Quick take:
Launched in 2020, when NFTs and the metaverse were being hyped as the next major technological breakthroughs, RTFKT became one of the leading NFT projects by 2022.
Barely a year after buying RTFKT, Nike launched its own brand for digital collectibles, .Swoosh in November 2022.
In September 2024, the sportswear giant seemingly failed to include the RTFKT logo in an official announcement according to The Verge.
Popular digital wearables brand RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”) on Monday announced it is shutting down. “Today, we’re announcing the plan to wind down RTFKT operations,” RTFKT said in a statement on X. “To honor and preserve this pioneering legacy, we will be launching an updated website that showcases the groundbreaking work that defined the RTFKT journey.”
RTFKT launched in 2020, at the height of the non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse craze, quickly growing to become one of the biggest projects in the industry. Nike acquired RTFKT in December 2021 for an undisclosed fee, seven months after the project was valued at $33.3 million in May. The company played a key role in Nike’s record revenue from NFT sales in 2022.
As of August 2022, Nike topped NFT sales with $185 million. Three months later, the global sportswear and apparel giant launched its own branded collectibles platform, .Swoosh, intended to host Nike’s virtual apparel, footwear and accessories.
Although RTFK continued to feature alongside Nike’s digital collectibles branding, things changed in the last few months, with The Verge reporting in September that Nike did not include RTFKT’s logo alongside its Swoosh and Jordan Jumpman symbols in an announcement that John Donahoe was stepping down as CEO.
At the height of its digital collectibles journey, RTFKT collaborated with some of the most popular brands, creators and artists including Lexus, Takashi Murakami and Jeff Staple.
The decision to shut down comes at a time when interest in NFTs as digital collectibles continues to decline, with the industry seemingly now shifting towards NFTs as in-game items (skins, weapons, gatepasses, characters and avatars).
The company plans to release one final drop before shutting down in tribute to its commitment to “pushing boundaries and merging worlds.”
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