What Puma, adidas, Gucci Partnerships With Meta, BAYC And CryptoPunks Mean for Fashion Retail

Increased focus on identity and representation; new engagement driven distribution models; value through community; increased brand awareness and additional revenue streams are all born from partnerships between fashion brands and Web3 projects.

Meta is building out the fashion component of its Meta Avatars Store, partnering with Puma on seven sporty looks launching May 1. Puma will join brands like Balenciaga and Prada. Meta has additionally introduced new more representative body shapes and overhauled its avatars’ hair and clothing textures so they appear more realistic.

“Self-expression and representation matter — it’s what makes your avatar feel like you — and we’ll continue adding more customization options to Meta Avatars over time, working towards a future where everyone can create an avatar they love” said Meta in a statement.

Puma is also teaming up with 10KTF on Grailed PUMA Slipstream, a limited sneaker release for Yuga’s 10KTF community and holders of Puma’s own Nitro nonfungible token collection. (Holders can acquire physical customizations of Puma’s Slipstream sneaker tailored to their avatar plus an NFT counterpart that can be used within the 10KTF ecosystem.)

According to Puma the aim is to create a new distribution system favoring direct engagement over mass production. “We want to continuously reimagine the traditional sneaker release format,” added Puma chief brand officer Adam Petrick in a statement.

The announcements coincide with 10KTF parent Yuga Labs’ second anniversary on April 30. To date, Yuga Labs NFT projects (including Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, 10KTF) have variously joined forces with fashion houses such as adidas, Gucci and Puma.

Following a previous collaboration between Gucci and 10KTF, Gucci announced a further partnership with Yuga Labs Otherside metaverse last month.

Sports giant, adidas began its own metaverse journey by partnering with Web3 communities like Yuga’s BAYC and CryptoPunks.

While adidas’ new Indigo Herz Pack )limited edition Superstar sneakers and hoodies to which adidas ALTS holders have token gated access before a public sale on May 5) features an image of Bored Ape #8774, it’s not technically a partnership. Adidas owns #8774 as a company which means it also owns the IP rights to use the image commercially.

It’s the same principle that allowed Tiffany to create CryptoPunk pendants for individual CryptoPunk holders. Yuga’s terms and conditions state that owners of said NFTs also own commercial IP rights. Nonetheless, the value of community is still evinced by both.

Decentralized application store Dapp Radar has released a report analyzing the $4 billion Yuga Labs ecosystem within the context of the NFT market at large.

According to the findings, Yuga’s total of 16 NFT projects represents 34.6% of the entire NFT industry with a total trading volume of $2 billion in the past two quarters.

The report attributes much of Yuga’s success to the aforementioned value its projects bring to their community of holders plus its integrations with culture — not least luxury fashion and sportswear.

The relationship is also a symbiotic one, notes the report. The partnerships provide “significant brand awareness for all parties involved plus additional revenue streams.”

“They have significantly contributed to Yuga’s success in the NFT space and also reinforced its position as a prominent player and instilled greater trust in the brand,” said blockchain analyst Sara Gherghelas via email.

“Yuga Labs has consistently emphasized exclusivity, which aligns well with the ethos of these brands, further enhancing the perceived value and appeal of their collections,” she added.

Yuga launched its flagship NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club in April 2021. It released spinoffs Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club in June and August 2021, acquiring CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs the following spring. It added WENEW to its portfolio along with the latter’s 10KTF project in November. WENEW was cofounded by Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple, credited with creating world’s most expensive NFT sale. His “First 5000 Days” went for $69.3 million.