In February, DTC’s underwear brand Me Undies tweeted about buying NFTs from the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. The company’s loyal user base, which many opposed NFTs, wasn’t happy. The response to the announcement was swift and negative, and in the next few days, MeUndies quietly removed some, but not all, references to NFTs on Twitter. There were no additional announcements.
However, after more than a month of silence, the company spoke with NFT on March 10 about its intentions and announced a decision to withdraw from the NFT space. On the brand-only open forum MeUndiessubreddit, the official MeUndies account posted a long statement titled “An Update on Our NFT …”.
In the post, the company explained that it intends to buy NFTs so that it can convert images into underwear prints.
“We wanted to make printed matter, but BAYC had the characteristic of being one of the few collections of NFTs that could be licensed to make it possible,” the statement said. .. “For us, buying an NFT is like any other license or partnership agreement in terms of cost and strategy, and simply put, these prints are very popular. For our purposes, BAYC Seemed to be the right place for us to get started. “
The statement further states that MeUndies had not conducted an investigation into the environmental impact of NFTs. This was the main concern of those who opposed the first announcement. Since then, MeUndies has consulted with a company called Watershed, a company’s climate advisor, for advice on what to do. Ultimately, MeUndies sells NFTs, directing all the money from the sale to environmental efforts and not using images for printing.
“Being a sustainable company is important to us,” the statement said. “It started with sustainable fabrics and led to planning to reach zero net carbon emissions. After fully understanding the environmental impact of NFTs and cryptocurrencies, we were involved in this area. I strongly felt that what we did was not in line with our goals and values. In addition to hearing the reaction of our community, the decision became clear. “
MeUndies adopted Reddit early in 2015, making the site an important part of how brands interact with their subscribers. The brand-operated MeUndiessubreddit has more than 1,400 subscribers. Campaigns through subreddit are up to 15 times faster in transaction growth than marketing through other channels.
The MeUndies Reddit community was also one of the loudest opponents of the brand’s NFT direction. Although the MeUndies subreddit is partially run by the brand, there are few rules about what users can post, and anti-NFT sentiment has been widely expressed throughout the forum. Last month, I lamented this decision and promised to cancel my subscription with dozens of posts asking if there were any renewals. Even the comments in the MeUndies statement regarding the end of the NFT project ranged from reassuring to completely disappointing customer reactions.
“I’m glad to know that you decided not to bullshit that NFT, but I’m really sad to know that you didn’t even study before the first decision to do it was made, And you just did the research for the backlash, “the user commented.
NFTs have been widely accepted by brands and businesses, but the average consumer is still mixed in their use. Criticisms of NFTs are widespread, citing environmental issues, murine-like structures, and lack of material value.
MeUndies initially purchased an NFT in late January for about $ 280,000. According to the NFT tracking platform OpenSea, it was sold to a user named Shok_1. Perhaps MeUndies CEO Jonathan Shokrian uses @ shok1 as a handle for Twitter. MeUndies subscribers pointed out that despite the brand’s withdrawal of NFT intent, Shokrian liked and retweeted some tweets that mocked the original backlash against the NFT’s announcement. MeUndies did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
