Nike could soon join other luxury retailers and sell virtual trainers.
The sportswear giant has filed trademarks to sell digital clothes, shoes, and other items with its iconic swoosh logo.
The company filed seven US Patent and Trademark Office applications last week for use on “downloadable virtual goods”, namely computer programs that feature footwear, clothing and headwear, as well as bags, sport bags, backpacks and sports equipment, art, toys and accessories, for online and virtual worlds.
Nike could soon sell virtual trainers, joining luxury retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue. The sportswear giant has filed trademarks to sell digital clothes, shoes, and other branded items with the famous swoosh logo. Stock image
The petition also included the ‘Just Do It!’ tagline as well as the silhouette of Michael Jordan, the ‘Jumpman.
It comes as other fashion houses explore the metaverse – and Facebook changed their name from ‘Meta.
In March, Gucci revealed they would be selling a pair of shoes for £8.99 that could only be worn virtually, while Puma, Reebok and Farfetch also all have online-only ranges.
Purchases of shoes or clothing from the retailer allow users to walk around in virtual reality as an avatar and play games in virtual world in designer clothes.
Sources close to Nike say virtual rollouts are a top priority.
The company filed seven US Patent and Trademark Office applications last week for use on “downloadable virtual goods”, namely computer programs that feature footwear, clothing and headwear, as well as bags, sport bags, backpacks and sports equipment, toys and accessories for online use and in virtual worlds.
The shoe comes a mid a a craze of ‘non-fungible tokens’ (NFT) which is taking the internet by storm.
An NFT (Non-Founding Transfer) is a digital asset unique in its own right that has been encrypted with the creator’s sign, which verifies it as their original work. NFTs made by musicians and famous artists have seen an increase in popularity and are now a highly sought-after collectible item.
Earlier this year, TikTok star Nathan Apodaca said he was selling one of his viral video clips as a non-fungible token (NFT) – and he expects bidding to start at $500,000.
NFTs, sometimes pronounced ‘nifties’, are similar to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum in that they live on blockchain networks – a decentralized, distributed ledger that records transactions of digital assets.
NFTs, unlike other cryptocurrency, are not fungible. This means that they cannot be traded for another. The digital assets are collectors’ valuable and can be used to represent images, GIFs and music.
NFTs have been around since years. However, their popularity has increased rapidly in recent weeks due to a few sales that were very expensive.
NFTs generated $45.2million in sales in seven days of February – while attracting attention from top investors like Mark Cuban.
Facebook announced last week that they would be rebranding their parent company and will now go under the name Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of social media giant Facebook, has made the change to try and distance himself from mounting scandals following leaked documents by whistleblowers that claimed that its platforms had harmed users and stoked hatred.
The announcement was made Thursday at the Facebook Connect virtual and augmented reality conference. Workers from the Silicon Valley headquarters pulled down the curtain bearing the iconic Like’ sign of the company to reveal the new name.
The term “metaverse” could refer to digital spaces that are made more real-lifelike by the use virtual reality or augmented realities.
Meta is Zuckerberg’s vision of the company’s transition to shared augmented reality where users can work and play in virtual worlds.
Microsoft is also making meetings on its chat app Teams immersive to compete with Facebook’s metaverse’.
The technology giant has announced it’s rolling out Mesh – its recently-announced mixed reality platform – to Teams from early next year.
This will allow Teams users to appear as a customized 3D virtual avatar in Microsoft’s version of a virtual space called the metaverse.