Sports company Puma announced it was entering into partnership with 10KTF, a digital shop located in the metaversal city of New Tokyo. Run by Wagmi-san, a digital tailor who previously worked for Gucci, 10KTF specializes in accessory NFTs inspired by some of the most popular NFT collections on the market, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Moonbirds, and CryptoPunks.
10KTF is expected to help Puma deliver customizable products, including sneakers. “We’re excited to join 10KTF and bring a physical layer to the current digital experience,” Puma chief brand officer Adam Petrick said about the collaboration.
A video ad of Puma’s classic Slipstream sneakers that contained a cameo appearance of Wagmi-san together with the 10KTF logo has circulated online for a few weeks, leading to speculation that the partnership could involve customized Slipstreams. More details about the collaboration should be released this summer, Puma said.
New chapter for Wagmi-san
Bridging physical and digital realms has also been a longtime dream of Wagmi-san, who has “ambitions beyond the metaverse,” according to the FAQ section of his website.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to bring our crafts and our stories into the physical realm and usher in a new era for New Tokyo,” he said when the partnership with Puma was announced.
Puma.eth and other cats
The German sports company’s partnership with 10KTF is not its first foray into the realm of metaverse, although it’s arguably the most ambitious yet. In part, it builds on deals Puma had struck before, including those with fellow felines Gutter Cat Gang and Cool Cats, another two of the collections Wagmi-san works with.
Last week at NFT NYC, besides officially announcing the latest collab at a 10KTF event, Puma welcomed Lazy Lions and Gutter Cat Gang PFP holders to its New York flagship store, where the NFTs could be custom-printed onto Puma T-shirts. During the 10KTF event, Puma also handed out double-branded Puma and 10KTF tees.
The company sealed its intent to make itself a home in the metaverse in February, when it registered its ENS and changed its Twitter name to Puma.eth, becoming one of the first natively brick-and-mortar companies to embrace an ENS. In an interview with Vogue Business, Adam Petrick said it was “something that we knew we needed to do, and we knew we needed to do it pretty early.”
Puma’s OpenSea account shows that the company currently holds numerous CatBlox X PUMA Capsule NFTs, a recent collection of athletic felines clad in Puma outfits, as well as a Gutter Cat, a Gutter Clone, a Lazy Lion, and a Cool Cat, among others.
