In summary
- Nike announced the liquidation of RTFKT, its digital fashion division acquired in 2021, after falling interest in its NFT collections.
- Prices for NFTs like Clone X have dropped significantly, and Nike will now focus on its .Swoosh platform instead of RTFKT.
- RTFKT will release one last project in December, the MNLTH X with Blade Drop, before officially ending operations.
RTFKT, a digital fashion and technology company that was acquired by Nike in 2021, is closing its doors.
“Today we announced the plan to liquidate the operations of RTFKT,” the company said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Looking back, we are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved together.”
The company (pronounced “artifact”), which burst onto the digital collectibles scene in 2021 selling $10,000 shoes on Nifty Gateway, has built an expansive ecosystem of Ethereum-based NFTs and physical collectibles over the years, partnering with artists such as Takashi Murakami on the road.
In December 2021, it was acquired by Nike for an undisclosed sum, a move that former Nike CEO and Chairman John Donahoe highlighted as a step to “accelerate Nike’s digital transformation and enable us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, games and culture”.
Nike and RTFKT worked on several shoe collections together, even landing on NBA superstar LeBron James’ foot during the league’s playoffs in 2023.
But eventually, the price drop of its NFT collections—most notably Clone
In March, Cryptocurrency influencer Nick O’Neill shared a rumor on
Nike gave further clues to the rumor in September 2024 when it left the RTFKT logo out of its brand lineup in a press release detailing Donahoe’s agreement to step down from his position as President and CEO of Nike. Donahoe led the sneaker giant at the time of the RTFKT acquisition.
Some in the Web3 community have offered to revive the RTFKT brand, sending out pleas on X with offers of more than $100,000 for the chance at a “Luca Netz moment.” It’s a reference to the acquisition Netz had with Pudgy Penguins, an NFT collection that was on the decline before its purchase in 2022 and has since become a leading Web3-enabled brand in toys and more.
Nike will maintain a presence on Web3 with its virtual creations platform. Swoosh which first launched in November 2022 via the Ethereum scaling network Polygon.
Nike representatives did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment on how .Swoosh would be affected by the discontinuation of RTFKT, but a recent post on the platform’s blog indicates that it “will not be releasing any more NFT collections for now.”
Before ending operations, RTFKT plans to release one final project this December: the MNLTH X with the Blade Drop. No official details about the project have been provided.
“RTKFT is not ending,” the firm wrote. “It is becoming what it was always meant to be—an artifact of cultural revolution.”
Clone The collection recorded an all-time low price of over $63,000 in 2022, but now NFTs start at less than $1,000 worth of ETH on secondary markets.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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