Adidas track jackets are the latest Snapchat avatar virtual apparel

Adidas is dropping a version of its new Web3 wearables on Snapchat so consumers can outfit Bitmoji avatars with the latest virtual fashion, even if they aren’t NFT aficionados. The campaign is the latest sign that brands are pushing into virtual commerce and making Web3 fashion statements, while using social media platforms such as Snap to market their metaverse activations.

On Tuesday, Adidas and Snapchat announced the “Bitmoji drop,” which is a virtual retail channel for Snapchat to sell digital goods. The campaign coincides with the FIFA World Cup, of which Adidas is an official sponsor. Adidas will sell the virtual “Into The Metaverse” track jackets, which cost 250 Snapchat tokens (about $3). In September, Snapchat did a similar Bitmoji drop in a collab with Nike’s Air Jordan 2 and J Balvin, and more than 2 million Snapchatters claimed the virtual goods, Snapchat said.

Snapchat’s Bitmoji fashion accessories are not NFTs and the Bitmoji wearables are not interoperable with other platforms. But the marketing campaign is a way for Adidas to promote its recent interest in Web3 technology. 

Adidas launched its first wearable NFT collection in November, Erika Wykes-Sneyd, VP of Adidas’s Three Stripes Studio, said in the announcement. Adidas’s “virtual gear” product lines incorporate NFTs and blockchain technology, and the brand is collaborating with Web3 brands like Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Meanwhile, Adidas and other fashion brands continue to compete for attention in Web3. Nike has been creating virtual sneakers through RTFKT, the Web3 startup it bought last year, and the virtual product lines are starting to collide with physical ones. Last week, RTFKT and Nike demonstrated a real-life “smart sneaker,” which adopted design elements from their virtual sneakers and put them into physical sneakers called “Cryptokicks iRL.” RTFKT promoted the shoes at Miami Beach Art Basel. RTFKT also developed an augmented reality lens on Snap, so consumers could view a digital version of the cryptokicks on the app.

On Snapchat, Adidas will sell a version of its “virtual gear” that will be open to Snapchat users who don’t need cryptocurrencies, or experience with NFTs, to buy the products.

The virtual product drop was a way for “Snapchatters to get access to exclusive digital fashion and express their unique digital identity, and a new frontier for innovative brand partnerships,” said David Rosenberg, director of Bitmoji strategy at Snap.