Puma sells NFT shoes – Can it compete with Nike and Dolce and Gabbana in the metaverse?

• PUMA’s Black Station Metaverse will feature exclusive NFTs redeemable for limited edition physical sneakers.
• PUMA designers work without limitations and create original designs that are as impressive as the actual products.

On Wednesday, September 7, sports and footwear giant PUMA unveiled the Black Station, its first-ever Metaverse website experience, during New York Fashion Week.

The company said Black Station will be a dynamic destination for users to visit where they can connect to the Metaverse in an immersive and interactive way and enjoy PUMA-branded NFTs mainly related to sports gear.

The Black Station Metaverse will also have exclusive NFTs that can be redeemed for limited edition physical sneakers. To deliver on its Metaverse commitment, PUMA has completely revitalized its website experience.

By entering the website, users can choose a hyper-realistic digital lobby with three distinct portals. Here they get to experience the never-seen-before Nitro NFRNO and Nitro Fastroid sneakers. To receive PUMA-branded NFTs tied to physical sneakers, users can also create NitroPasses. They can later claim it after the Futrograde trade show in New York.

With bold and innovative designs, these sneakers will recontextualize iconic PUMA features. NFRNO appears to be a hybrid collision between the past and the future. Speaking about the development, PUMA’s Chief Brand Officer Adam Petrick said:

20 years ago, the Black Station was PUMA’s home for our most innovative designs in fashion. Given the boundaries we’re pushing from a product design and digital standpoint, we saw fit to bring back Black Station as a new portal for digital exploration across fashion, sports performance, our classic heritage and innovation.

Competes with Nike and other fashion brands

Blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are becoming extremely popular in the fashion industry. The immutable nature of NFT helps preserve the sanctity of brands and prevent any duplication of products in the market. Some of the big brands exploring the NFT functionality are Nike and Dolce and Gabbana.

PUMA is not the first brand to harness the power of NFTs. Competitor Nike has worked in a similar direction and built its own Metaverse where it will sell Nike-branded NFTs. It looks like the next big battle for footwear and apparel giants will be in the Metaverse.

Heiko Desens, Puma’s Global Creative Director and Head of Innovation, spoke about the benefits of Metaverse. He said the team of designers at PUMA will work without limitations and create original designs that are as impressive as the actual products. Desens further added:

Our team of designers took many liberties when envisioning these footwear styles. We told them the sky is the limit. As a result, we were able to harness their creativity without the typical constraints and limitations of our shoe manufacturing process.

PUMA is working on this new Metaverse project in collaboration with the creative company FTR.