Under Armour has entered the emerging metaverse Sneaker Wars with the release of an NFT basketball shoe, the Genesis Curry Flow NFT, celebrating NBA legend Steph Curry's setting of the all-time three point record. Each metaverse sneaker was priced at $333 (wink) and comes with the promise of them being able to be worn across a variety of metaverse platforms.
Now cue all of the usual FUD and social noise around a big brand doing something "inauthentic." However, at some point, if the metaverse is going to reach some kind of critical mass-adoption, don't we need big brands taking big swings in the space?
Adidas already made their splash last week when they partnered with Bored Apes to release their series of avatars and virtual fashion line. As these brands are being advised by so-called "crypto-native" members of the community, you can assume they will have some sort of long term strategy, dare I say "roadmap" with vague offers of future "utility" and IRL rewards. Adidas is already pairing their virtual gear with real life equivalents. They've even introduced an innovative system where after you claim the physical merchandise, you can burn your token in exchange for a new one, which will alter your avatar, giving them a new colorway, and denoting that you have already claimed the exclusive prize.
Back to Steph Curry, who has been one of the early high profile athlete adopters of NFTs after his purchase of a Bored Ape. Afterall, that seems to be the move that other celebs have aped into, from the Wolf of Wall Street to DJ Steve Aoki. Buy the Bored Ape, flex it on social, and then roll out your own branded NFT project. For celebs who get it, they will understand this is more than a one-time cash grab, but has the potential to serve as a long-term runway of personal brand building and fan engagement. Just like in web 2.0, it will be painfully obvious which athletes let their management teams run their persona, and who are authentically engaging with the community, in addition to picking up their royalties.
Steph Curry seems to know the media game well, so I expect his personal brand to be a natural fit for metaverse projects. Which bodes well for Under Armour and the siloed Curry Brand moving into the future.
Of course the elephant in the room is Nike, who is not so silently waiting in the wings, after having acquired metaverse fashion house RTFKT a couple of weeks ago. Nike has a history of jumping into innovative formats, and soon becoming the leader, even if they weren't necessarily first. Given that Nike wrote the rules on the secondary sneaker market, the world of NFTs seems like a natural analog to apply that expertise in supply and demand to.
In the meantime, load up your MetaMasks and get ready for a series of virtual sneaker drops coming up soon.
