Nike, the parent company of NFT incubation studio RTFKT, is teaming up with Division Street — a digital protocol that helps athletes at the University of Oregon build their own brand — to drop an augmented reality (AR) helmet non-fungible token (NFT) collection.
The limited-edition AR helmet NFT collection features 291 digital wearable helmets. Ten of the helmets will be digitally signed by Phil Night, co-founder and chairman of Nike.
The NFTs were auctioned on December 21st, at 2:30 PM EST. The mint was open to 500 winners from the waitlist, comprised of RTFKT Clone X and Flying Formation NFT holders.
Here’s what we know about the new AR helmet NFTs from Nike:
- Holders receive future NFT-gated access to RTFKT.com, where their 3D wearable NFT helmet can be downloaded.
- Holders receive limited licenses to the helmet’s creative content.
- The NFTs are tied to 1/291 physical University of Oregon football jerseys designed by Todd van Horne, who has designed the team’s jerseys for the past two decades.
- The AR helmet NFTs enable Oregon athletes to seamlessly commercialize their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL).
Division Street will use its proceeds from the NFT collection to continue supporting student-athletes at the University of Oregon.
Notably, shares of Nike soared by nearly 15% at the time of the NFT drop on December 21st to roughly $118, before consolidating back to $115.
Nike Is Dominating Web3 Fashion
The latest move from Nike is big news for NFT wearables and even more so for student-athletes at the University of Oregon. But this is far from Nike’s first foray into Web3. To the contrary, the sportswear brand has been a pioneer in the Web3 space all year. Here are some of our top stories about Nike in Web3.
First, four months ago, we reported that Nike led all fashion brands in Web3 by generating over $185 million from NFT sales (at the time of the report). It’s top generating NFT collections include CloneX, MNLTH, MNLTH2, Mint Vial, and CryptoKick. RTFKT Web3 studio is behind most of Nike’s NFT collections.
Next, Nike debuted its Nike “Style” store in the popular Hongdae neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea. The new store mixes digital and physical spaces by using QR codes that lead to AR experiences and by providing a content studio that lets customers create photos and videos for social media.
Lastly, Nike announced the “Dot Swoosh” web3 platform and ecosystem that lives on the domain Swoosh.Nike. The site, which launched on November 18th, will be a home for Nike’s virtual creations, an NFT marketplace where users can buy, trade, and sell digital assets, and a point to provide access to events and product releases.
We’ve covered stories about several fashion brands entering Web3 this year. But for now, Nike remains on top. The brand’s ability to continue to drop exciting Web3 projects and NFT collections is no-doubt behind much of its success. The new exclusive AR NFT helmet collection from RTFKT and Division Street is but another example of Nike’s ambition in the NFT space. We’ll be following up on any developments in the story.