Nike Are ‘Winding Down’ RTFKT! What the FKT?
, the pioneer advocates of web3 who were acquired by at great expense in 2021, have taken to X to announce they’re exiting the sneaker business. Despite multiple product releases throughout 2024, the Swoosh’s in-house NFT arm will cease operations sometime in January 2025.
RTFKT was acquired during former-Nike CEO reign, but the current CEO is taking Beaverton back to basics in a dramatic bid to refocus the brand on sport and product innovation. The abrupt closure is positioned by some as a poetic end to a potentially game-changing new field of design, but it seems Team Swoosh jumped the gun on the NFT wave, losing plenty of cash – absurd rumours on the internet have the tab as high as $1 billion – in an ultimately doomed investment.
So… What was RTFKT?
RTFKT, pronounced ‘artefact’, was founded in 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Steven Vasilev and Chris Le to work with game engines to craft NFTs and AR experiences that transcended the physical borders of fashion. The trio had a big focus on artists, including sneaker legend , who was pictured in an iconic moment from 2021 wearing a VR headset as part of the NFT sneaker drop.
RTFKT x Nike, Explained
In December 2021, RTFKT was acquired by Nike as the brand made a strategic move to embrace a DTC sales policy and boost the brand’s digital clout among millennials and Gen Z consumers. Cyberspace creations were the priority, but IRL sneaks also dropped sporadically, including the and ‘Genesis’.
In November 2022, the new initiative, powered by blockchain, promised a utopian metaverse marketplace. .Swoosh allowed members to collect virtual products, with the occasional IRL footwear and apparel drop thrown in. Since then, a partnership with the Roblox video game saw the creation of where fans could play games and digitally dress their avatars. A bevy of NFT drops and collaborations with the likes of Takashi Murakami were also released. More recently, RTFKT’s was available in both physical and digital forms. This was the halcyon days of RTFKT, with publications like Highsnobiety , stating that RTFKT would jump over the Jumpman.
Here’s Why RTFKT is Cooked
The announcement looms as a blow for the web3 community, but is far from a surprise for many Nike and NFT observers. Since the initial boom of the early 2020s, interest in non-fungible tokens has waned, with the general public resisting the digital movement. The shift to trad-fashion came on the back of economic pressures that had many consumers demoting virtual creps to the bottom of their shopping list.
As we look back on the RTFKT era, sneakerheads will have mixed feelings about their trademark bitmap aesthetics. The collective emerged as part of the powerful first wave of NFT hoo-ha, but as the scene mutated fast, what was once seen as cutting-edge quickly degraded into a mashup of corny Cybertruck vibes that reminded older heads of Nike’s ‘Bionicle’ colab with Lego from 2003. (And not in a good way.)
However, the biggest reason for RTFKT’s demise could simply be a shift in priorities at Nike. Coincidentally, the decision comes not long after Nike pulled the power plug on their . On July 5, 2024, Adapt was officially taken off the shelves, along with the companion app which launched with the in 2019. It seems ‘gimmicks’ laced with techy-talk and no tangible commercial audience are no longer welcome at Nike under Elliot Hill’s reign.
Leaving With a Trace
RTFKT leaves the Nike building with one final drop this December. It will be part of their MNLTH X series of NFTs, the digital cubes used to customise your Dunk Genesis, with the finale titled ‘BLADE DROP’. They will also honour their ephemeral four-year legacy with a web showcase of the best RTFKT moments.
Farewell RTFKT, an all-too short, , and ultimately doomed division at Nike!