In a new set of photos of basketball star LeBron James in Los Angeles, he is seen wearing red and black Nike sneakers. Although it may look like an ordinary pair of shoes, the process of obtaining them is not as simple as buying them with cash or a credit card in a store.
The special edition sneakers he’s wearing can only be obtained by minting an Ethereum ETHE non-fungible token created by Nike-owned digital fashion company RTFKT. (Nike acquired RTFKT for an undisclosed amount in December 2021 in an effort to bridge…
In a new set of photos of basketball star LeBron James in Los Angeles, he is seen wearing red and black Nike sneakers. Although it may look like an ordinary pair of shoes, the process of obtaining them is not as simple as buying them with cash or a credit card in a store.
The special edition sneakers he’s wearing can only be obtained by minting an Ethereum
ETHE
non-fungible token created by Nike-owned digital fashion company RTFKT. (Nike acquired RTFKT for an undisclosed amount in December 2021 in an effort to bridge the gap between its physical products and digital technology.)
The image, which was originally added by The Lakers Twitter account, and quickly went viral among NFT enthusiasts, before RTFKT posted a zoomed-in version of the shoe on its own account.
According to RTFKT’s OpenSea account, the current price of RTFKT x Nike Air Force 1 Genesis sneakers is around 0.42 ETH or $791.80 and there are a total of 1776 pairs available. Users who purchase NFT can redeem it for the physical item.
This is not RTFKT’s only collection. Other shoes range in price from as low as $11 on the secondary market to as high as $9,426 (or 5 ETH) for a limited edition shoe. In May 2022, Nike sold an NFT sneaker for an eye-watering $134,000, designed by artist Takashi Murakami.
Along with RTFKT, Nike also has a digital apparel platform called .SWOOSH (pronounced dot swoosh), which Nike has said has 330,000 members. The community allows users to create and trade Nike’s virtual creations that include items such as sneakers, clothing, accessories and wearables for gaming.
Fashion brands are increasingly moving into the digital realm and embracing the so-called metaverse, although the hype around the term has largely died down this year. In March, the popular gaming platform Decentraland held its second annual metaverse fashion week, which was attended by brands such as Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY and Balenciaga. Reports indicate that the digital fashion market, which was valued at $119 billion in 2021, is growing at a CAGR of 95% by 2030.
