Nike has launched .SWOOSH, a new web3 blockchain-powered platform to serve as a digital community and experience and serve as a home for Nike virtual creations.
The sportswear brand says that .SWOOSH will be an inclusive, equitable place for athletes, creators, collectors and consumers to design and own the future of sport.
Nike members will be able to learn about and collect virtual creations, which are typically interactive digital objects, such as virtual shoes or jerseys, that community members will soon be able to wear in digital games and immersive experiences.
Community members will also be able to unlock access to physical product or events like intimate conversations with athletes or designers.
“We are shaping a marketplace of the future with an accessible platform for the web3-curious,” said Ron Faris, general manager of Nike Virtual Studios.
“In this new space, the .SWOOSH community and Nike can create, share, and benefit together.”
At the moment, .SWOOSH is in beta, apparently, and registrations will open later this month.
Nike says that it will spend the rest of the year growing the platform with a community “as diverse and equitable as possible.”
The company says that it will prioritise local communities that Nike supports across its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, apparently. The US will be the first market in operation, before opening up to “select countries in Europe.” These countries will also require some “skill-building” so they are ready to participate — whatever that means.
Next year, Nike says it will unveil its first digital collection, inspired by .SWOOSH’s community. Shortly after the first digital collection drops, members will be able to enter a community challenge to win the opportunity to co-create virtual product with Nike. Those winners can earn a royalty on the virtual product they help co-create.
By creating .SWOOSH, Nike says that it is expanding the definition of sport by “democratizing the web3 experience so that everyone can collect, create and own a piece of this new digital world.”
