTs during the last week include Lamborghini, Gucci and the Australian Open tennis. And Hermes has sued the Metabirkins NFT project.
