Popular footwear company Nike is sunsetting its NFT fashion studio RTFKT after operating it for three years. RTFKT’s X handle revealed that operations will cease in January 2025.
Founded in 2020, RTFKT gained prominence for blending fashion and digital art to create sneakers with NFT and physical versions. One of its early successes was a collaboration with digital artist FEWOCiOUS, which generated over $3 million in sales in just seven minutes. Another notable drop it launched was the Clone X digital collectibles, developed with renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, further solidifying its position as a leader in the NFT space.
In December 2021, Nike acquired RTFKT, paving the way for various projects combining the fashion giant’s mascot and Web3 technology. A year later, Nike launched .Swoosh, an in-house platform for digital collectibles, allowing the footwear firm to bring its products and branding into the NFT realm. These initiatives offered a new way for fans and collectors to engage with the brand. Some time ago, Nike’s integration with RTFKT and .Swoosh propelled it to the second-leading position among fashion brands with the highest number of NFT collections.
As part of its winding down process, RTFKT announced it would showcase the “groundbreaking work that defined the RTFKT journey.”
The NFT fashion studio will end its business operations with an NFT drop, dubbed the MNLTH X. Scheduled for launch this month, this initiative will feature the BLADE DROP, serving as a testament to the project’s efforts to bridge diverse worlds with the non-fungible realm.
In what appeared to be an appreciation and reassurance to its community, RTFKT wrote:
“To our community of visionaries, artists, and believers: Thank you. You didn’t just witness the future of creativity – you helped shape it. That’s the true RTFKT legacy: showing the world that when you dare to imagine differently, you can transform culture itself. The revolution we started lives on through every creator we inspired.”
Although RTFKT may be sunsetting activities, Nike’s .Swoosh remains fully operational, showing that the fashion giant is still very interested in the non-fungible business and is resolving to continue offering its fans non-fungible benefits.
