From Nike’s innovative partnership with RTFKT, and Adidas’ team up with Prada, footwear companies are continuously taking advantage of the metaverse and now German sportswear PUMA has joined the space as well.
PUMA has announced Black Station, its very first metaverse website experience that was unveiled at New York Fashion Week, a digital initiative that features exclusive NFTs and limited editionredeemable physical sneakers which is part of its ‘FUTROGRADE’ show.
The brand’s all-new immersive and interactive website allows customers to enter PUMA’s future and experience Web3 activations for a year and beyond.
Adam Petrick, PUMA’s Chief Brand Officer said, “Twenty years ago, Black Station was PUMA’s home for our most innovative designs in fashion. 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, sports performance, our heritage classics, and innovation.”
Starting September 7th, the first two portals of Black Station revealed exclusive, never-seen-before Nitro NFRNO and Nitro Fastroid sneakers that are both linked to PUMA’s NFT NitroPass mint. Owners who minted a Nitropass will also have access to a duo of NFTs, one of which will be related to physical products while the other will grant access to a customized experience that will be linked to their chosen sneaker.
Heiko Desens, Global Creative Director and Head of Innovation commented, “Our team of designers took a lot of liberties when envisioning these footwear styles. We told them the sky is the limit. As a result, we were able to harness their creativity without the typical confines and limitations of our shoe production process. What is just as impressive as the actual designs is the fact that we were actually able to work with development to bring these stunning designs to life.”
You can check out PUMA’s Black Station website right now.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
