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The co-branded Nike and Rtfkt sneakers are the most valued physical apparel items among Rtfkt’s CloneX holders, compared to other physical apparel items such as hoodies, tees and caps. That’s according to early data from the first-of-its-kind Nike and Rtfkt CloneX Forging mint, a 10 collection drop of both digital and physical items exclusive to CloneX holders, which closed today. A total 51,098 items were minted over the course of a week, culminating in a total mint revenue of ETH 7,197 (approximately $11.32 million, not including secondary sales).

With this drop, Rtfkt is leaning more deeply into Nike manufacturing capabilities, while Nike is leveraging the loyal following of Rtfkt to drive material revenue from NFTs and digital goods. This new ecosystem enables “a new form of limited-edition drops that are community-focused rather than strictly brand-focused,” says Stanford student and crypto researcher Noah Levine, who collated the CloneX Forging minting data into a Dune dashboard, similar to another he recently compiled comparing branded NFT project earnings.

The initial secondary sales figures are also significant; the majority of NFTs sold for more than the initial minting cost on secondary markets, resulting in a secondary volume of $3.63 million – a high increase in prices in just one week of minting. On shoes, for instance, the average gain is approximately $700 per item, having increased from an average starting price of $597.93 to an average secondary buy of $1,310.

Shoes were by far the most popular item, earning Nike and Rtfkt at least ETH 4640.18 (about $7.3 million) at the close of the drop (7 September at about 6pm ET). At base level, this reflects the influence of Nike, Levine contends. “When you think about Nike, the first thing that comes to mind is shoes,” he says. That shoes topped T-shirts in earnings is not surprising, particularly given that the Genesis T-shirt was free to mint. What is notable, however, is that, even though T-shirts were freely available (18,694 were minted versus 12,211 shoes), the percentage minted (about 17 per cent) still falls lower than that of shoes (18.5 per cent).

Of the 10 collections on offer, the Murakami drip was the top earner, pointing toward the value of artist collaborations, perhaps because of the sense of uniqueness or scarcity this affords an item.