Endstate combines sneakers with NFTs for a new customer experience
Ticketing has evolved from scraps of paper to smartphone scans and now . . . for your sneakers?
It’s a component of the offering from Endstate, a digital creator whose products exist parallely on the feet and in the metaverse through shoes and NFTs. Each pair of kicks is equipped with a QR code to activate augmented reality and an NFC chip in the tongue that links it to NFT and can unlock real-world experiences. Ticket takers will literally scan your sneakers to grant access to members-only events.
“Endstate is a lifestyle brand that combines the physical with the digital to unlock connections to what you’re passionate about,” says co-founder and COO Stephanie Howard, a 25-year veteran of the sneaker industry. “So we’re really at the intersection of physical products, their digital twins, the NFTs, and then the experiential side of what NFTs can unlock.”
DeVonta Smith joins Endstate
Endstate’s first brand ambassador is Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith, the 2020 Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama. Ownership of his signature shoe – which recently sold out – can unlock perks for the NFT holder. If Smith accumulates 1,000 receiving yards, owners receive limited edition football cards. If we were to be named NFL MVP, the prize would be a luxury watch. And for every touchdown catch, fans get a cheesesteak. (It is Philly, after all. Endstate chose to be nonpartisan in the Pat’s vs. Geno’s vs. Tony Luke debate, providing Uber Eats codes instead of listing a cheesesteak redemption location.)
While the bane of some early iterations of NFTs was a lack of physical-word utility, Endstate has imbued its products with an abundance of applications. The sneakers are of course the highlight, but there are also milestone-triggered rewards and exclusive gatherings. For example, Smith will host a meet-and-greet at Lapstone & Hammer later in the season for those who purchased his sneakers.
Endstate is a lifestyle brand that combines the physical with the digital to unlock connections to what you’re passionate about. So we’re really at the intersection of physical products, their digital twins, the NFTs, and then the experiential side of what NFTs can unlock.
Selling the concept on Smith was pretty easy, even though he became a pioneer as the first professional athlete to sign with a Web3-native footwear brand.
“Every athlete loves the idea of having a signature shoe,” Endstate director of business development Eric Mays. “We’ve gone into that area of, ‘Hey, we’re helping you build your brand,’ as opposed to just taking advantage of your celebrity, your star.”
Sports-led design, narrative
Mays joined the company after building Under Armour’s baseball division – at the time signing Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts, among others – working as an agent at ACES and spending time in the licensing department at Topps. He notes the rarity of a signature shoe, explaining that only Mike Trout (Nike) and Bryce Harper (Under Armor) have them among MLB players.
“I was blown away because, from the world of marketing and signing athletes in the Under Armor space, it was always Under Armor telling our story about that athlete,” Mays says. “And this was the first time I ever saw the opportunity for an athlete to actually tell their story — not just receive a check and promote the brand of that specific company, whatever that might be. This is the athlete’s time to pursue it now. »
Smith, for his part, was involved throughout the sneaker’s development.
“It’s built around him,” Howard says. “It’s designed with little details that tell the story of some of his nicknames – his hands are sticky like honey, so it’s called the honey drip. We call them Easter eggs, little details that you find in the shoe that help tell his story, and he helped lead the design process.”
The NFT version of the sneaker includes a 3D rendering of the footwear placed in an AI-generated digital environment. The QR code begs for an AR use case—such as placing a computer-generated sneaker in a real-world environment for photography and social sharing—and there are other Web3 use cases in development that don’t require VR to access.
“It’s a digital twin of the product, but it’s also part of the storytelling in terms of designing the environment around the sneakers,” says Howard. “And then we’re also working on building some high-fidelity experiences in the metaverse.”
Sneaker drops quickly followed the formation
The original idea for Endstate was hatched by CEO Bennett Collen, who had been working in blockchain since 2014 when he founded Cognate. The company’s vision was to use blockchain for trademark protection and tracking. GoDaddy acquired Cognate in 2018, and Collen worked there for nearly three years. He cultivated an interest in how NFTs could be applied to sneakers, which quickly grew as a sought-after collectible whose provenance and authenticity became increasingly important.
Collen heard Howard—whose design credits include work at Nike, New Balance, and Rebook and consulting for Timberland and The North Face—speak on a webinar in October 2020, and since the two were both Boston-based, they soon connected in person. In May 2021, they started working at Endstate full-time, and in November 2021, they dropped their first sneakers.
Endstate announced its second fall shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The next product featured yellow and blue sneakers, representing the Ukrainian flag. While Endstate promises some charitable donations from all sales, 100% of the proceeds from that shoe benefited Direct Relief, a well-researched humanitarian nonprofit. Because all donations are linked to the blockchain, there is an extra level of transparency. Another recent charity drop honored 9/11 hero Welles Crowther, the “Man in the Red Bandana.”
Endstate focused on organic growth
The first three products were all fully manufactured in the US, and some – like the Ukrainian sneaker – went from conception to product in five months. That’s less than a third of the time major sneaker brands spend bringing a shoe to market.
“We’re moving at lightning speed here, which I think you have to do as a startup, if you’re really trying to establish yourself, because nobody’s going to know the brand yet, and it takes time to go through the grassroots steps of building a brand and building community the right way without overhyping, says Howard, who is also a board member of Women in Sports Tech.
Mays sees a parallel to his work with Under Armour, which was new to cleated footwear at the time he started. While the major leagues were all looking for stars, Mays used the Baseball America prospect list as his guide, scouting the Arizona Fall League for up-and-coming talent.
“It was a perfect opportunity for me because the other brands — Nikes, Reeboks, or whatever — weren’t touching the minor league side of this,” he says. “They wanted the established stars, and I just thought it made more sense to grow the brand organically. I just feel like we’re at that point now with Endstate.”
