Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse (ITM): Become part of the global brand

When the world-famous sportswear brand Adidas Originals announced its desire to break into the metaverse, it was not wasting words. On December 17, 2021, all 30,000 NFT tokens of the company were minted, and this collection was called Into the Metaverse (ITM).

Given the frenzied excitement created by the collection, the company will not stop there. Moreover, Adidas needs to survive in competition with Nike, its sworn rival, which has already managed to create its own Nikeland metaverse.

So what’s behind the Into the Metaverse NFT collection from Adidas Originals? Are its creators driven by a thirst for hype or a desire to bring real utility to the community? We will talk about this and much more in today’s review.

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse Official Links

• Official site https://www.adidas.co.uk/metaverse
• Twitter @indigo_herz – over 22k readers,
• Instagram @adidasoriginals – over 34 million subscribers,
• Discord @adidas – over 54k members

What is Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse (ITM)?

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse (ITM) is the first sportswear line in the history of the Adidas that was issued in the form of 30,000 ERC-1155 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created in collaboration with such giants of the crypto market as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Punk Comics, as well as with the participation of a crypto investor and influencer known under the alias Gmoney. The collection brought together both digital garments and corresponding physical items.

The launch of ITM was preceded by several weeks of hype raised by Adidas around the cryptocurrencies and the metaverse. On November 22, 2021, company bought 144 pieces of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse for 400 ETH (approximately $1.7 million). Thus, the foundation for AdiVerse, the Adidas universe in the digital world, was laid.

adiVerse anyone? 🤔

What should we build, together in @TheSandboxGame? ⬇️ https://t.co/VbAdIi9cxN

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) November 22, 2021

Also, a partnership between Adidas and the Coinbase exchange was announced over time.

We’ve partnered with @coinbase.
Probably nothing.

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) November 24, 2021

The most significant event, however, was the purchase of the Bored Ape # 8774 token for 46 ETH. The new owners named the token Indigo Herz and dressed it in a yellow tracksuit that features the logos of the four founders of the collection – BAYC, Adidas, Punk Comics and Gmoney.

Indigo Herz, set by Adidas as a profile picture on its Twitter page, is described on the official website as a rebellious optimist who sees the world through heart eyes.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/Dve8TbXT9k

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) December 2, 2021

Early access to the first 20,000 NFT ITM was provided to users who already held tokens from Adidas Originals, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Pixel Vault.

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse in numbers

• A collection of 30,000 tokens was launched on December 17, 2021,
• At the time of launch, the cost of a mint was 0.2 ETH per mint,
• As for the Whitelist, token holders from Adidas Originals, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Pixel Vault received early access to minting. And the public sale ended 6 minutes after it started.
• Adidas Originals initially sold 29,620 of its 30,000 tokens, earning over $22 million.
• The remaining 380 NFTs were reserved by Adidas ITM and partners for their own needs.
• The whole project consists of 3 Phases, each of which provides benefits, gifts and various goodies for NFT owners. Phase 2 is now officially underway,
• Initially, all 29,620 NFTs were presented in the form of one Phase 1 token, which is an entrance ticket to the community and the project as a whole,
• Out of 29,620 tokens, only 5,822 have remained unburned at the moment, and the rest have evolved into a Phase 2 token. And it gives new benefits, free airdrop and real branded gifts,
• The project is ranked 36th among the best collections in terms of sales of all time on the largest NFT marketplace OpenSea,
• Total secondary sales exceeded 48k (over $78 million at current exchange rates),
• Floor price is 0.3 ETH (about $500),
• Average sales are in the range from 0.28 ETH to 0.5 ETH,

Data (including exchange rates) are given at the time of publication of the article

Who founded Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse?

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse was born from the co-branding of Adidas with three major NFT market players:

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). This is a world-famous NFT collection by Yuga Labs consisting of 10,000 tokens of stylish bored apes. Membership in this elite club comes with holding one of the BAYC tokens, each worth about $200,000 in December 2021. Adidas ITM joined BAYC by acquiring the Bored Ape #8774 token as a symbol of the Into the Metaverse collection.
2. Punks Comics. This is a team of comic book writers whose main mission is to bring NFTs to life. Punks Comics is working to provide names, physical appearances, and backgrounds to prominent metaverse NFT collections. The collaboration between Adidas and Punk Comics was to include co-created products, as well as Forum, Campus and Superstar sneakers from Adidas that would appear in the new edition of the comic.
3. Gmoney. He is a well-known crypto investor and trader who is on the Fortune NFTy 50 list of the most significant influencers in the NFT world. Gmoney has educated and attracted many new users to the NFT space. On the official website of Adidas ITM, he is represented in the form of a darkened silhouette in a hoodie and with his famous orange beanie purchased in January 2021 for $170,000.

Erika Wykes-Sneyd, Vice President of Brand Communications of Adidas Originals believes Gmoney, Punks Comic and BAYC play an important role in helping Adidas enter the metaverse effectively.

In particular, Sean Gearin, founder of Punks Comics and Pixel Vault, specializes in intellectual property rights in the context of crypto projects. And Gmoney will continue to attract new users to the collection, as he stands for an open and inclusive metaverse accessible to everyone.

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse Idea

According to Erika Wykes-Sneyd, the launch of Into the Metaverse collection was an important strategic step. It is in line with the company’s commitment to constantly bring original ideas to lifem acting with “rebellious optimism.”

And the key idea of the ITM project was to enable users to express themselves by means of stylish accessories from the Adidas brand, both in the real and in the digital worlds.

Why is the Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse popular?

The excitement around ITM collection is easy to explain.

It gives token owners cool benefits:

• the opportunity to become the owner of digital tokens and real branded clothing from Adidas;
• the right to access The Sandbox metaverse where you can attend interesting events and engage in joint creativity;
• membership in the NFT club claiming to become the leader of digital fashion.
• ownership of exclusive physical goods (Indigo Herz-style tracksuit, hoodie with a blockchain address printed on it, the iconic Adicolor Firebird tracksuit; Gmoney’s orange beanie).

The growing popularity of fashion trends in the NFT industry adds value to the ITM collection as well.

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse Roadmap

On January 19, 2022, Adidas ITM announced on Twitter that it was working on the first roadmap for the Into the Metaverse project.

gm Into the Metaverse community 👋
 
We’re working hard to bring you our first ever Into the Metaverse (ITM) roadmap. In the meantime, we have some exciting updates for you.
1/5

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) January 19, 2022

At the moment, Adidas ITM is not revealing any other details regarding its plans for the future. However, Indigo Hertz said they would be expanding and deepening their collections of virtual and physical gear.

3 Phases of the Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse

Initially, the team broke the ITM development path into 3 Phases, which are being successfully implemented. Currently, the company is officially in Phase 2.

Phase 1

The Phase 1 token was an entrance ticket to the project. ITM holders connected their wallets to the ITM website and ordered one real product for every NFT held in the wallet. An order for a physical product led to the burning of the token in the owner’s wallet. Instead of the burned NFT, a 2 Phase token was awarded.

The first Phase also included the launch of several community projects:

• gmoney announced the beginning of cooperation between Adidas ITM and the world-famous brand Prada. As part of the joint action, brands sought to bring together participants from the world of fashion, design and cryptocurrencies to jointly create digital art at scale.

adidas x prada. soon.#adidasforPradaNFT #createdwithadidas @adidasoriginals @prada pic.twitter.com/fTdlTLXz8E

— gmoney.9dcc.e τh (@gmoneyNFT) January 19, 2022

• ITM team has also partnered with WAGMI United to become the official kit supplier for Crawley Town FC.

Phase 2

The official launch of Phase 2 took place on April 29, 2022. Officially, the project is still in this phase.

Hey Into the Metaverse NFT holders, 

It’s time to move into phase 2, claim your exclusive physical ITM merch at https://t.co/m70gU99NQA.
1/6 pic.twitter.com/7RLDQ0rS2b

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) April 28, 2022

Community members got the opportunity to use their 3D tokens to purchase exclusive physical goods. To do this, they only had to apply on the official website and pay for gas. Other expenses, including delivery and logistics, were covered by the organizers. And in June 2022, each owner of the ITM token received a mysterious NFT capsule with a surprise in it after the largest airdrop in the history of NFT.

Phase 3 (UNBOXED)

The team does not officially confirm the transition of the project to Phase 3, but on November 5, 2022, gift capsules evolved into a collection under the intriguing name The Impossible Box. After updating the metadata, the owners were able to reveal the contents of the capsules, and they deiscovered the unique Adidas Virtual Gear NFT collection, which included 16 different clothing options.

The goodies from the Adidas metaverse don’t stop there. The team’s future plans include:

• creation of a new creative studio dedicated to the development of the project strategy, products and technologies, as well as the development of partnerships with other brands (Q1 – Q2 of 2023).
• establishment of a reference group to discuss ambitious project plans;
• creation of a separate PFP collection of tokens.

Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse Ecosystem

In November 2022, in addition to the main basic collection, the team released the first derivative collection of Adidas Virtual Gear. This is a set of digital clothing items from a well-known brand, made in 16 different variations. Tokens from the Adidas Virtual Gear collection can be used in other identity-based projects, PFP collections and virtual worlds.

At the same time, a tool called the PFP Styling Tool was introduced, with which Adidas Virtual Gear holders can style their avatars of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club or Inhabitants (MetaHero) tokens. This requires owning a partner NFT and an item from the Virtual Gear Collection.

Introducing the adidas PFP Styling Tool. 😍

Your gear. For your PFP. Live now at https://t.co/66p1ceqXxr.

1/5

— ALTS by adidas (@altsbyadidas) November 30, 2022

How much does Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse cost?

On December 17, 2021, a mint was worth 0.2 ETH. The closed pre-sale was then available to token holders from Adidas Originals, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Pixel Vault. And the public sale was completed 6 minutes after the opening.

Then only one ITM token of the Phase 1 went on sale, which is an entrance ticket to the project. Therefore, there will be no data on interesting and expensive sales within the collection. But this does not mean that the public’s interest in the project has faded. Just the opposite, anyway.

For clarity, we will only demonstrate the price dynamics at the average price for 1 NFT:

• in January 2021 – 0.9 ETH,
• in March 2022 – 1.4 ETH,
• in June 2022 – 1.3 ETH,
• in September 2022 – 0.5 ETH,
• in December 2022 – 0.4 ETH.

Now (February 2023) the minimum price is 0.3 ETH. On average, the latest sales are in the range of 0.28-0.5 ETH. And the total volume of secondary sales amounted to more than 48k ETH (about $78 million).

Where to buy NFTs Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse?

Currently, NFTs Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse can only be purchased on the secondary market on such marketplaces as OpenSea, Rarible, CoinBase, LooksRare.

How to buy Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse?

1. Remember that initially you need to connect your crypto wallet with self-storage to the marketplace of your choice.
2. Next, find the official collection using the search bar on the marketplace,
3. Analyze and choose the NFT you want to buy; click on it and then on the “Buy” button.
4. Or you can bet on the token you like. Make sure you leave enough ETH for gas or transaction fees. If the seller approves your bid, the deal goes through.

Should you invest in Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse?

Investors should take a closer look at the ITM NFT collection from Adidas Originals and here’s why:

• major NFT players participated in the launch of the ITM project – BAYC, Punk Comics and gmoney. That speaks in favor of the reliability and prospects of the collection;
• the relatively low cost of ITM tokens opens up opportunities for successful NFT trading;
• Adidas ITM team is focused on further conquering the metaverse, which promises additional bonuses and privileges for community members.
• the project is officially only in the Phase 2 of its development, and the team doesn’t reveal short-term and long-term plans, thus keeping the intrigue.

But in any case, do your own in-depth analysis and research when investing in NFTs, and then make your own decision.

Opinion of NFTMetria

The metaverse in the vision of Adidas is a world with limitless possibilities, where everyone can realize their craziest ideas and get a decent reward for them. While this metaverse has yet to be launched in full, Adidas ITM collection opens the door to this world for everyone to enjoy. Participating in exciting digital events, owning stylish branded accessories, and being part of a close-knit community are some of the greatest benefits of joining Adidas club.

It is also worth noting that Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second largest in the world, being second only to Nike. And it can’t enter the Web3 world in a modest or unprofessional way. The brand’s reputation obliges it to match its impressive scale and global launches, and that takes time. Therefore, it is safe to say that investors may count on future goodies from that project.