Nike has launched a web3 project called Swoosh. This is a platform for Nike’s customers to learn about web3, collect virtual products like sneakers or jerseys and, eventually, help to co-create them — even potentially earning royalties on their sales.

In December 2022, Nike plans to begin educating members about web3, helping them set up digital wallets and encouraging them to get involved through prompts like community challenges on Instagram. In January, Nike will drop its first collection on .Swoosh and begin testing out different utilities for its virtual items, which it wants to be more than just collectables.

Like other brands testing the waters of web3, it’s exploring them as a means to sell physical products. Visitors with an access code given out to select Nike community members will be able to register on the site and claim a username. Nike’s Swoosh is aimed at the web3 curious rather than those deeply enmeshed in the space. The complicated user experience involved in setting up a digital wallet and minting NFTs — meaning logging the digital assets on a blockchain — is a barrier to entry in itself.

Nike was ahead of the curve among fashion and footwear brands making moves into crypto, securing a patent for blockchain-linked sneakers called CryptoKicks back in 2019.