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In June of last year, Balmain unveiled its latest “it” sneaker: the Unicorn. With a moulded, aerodynamic silhouette, chunky sole and pointed toe, the $1,200 shoe was designed to look like something out of the metaverse, according to creative director Olivier Rousteing’s brief. Now, the sneaker is officially getting its digital counterpart.
Balmain will soon launch NFTs modelled on the Unicorn sneaker in a new colourway (with more to be announced) that will accompany physical versions of the shoes, as part of a partnership with digital wearable and experience startup Space Runners. The waitlist for the digital sneakers will open up this weekend, with the sale going live in March. Customers can pay in ETH or fiat currency, and the price and final quantity had yet to be determined as of press time. Customers will get a link to redeem their Unicorn NFT, a digital wearable with varying levels of features and rarity, including wearability in Space Runners’s forthcoming “fashion metaverse” gaming world.
Balmain has been a ready adopter of Web3 and NFTs, and this latest launch marks the first Balmain digital wearable that can be worn in a virtual world. It’s also the first NFT that can be purchased using fiat currency, and its first full NFT collection, positioning it as the brand’s first commercial Web3 project, Balmain CMO Txampi Diz says. Other launches have been much smaller in scale and seen more as collectibles than wearables.
Past NFTs span a one-of-one “Flame” dress for the launch of Vogue Singapore in August 2021, a collaboration with Barbie and a partnership with celebrity gym Dog Pound, which included three physical B-Bold Sneakers. To launch the Unicorn, artist Jeff Cole created three videos featuring the shoes, sold as NFTs. In October 2022, Balmain announced the launch of what it calls the Balmain Thread, an initiative to weave these projects together by, for example, offering special event access to holders of any of its NFT projects.
“We have a very engaged and active Web2 community, and little by little we are educating them into Web3, and also building a bridge between Web2 and Web3 communities,” Diz says, and this latest project with Space Runners is another effort to bridge those communities, as its appeal stands to blend sneaker enthusiasts with NFT collectors. “It creates the link between both.”
Space Runners’s creative director Rohan Chhabra, who previously worked in design at companies including Nike and Ralph Lauren, wanted to maintain Balmain’s visual language while building out the Unicorn storyline as a mythical creature. The digital shoes don’t directly replicate the physical versions — references span fire elements, the Baroque period, “solar punks” and time-travelling “chrononauts”; expect new features for digital Unicorns, including, for example, flying and levitating.
This is the first time Space Runners has worked on a phygital project. Space Runners is planning a more robust avatar-customisation, fashion try-on and meta-commerce experience in the future, says co-founder and CEO Won Soh. The Balmain utilities might expand to include access to purchase metaverse wearables, augmented reality wearables or physical accessories, and access to events. Basically, he says, the goal is to create something that “looks extremely cool and unlocks things that were not possible”.
This project will debut at the NFT.Paris conference, just days before the brand’s 1 March womenswear show at Paris Fashion Week, where Web3 networking events are spilling over into fashion-industry cocktail parties. This overlap is appropriate, as the world of NFT collectors has a lot in common with fashionable sneakerheads: both are fuelled by hype and scarcity, contingent on speculative resale value and a close-knit sense of belonging. This has led to a spate of sneaker NFT projects from both established physical brands and digital-first startups. But, in recent months, both the NFT and sneaker markets have faced saturation and a slow-down in momentum that is both disappointing and necessary, say those in the industry.
This project hopes to bridge that divide, perhaps re-energising collectors from both sides and offering a look at how longer-term commercial phygital projects might play out in luxury: with enhanced benefits and a scarcity model that borrows from Web3 while keeping one foot squarely in the comfort of Web2. This Balmain first “had to be with an iconic product,” Diz says. “There is nothing more iconic than the Unicorn, and there is a link between the sneaker community and Web3 NFT community. They are very intertwined.”
A waxing and waning “sneakerverse”
Collectible sneakers and NFTs often attract the same audiences, with sneakers being the first fashion category to take off in Web3, and sneakerheads perhaps the most receptive fashion audience to these technologies. It’s no surprise that NFT launches from sneaker giants Nike, Adidas and Puma were some of the splashiest, and that digital-first sneaker startups such as Rtfkt, Cult & Rain and Aglet saw relatively meteoric momentum as the market became flooded with projects with varying levels of credible provenance.
It’s a tougher market for both sneakers and NFTs. In the last quarter of 2022, none of the top 10 products on the Lyst Index, which measures searches for apparel, were sneakers; instead they were slingbacks, boots, court shoes and clogs. Global sales of “sports-inspired footwear” (excluding performance and outdoor shoes) were about $66 billion in 2022, and the pace of growth will decrease in the near future to about 3 per cent yearly, compared to the 7 to 9 per cent seen before the pandemic, says Marguerite Le Rolland, industry manager of apparel and footwear at Euromonitor International. Still, key markets such as the US, UK and APAC are driving growth, as the sportswear aesthetic becomes ubiquitous and marketing propels demand for streetwear and sportswear aesthetics, Le Rolland adds. “In key sportswear markets like the US and UK, consumers are still looking to these styles as a priority since it suits their focus on comfort and their multiple needs in hybrid, migratory working mode.”
Signs that the sneaker bubble has burst, as part of a rebound from the pandemic’s scarcity and casual dress code, have since led to oversaturation: “Last year’s designers overproduced sneakers and the market is flooded with stock,” says George Yang, founder of Web3 phygital fashion brand Cult & Rain, whose core product is still sneakers. “I’ve heard from friends and family inside the industry that wholesalers and brands are sitting on a lot of stock.”
The NFT market is undergoing a similar fate, due to shrinking crypto values and a supply that far outweighs the number of crypto wallets being created. The value of ETH 1 has declined from a high of more than $4,600 in November 2021 to a value that is about $1,600 recently, and the frenzied pace of 10,000-strong PFP launches has dimmed dramatically.
For the most recent projects, including Balmain’s Unicorn drop, this has meant focusing on long-term value and a realistic understanding of customer experience, often translating into a combination of both digital and physical and a Web2.5 mindset.
“Our approach is to really integrate a Web3 experience when it really makes sense to a project, and from my point of view, we are being quite conservative,” Diz says, who thinks that the concept of “Web3” better describes the current climate than that of “metaverse”, especially in terms of it being a natural successor to the social media culture that defined Web2. “This is a phenomenon that has been happening gradually in the last 10 years. Web2 is becoming less relevant, and the ROI is not the same as it used to be, so Web3 is that next step.”
His vision for a successful Web3 project has already shifted dramatically in the few years since NFTs have become fashionable. “The days of NFTs sold for millions? Those days are over — and that is something healthy.” Instead, he sees the future of Balmain NFTs as a powerful CRM tool that can add an extra layer to existing events and products. “With Web3, there is no one single formula,” Diz says. “Every brand has to find its own way.”
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Balmain launches Web3 hub at Paris Fashion Week
