Home
NFT Studio and Labs

RTFKT: The NFT studio acquired by Nike and created Clone X

by NFTmetria
05.11.2023
RTFKT: The NFT studio acquired by Nike and created Clone X

Table of contents

The future definitely belongs to digital technologies and metaverses. Some still find it hard to believe, but meanwhile there are more and more new projects that are confidently making their way in this direction. One of these startups is RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”), which recently literally took over the NFT fashion industry thanks to its collaboration with the Nike brand.

Is the hype around this studio justified and what can it offer to members of its community? Our experts have carefully studied this platform and are ready to share their observations with you.

What is RTFKT Studio?

RTFKT is a London based startup founded by three friends Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev. They managed to build one of the most dynamic and fastest growing NFT community in the world. At the moment, their Twitter account has nearly 400,000 followers, and they already have over a million loyal fans on TikTok. RTFKT uses the latest game engines, NFT technology, blockchain authentication and augmented reality (AR) techniques to create unique digital sneakers and artifacts.

The project will definitely be of interest to those who have been a “sneaker” and collected shoes from top brands such as Jordans, Yeezys, etc., as well as those who want to immerse themselves in the world of the metaverse and are looking for a suitable “springboard” for this.

RTFKT Official Links

Who are founders of RTFKT?

At the origins of RTFKT were three friends who founded the studio:

RTFKT founders NFT
Benoit, Steven and Chris

We do not have exact information about what the guys were doing before joining the NFT world. Unless you can say for sure that Benoit has a huge experience in building a strategy for the development of various brands and marketing. He has collaborated with major companies such as Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger, collaborating with other business giants such as Animal Crossing.

History of RTFKT

The RTFKT project was officially launched in January 2020. The team’s big advantage was that they were able to develop a strong business relationship with Apex Legends @PlayApex, a free-to-play battle royale shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. Initially, the project focused on creating custom digital sneakers and cool AR filters, sharing it on Instagram and TikTok. A good boost for the popularity of RTFKT was the Cybersneaker drop.

This cool sneaker release even caught the attention of celebs like Elon Musk and Kanye West.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJmlTrpVk-/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=c3fe7c6f-362d-4c4b-b583-039494b7e9f3

Other landmark RTFKT projects include the following initiatives:

  • The PS5 shoes are an innovative digital product. With the help of augmented reality elements and Snapchat lenses, anyone could try on the digital PS5 sneakers before buying.

  • The X Evolutions are the world’s first AI-powered digital running shoes. They were developed in real time and changed their appearance with each new offer.

https://twitter.com/RTFKT/status/1324443057295663105

  • The Meta Jacket is a versatile NFT accessory that can be worn across multiple metaverses – Decentraland, The Sandbox and Ready Player Me.

Acquisition of RTFKT by Nike

Gradually, the RTFKT studio gained momentum in popularity and began to stand out from its competitors. The three friends were doing so well that Nike Inc. took notice of their project and decided to acquire the studio in December 2021.

The news made a splash in the NFT community as it was Nike’s first big step into the metaverse. These two brands were expected to take the lead in the digital sneaker market.

According to Nike CEO John Donahoe, the collaboration with RTFKT will help the company accelerate the brand’s digital transformation and provide athletes with products at the intersection of fashion, sports, art and technology. Donahoe also shared his plans for the future, saying that Nike plans to invest in the development of the studio and expand the brand’s influence in the digital space.

RTFKT projects

RTFKT is now the focus of attention of the biggest authorities in the NFT industry. This allows the creators of the innovative project to hope for further success. Here are some of RTFKT’s stellar collaborations and sub-collections.

RTFKT x CryptoPunks Sneaker Drop

RTFKT CryptoPunks NFT
As a result of the collaboration, each CryptoPunk owner received these privileges

RTFKT partnered with Larva Labs, creators of CryptoPunks, in May 2021. This event stunned the NFT community and skyrocketed the price of CryptoPunks. To get unique digital sneakers, one had to own at least one CryptoPunk.

Each CryptoPunk owner got access to:

  • NFT 1/1 Punk Sneaker,
  • Forging 1 Complementary Physical sneaker,
  • 1/1 voxel portrait,
  • Metaverse Wearable voxel files.

Thus, users received NFTs of running shoes, physical running shoes, and running shoes for their characters in the metaverse.

RTFKT x Jeff Staple

Jeff Staple’s name began in the early 2000s when he partnered with Nike to create the iconic Staple x Nike SB Dunk “Pigeon” shoe (now valued in the tens of thousands of dollars). Then there was a period of calm, and in 2021 RTFKT representatives approached Jeff Staple with a proposal for cooperation. This is how Staple made its name in the history of digital sneakers. The collaborative drop was named Meta-Pigeon.

The RTFKT x Jeff Staple NFT collection had excellent sales dynamics. There was a time when tokens from this set were sold at a price of more than 20 ETH. Now the floor price is 0.269 ETH, and the trading volume has already exceeded 4k ETH.

RTFKT Jeff Staple NFT
NFT from the RTFKT x Jeff Staple collection

Clone X – X Takashi Murakami

At the end of 2021, RTFKT initiated the release of the Clone X collection with the participation of the famous Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. This is perhaps the most valuable NFT subproject released by RTFKT. Some even consider owning a Clone X to be equivalent to owning the Bored Ape Yacht Club or Azuki. Owning such a collectible is a dream come true for most people in the NFT space.

Clone X is a collection of 20,000 NFTs belonging to the PFP category. These are clone avatars that can be used in the metaverse. The presale price was set at 0.05 ETH ($132). As of today, the floor price is at the level of 3.05 ETH, and the total volume of sales has exceeded 390k ETH.

RTFKT Clone X - X Takashi Murakami NFT
Characters from the Clone X collection – X Takashi Murakami

The following gifts have been prepared for Clone X holders:

  • Space Pods which are RTFKT’s first step towards conquering the metaverse. The airdrop took place on December 25, 2021. These NFTs are Oncyber-powered virtual spaces where users can show off their NFTs and hang out with friends.

  • Loot Pods are standalone pods from RTFKT. Even if users don’t have Space Pods, they can use Loot Pods as a separate room. The airdrop took place on February 6, 2022.

  • Pod Creator Challenge. Clone X holders could take part in the challenge by creating 3D designs of their Loot Pods. The winners were given the opportunity to mint collectible items of their choice in the form of RTFKT Creator Collection NFTs and share the proceeds from NFTs sold.

MNLTH

In early February 2022, the studio released MNLTH (pronounced “monolith”) NFTs that were airdropped to Clone X holders.

This led to a significant increase in the price of Clone X, which reached 30 ETH ($80,000 at the then exchange rate). MNLTHs provided an immersive experience: they were made in the form of digital floating metal boxes. MNLTH holders, having opened their tokens, discovered three types of additional NFTs:

  1. RTFKT x Nike Genesis Dunk Cryptokicks,
  2. Skin Vial EVO X,
  3. MNLTH 2.

Now the floor price of the collection is 0.1995 ETH, and the total trading volume has exceeded 1.1k ETH.

RTFKT x FEWOCiOUS

RTFKT has collaborated with Las Vegas digital artist Victor Langlois, who goes by the pseudonym FEWOCiOUS. The collaboration resulted in a separate collection, the drop of which took place on the Nifty Gateway platform. The “gift set” included physical sneakers made with a striking design.

RTFKT FEWOCiOUS NFT
NFTs from a collection that was the result of a collaboration with FEWOCiOUS

To date, the minimum price for items from this collection is 0.678 ETH, which is very low compared to last summer, when they were sold at an average of 16 ETH ($41,966). The total trading volume reaches 4,918 ETH.

Ledger x RTFKT

At the end of February 2023, a new collaboration with Ledger became known, which is a collaboration of two industry giants. As a result, the market saw a joint educational program Ledger Quest and a joint NFT collection, whose digital assets can be exchanged for real Ledger branded hardware wallets.

RTFKT perspectives

On June 29, 2022, RTFKT representatives released an updated roadmap. However, it could hardly be called a roadmap in the usual sense of the word, since each milestone in it is represented by two emoji. Thus, representatives of the project prefer to keep the intrigue, and it must be said that such tactics are sometimes successful.

A lot of talk in the NFT community has been and is ongoing about the future appearance of the $Drip token, which was hinted at by the creators of the project. What functions will it perform? What real benefit will bring the owners? So far, the answers to these questions remain at the level of conjectures and rumors.

Only the following is known for certain:

  • The focus of RTFKT will remain NFT avatars and measures to further conquer the metaverse.
  • The studio is fully supported by Nike and has access to its marketing tools.
  • Members of the RTFKT community can expect to benefit from new collaborations.

Opinion of NFTmetria

The track record of the RTFTK studio is impressive. Its founders have shown that they have a sufficient level of knowledge, skills and business acumen to take their rightful place in the space.

Crafting art designs and characters that stand out from most projects in the NFT space, and bringing a real sense of utility to digital avatars has earned RTFKT the fame it deserves. The dedicated community sincerely believes that the Clone X collection alone can easily catch up with, and perhaps even bypass, NFT bison such as BAYC and CryptoPunks in popularity. And even despite the illusory nature of the project plans, there is no doubt that the team is preparing many more pleasant surprises for its fans.

Table of contents

Related Posts
Chiru Labs: The tech startup behind the popular Azuki and Beanz
Chiru Labs: The tech startup behind the popular Azuki and Beanz
Yuga Labs is the leading record company in the NFT market
Yuga Labs is the leading record company in the NFT market
Dapper Labs is the creator CryptoKitties, FLOW and NBA Top Shot
Dapper Labs is the creator CryptoKitties, FLOW and NBA Top Shot
NFT Investor Course for Free!

We will teach you how to analyze trends and find NFT grails. You will figure out how to build an amazing collection of NFTs that will increase in value faster than the market over time.

img-box
Do you want this? Do you want this?
test-img test-img
test-img test-img
test-img test-img
test-img test-img
test-img test-img
test-img test-img

Get the NFT Investor Introductory Course for Free!

You will learn in detail:

  • How to start investing in NFTs?
  • How to choose and analyze an NFT project?
  • How to choose an NFT for invest?
  • Most successful investment strategies
  • Tools for analyzing the NFT market
Go to bot!