Adidas and Prada are extending their collaboration to include a first-of-its-kind sustainable NFT launch into the Metaverse.
In a bid to push their sustainability agendas, recent collaborators Adidas and Prada have joined forces on their first cooperative NFT, in collaboration with digital artist Zach Lieberman. The first-of-its-kind NFT will donate proceeds from the sales to charity, as well as support the artist and community creators.
In a statement released by Adidas, the brand says the collaboration, officially named Adidas for Prada Re-Source, will feature user-generated and creator-owned art aimed at bridging participants across fashion, design, and crypto “to co-create a large-scale digital artwork inspired by the physical Re-Nylon collection.”
Prada x Adidas
Earlier this month, Prada and Adidas launched a collaboration that saw classic Adidas apparel, including its iconic tracksuit, made over in Prada’s Re-Nylon. The material is the brainchild of the label head Miuccia Prada. It’s made from Econyl, a regenerated nylon yarn designed for indefinite recycling. All of Prada’s nylon is now made from the recycled material.
The collaborative NFT project is asking fans and customers to contribute to the open-Metaverse NFT project. Adidas says 3,000 community-sourced artworks “will be minted as NFTs and compiled as tiles in a single mass-patchwork NFT,” which will be designed by Lieberman. “A truly collaborative endeavour—participation in the Adidas for Prada Re-Source NFT project is completely free, and contributors will maintain full ownership rights over their individual NFT tiles,” the company said.
Lieberman’s final NFT will be auctioned on SuperRare, one of the leading NFT auction platforms. Proceeds will go to the nonprofit Slow Factory, which works to support marginalized communities.
“In an era defined by climate catastrophe, we recognize the urgent imperative to redesign all human activity. Our methodology applies ancestral wisdom to scientific and technological innovation to turn segregated systems into holistic ecosystems,” reads the Slow Factory website. “We embrace plurality to decentralize solutions that repair and nurture global-majority communities impacted by colonialism.”
The brands say the launch is an homage to “open innovation.” They say the NFTs and Web3 technology will be used to reward participation in a “new kind of collective rooted in ownership, authenticity, and community.” To that, Adidas and Prada collaborated with Polygon Studios to build the project on its Polygon network. It is a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.
Adidas debuted its first NFT last month. Into the Metaverse minted 30,000 NFTs to more than 21,000 buyers. That was a collaborative effort with gmoney, PUNKS Comic and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Beginning on January 24th, anyone with a digital wallet can register for a chance to create and mint their NFT as part of the Adidas for Prada Re-Source project. Approved participants will be able to submit a photograph using a filter created by Lieberman. The brands say the 3,000 contributors will be selected at random, with 1,000 spots reserved for holders of the Adidas Originals Into the Metaverse NFT. There will also be 500 spots reserved for users who tried but were unable to mint the Into the Metaverse NFT.
The finished artwork will be on display as a large-scale digital art installation in selected Prada and Adidas locations worldwide. The project will be sold as a one-of-one NFT between January 28th and 31st.
The metaverse
The metaverse is expected to see a swell of sustainability and wellness efforts. In a recent post on Eco-Age, founder of the creative agency and environmentalist Olivia Firth announced the launch of the Eco-Verse.
“If I look back at how 2021 ended—two things immediately come to mind: the fatigue of still living with the reality of a global pandemic and how it shaped our daily lives, and the curiosity about this thing called Metaverse,” she wrote.
Firth says the agency’s Eco-Verse division will advise clients on how to enter the NFT and metaverse world making sure they respect “both environmental and social standards.”
The move is born out of her frustration with the industry, specifically Meta, formerly Facebook. “In [Mark] Zuckerberg’s hands, the vision of sociality, community, and experience existing on this frontier will be devastatingly limited and inevitably structured by harm,” she wrote.
“This epoch promises plenty of disruption. But whether or not this is welcome depends on how we steer a course through change,” Firth said.
Other efforts are aimed at bringing healing to and through the Metaverse. Last week, Ei.Ventures announced its plans to open a psychedelic wellness treatment center on a plot of land it opened in the Sandbox.
