Puma's First Metaverse Experience Lets You Redeem NFTs as Real Sneakers

Puma, the German sports apparel giant, has announced the unveiling of its first-ever metaverse website experience called Black Station. It features exclusive non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with limited edition redeemable physical sneakers which will be launched as part of its ‘Futrograde' show during the ongoing New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Puma Black Station is meant to be an immersive and interactive portal for consumers to experience the future of the brand. Puma now joins Adidas Originals as the latest sportswear brand to launch digital collectibles.

On the metaverse website, visitors will enter a hyper-realistic digital lobby space with three separate portals. The first two portals, accessible from September 7, will unveil exclusive never-seen-before Nitro NFRNO and Nitro Fastroid sneakers linked to Puma's recent Nitropass NFT mint. The sneakers made their debut at NYFW.

The Black Station metaverse is created by venture company FTR. The metaverse is designed with Unreal Engine 5 with support for cutting-edge graphics.

“Twenty years ago, Black Station was Puma's home for our most innovative designs in fashion," said Adam Petrick, Puma's Chief Brand Officer. "Given the boundaries we are pushing from a product design and digital standpoint, we found it fitting to bring Black Station back as a new portal for digital exploration across fashion, sport performance, our heritage classics, and innovation."

It is worth noting that this is not Puma's first foray into Web 3. Earlier this year, Puma integrated NFTs in a sponsorship campaign with football club Manchester City, including limited edition NFTs of Puma boots worn by footballer Sergio Aguero.

Puma's Futrograde collection is the latest in a trend of clothing and luxury brands releasing physical items tied to digital assets, called “phygitals.” In May of this year, the luxe brand Prada released NFTs that could be redeemed for physical items like shirts.

Puma's use of a metaverse space is not new either. Brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Estee Lauder have designed similar spaces for individuals to browse digital representations of their products up-close.