Pudgy Penguins Debuts ‘Igloo’ IRL Clothing Line

Late last week, Pudgy Penguins, an NFT company headed by Luca Netz, introduced ‘Igloo,’ an IRL clothing line that takes the collection’s IP and transports it onto many types of clothes. The main account for the collection posted a video on X showing various models wearing Pudgy Penguins apparel last Friday:

The website for ‘Igloo’ shows a wide collection of clothes, including light- and dark-colored pants, shorts, shirts, hoodies, and caps. The items feature different motifs of the collection, including the famed Pudgy Penguins right-facing igloo, the collection name, and ‘ice hearts.’ Prices for clothes range from $45 to $120, while the one non-clothes item for sale (a poster) goes for $20.

According to the information displayed on the website, Igloo designs the clothes in Miami and manufactures them in Los Angeles. There are no restrictions for purchases worldwide; Igloo ships internationally, although it charges a slightly higher shipping fee to do so. The charge for shipping is based on a sliding scale, dependent on the value of the purchase. A higher purchase may result in a reduced shipping charge.

Luca Netz weighed in on X about the latest venture, posting a simple penguin emoji with the flame emoji next to it:

In addition, the official Pudgy Penguins X account wrote that Igloo caters to a broader audience than hardcore Penguins NFT collectors and will serve to grow the top of the company’s sales funnel.

Igloo fits in well with the company’s desire to expand its intellectual property to a mass audience, and so far, its other moves have been successful. As of this writing, the Pudgy Penguins Instagram account has over 750,000 followers, and its TikTok has around 151,000. Its videos have proven popular on social media, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.

Pudgy Penguins Succeeding in Bear Market

While most NFT collections have suffered during this crypto winter, Pudgy Penguins has held strong. Its floor price has risen over the course of a year, and there have been some big sales — one over 400 ETH ($625,000). NFT denizens are generally bullish about the collection and what it’s building, which can’t be said for most top collections. So, how did this happen?

As covered in our interview involving the founder of Untamed Elephants, Pudgy Penguins has a unique northern light: mass IP licensing. While most collections have tried to appeal to their core holders, the Pengus have gone another direction, attempting to bring their cuddly, warm characters to a mass audience. And so far, it has succeeded.

Some of the stories we’ve written about the collection this year include:

The company’s movement from Web3 to a mass audience has outflanked some of the most difficult problems founders face in the space. As royalties have dried up due to lack of sales and marketplace wars, Pudgy Penguins has built other streams of income to stay functioning during the bear market and be less dependent on NFTs.

It is, in that sense, a true company, capable of long winters, like the one we’ve been in for over a year. It is, as some CryptoPunk holders have said, the ‘obvious long term play’ in the NFT space. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll keep an eye on what Pudgy Penguins does next and report back if needed.