Adidas worked with Roblox creator @WhoseTrade on this virtual necklace, which came with customized F-50 Elite Laceless Fast Reborn FG Boots. The digital item sold for $20,000 in May.may be yesterday’s news to the media, but its incarnations live on, even thrive. Just don’t use the “m” word. Call itThe athleticwear and sneaker giant worked with @WhoseTrade, a 25-year-old Cleveland-based Roblox creator named Jonathan Courtney, in a UGC partnership.
For Adidas, which has staged a yearslong effort in gaming, that was no fluke. It’s all part of a strategy that has crystallized only recently, with its vision spawning a dedicated new business unit.Adidas opened its archive to inspire Courtney, then worked with Courtney, offering feedback on the @WhoseTrade drops, which resulted in a collection that swings from the delightfully absurd to the seriously coveted.
Burgess owns more than 5,000 limited items, but this necklace “is already a highlight of my collection,” he told WWD, “because not only do you receive the limited item that is resellable on the platform, but also a physical one-of-a-kind custom pair of Adidas shoes in the real world too.” This matters to the younger consumers who flock to games and fuels a cottage industry of avatar skins, hair and costumes. That’s also what attracts brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and many more to these platforms.
Of course, anything can happen over the next few years. What the company is sure about, however, is that it won’t be a purely digital play. At times, those efforts will include physical product, Wehner said.