Today marks the launch of SOL3MATES, Chalhoub Group’s web3-native sneaker brand, built on the foundation of community-centricity and future-forward thinking. Designed to reshape the industry, SOL3MATES aims to produce limited-edition sneakers to guarantee exclusivity while simultaneously avoiding waste, and pushes the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and storytelling, while empowering global sneaker designers, to positively disrupt the current sneaker industry.
Dubbing itself as a “community-centric sneaker brand”, SOL3MATES aims to create an immersive and engaging experience by involving its community members in all aspects of their sneaker journey, from onboarding new designers to the co-creation of upcoming sneaker drops.Customers will be able to buy a membership NFT (SOL3MATES OG NFT) to join the community and experience exclusive membership benefits including early access, preferred pricing, virtual wearables, free merchandise, community events but also access to monthly sneaker giveaways, hype sneakers at retail and surprise perks at event and retail partners.
Michael Chalhoub, President of Strategy, Growth, Innovation and Investment and Joint Ventures at Chalhoub Group,said: "At Chalhoub Group, we strive to think out of the box and retain our founders’ entrepreneurial spirit. We listen to our customers, notably in the shoe space where we like to think of ourselves as catalysts for innovation, and find answers to their demands. SOL3MATES will be to the sneaker industry what the lace is to the shoe: the element that ties it all, that brings the physical and the digital together, and that links the sneaker community with the web3 community in an original way. We hope you will like our new baby as much as we do, and help us nurture and grow it, like we’ve grown the other great brands we have taken up.”
Nick Vinckier, Head of Corporate Innovation and Founder of SOL3MATES, said:
“Since we sold out our Christofle NFT collection in 5 minutes, we started thinking what we could launch that could generate an even bigger impact. SOL3MATES aims to be the small snowball that creates an avalanche of positive disruption in the sneaker industry, together with its community and the designers we’ll collaborate with.”
All of SOL3MATES’ sneaker collections will be designed in collaboration with upcoming sneaker designers across the globe, functioning as the creative directors of their collections.
SOL3MATES’ first sneaker collection will be revealed on 12 April, and is designed by up-and-coming French designer KACIMI LATAMENE, who is well-known globally for his viral sneaker concepts and has previously worked with numerous leading designers like Vitaly and Natasha Zinko.
KACIMI LATAMENE, French sneaker designer and the first talent to collaborate with SOL3MATES, commented: “The most important aspect of this new brand is that it allows me to get in touch directly with the sneaker community. The SOL3MATES members will be involved in the entire journey. I’ll be able to build a relationship and share the story behind my designs.The innovation and creativity of the brand is what compelled me to work together with SOL3MATES.”
SOL3MATES sneakers will be available for pre-order in limited quantities and community members owning an NFT will have pre-access to the sneakers at a preferred price. The public will be able to pre-order after the community pre-order window closes, if any sneakers are remaining. The SOL3MATES sneakers will be delivered for free to community members worldwide one month before the public and they will also feature NFC-authentication, AR-augmentation and a virtual counterpart, wearable in Decentraland.
More details on SOL3MATES’ first sneaker collection and how to become a SOL3MATES member will follow soon via the brand’s Discord, Twitter and Instagram accounts, or on its website SOL3MATES.xyz.
