American Eagle Outfitters launches NFT Apparel Shop

Dive Brief:

• Creating a physical product for non-fungible token fans, American Eagle Outfitters announced on Twitter this week a limited-edition collection of shirts and hoodies designed in partnership with NFT designers. 
• The NFT Shop features eight items with graphic designs from Little Lemon Friends, Starcatchers, The Littles and WonderPals NFT collections. 
• The apparel brand also launched an NFT collection last year in collaboration with artists Liam Eisenberg and Amy Perez. The NFTs were $1 and came with a physical patch version of the designs.

Dive Insight:

American Eagle Outfitters continues to dive into the world of NFTs with this launch, merging physical and digital experiences.

This latest launch from American Eagle Outfitters isn’t a sale of NFTs, but a way to bring physical items to customers who might be fans of the NFT designers. NFT sales are flattening though, and the crypto market has had a volatile past few months. However, the apparel collection doesn’t interact with cryptocurrency transactions, and neither did the brand’s previous NFT launch – NFTs are blockchain-based assets typically purchased and sold with cryptocurrency. 

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American Eagle Outfitters’ Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers recently discussed the company’s thought process to not accept crypto for NFTs during this month’s CommerceNext 2022 conference. “When we thought about our 15- to 25-year-old customer, the reality is they were not ready for cryptocurrency. And I think after the market rout in the last week or two, I’m not sure any of us are truly ready for cryptocurrency,” Brommers said. 

According to tweets from The NFT Shop collaborator WonderPals, designs were also featured on American Eagle Outfitters’ billboards in Times Square. The retailer has also gotten involved with the metaverse, expanding its digital initiatives with a special collection released in Roblox in March. 

Plenty of brands have gotten involved with NFTs as of late, many of them blending physical experiences and offering extra perks.

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Luxury retailer Prada launched the Timecapsule NFT Collection, which features gender-neutral physical products and a gifted NFT, earlier this month. This week, Macy’s announced the release of 10,000 free Macy’s Fireworks NFTs with access to augmented reality wearables that can be used on select social media and video platforms. Apparel brand Pacsun also auctioned off NFTs at metaverse event ComplexLand 3.0, where buyers would also receive a physical sneaker from its resale arm PS Reserve.