Streetwear x web3: Pacemaker launch the world's first web3 streetwear accelerator
Pacemaker aim to create an accelerator and network for creatives who want to start or grow their streetwear brand.
Welcome to the second SW3 newsletter! Last week we looked at how XCorp are building a blockchain based luxury blanks company to serve the web3 streetwear style merch market. This week I’m taking a dive into Pacemaker - the self proclaimed world’s first web3 streetwear accelerator.
But before we do that, if this is your first time reading, take a minute to subscribe below!
So, back to Pacemaker. Founded by Till Jagla (previously global head of energy marketing at Adidas and New Balance), with an ecosystem from aboutyou.com (an online fashion marketplace stocking brands such as Adidas, Vera Moda and Tommy Hilfiger, think the ASOS of Germany), Pacemaker aim to create an accelerator and network for creatives who want to start or grow their streetwear brand. Think of it like a kickstarter for anyone who wants to launch a web3 streetwear brand.
This seems pretty cool, as not only will they provide the mentoring there is also the opportunity to pitch your brand to receive funding and the potential to be a guest of Pacemaker at international events backed by aboutyou.com, such as their festivals, fashion shows and more. Even just being a part of a group of likeminded individuals can be a game changer as a brand owner, let alone when it’s set up with a proper ecosystem to develop and nurture talent. I know being a brand owner myself that working alone can be a really challenging part of building a brand, so this aspect seems really appealing.
So how does it work, and how is this web3?
The Pacemaker accelerator requires an NFT purchase which acts as a membership token to the ecosystem. 5000 will be available and once you own the NFT you’re a member of pacemaker. It’s still not been announced when and there will be no public sale, so you’ll need to be a member of their discord server to be in with a chance of purchasing an NFT and receiving membership. If in the future you want to sell your NFT, you pass your membership and place in the accelerator onto the new buyer.
Pacemaker use the proceeds from minting (making / validating your purchase using the blockchain) and royalties on future NFT resales to fund new fashion brands from inside the community.
The engine behind Pacemaker, aboutyou.com, means that they have an automatic plug-in to distribution, campaign production and marketing for three brands from inside the community each year. I’m not familiar with aboutyou.com but a quick google search reveals that it’s one of the fastest growing companies in Europe with over 45 million unique active users per month and a bunch of celebrity collaborations. For a new brand that kind of distribution and that many eyeballs could be the catalyst for major growth.
So why are the Pacemaker the right people to do this?
Just on surface level the team at Pacemaker seems impressive. Past working credits include Adidas, New Balance, Puma and web3 sneaker brand Flowers For Society (who are a super interesting sneaker + NFT brand - I’ll cover in a separate newsletter).
The varied knowledge of traditional marketing, product and eCom combined with web3 seems very promising. After all, the members will want to be launching ‘phygital’ brands so will need to straddle both worlds, and with the web3 community still being so small having that traditional product experience will be key to any kind of mass adoption.
So what’s happening right now, how can I get involved?
It still seems like fairly early days for Pacemaker, but I think this is a good thing as the discord server isn’t overly crammed, rather a smallish engaged community where I think it would be easy to make some good connects with likeminded people.
As mentioned before, the NFT drop date hasn’t been announced but you will need to be on the whitelist to get one. Join the Discord (maybe I’ll see you in there?) and follow the Pacemaker twitter for up to date info.
I really love what Pacemaker have planned and I think this could be the first NFT I purchase when they drop! They also have teased at a couple of bits of merch…
Also happening this week in SW3…
That’s it for this week, keep your eyes peeled for next week’s newsletter.
Heard of some cool shit happening we should cover? Have questions about anything in this article? Drop me a line - yo@sarahakwisombe.com