What are LaMelo Shoes NFTs by Puma and Gutter Cat?

The famous American basketball player LaMelo LaFrance Ball recently launched his new collection of shoes as redeemable non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Athletes from different sports have adopted digital assets in various ways. For instance, some have introduced fan tokens, and some have launched digital assets. And sneaker NFTs are quite popular when it comes to sports-related digital assets.

Essentially, LaMelo shoes is a project by the player in collaboration with the renowned sports gear brand Puma and the wearable NFT collection Gutter Cat Gang. 

This article explores these redeemable NFTs and explains how and when you can redeem them for physical LaMelo shoes.

LaMelo shoes - A collaboration

LaMelo Ball is a celebrated basketball player representing the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA (National Basketball Association). He was picked in the 2020 NBA draft and signed a deal for around $100 million with Puma, aged 19. This deal included launching the MB series of wearables, including his kicks.

The first collection, 'MB.01', was rolled out in 2021. It introduced various unique designs like the LaMelo Rick and Morty shoes. The second edition was rolled out in 2022, named 'MB.02 Fade'. It featured blue, two-shaded trainers that became a fan favourite.

Both these editions depicted LaMelo Ball as a brand by featuring his 'wings and 1' logo and taglines like "Not from here", "Rare", and others. 

The NBA star and Puma have now launched the third edition of LaMelo shoes. This edition's unique feature is that they collaborated with the GCG NFT project to create redeemable NFTs for these kicks. Anyone can mint the NFTs and redeem them to get real trainers. 

The new edition is named “GutterMelo MB.03", showing that it is a collaborative project. The sneaker design is vibrant, with two primary colours: blue and orange. You can also find the wing logo and Gutter Cat graphics on the shoe.

Plus, it shows all the taglines for the MB brand, like "Rare", which is written on the bottom of the shoe in a funky font. The design is also comfortable as it comes with NITRO foam cushioning, which makes it perfect for basketball courts.

GutterMelo MB.03 opened mint on 29 June

The GutterMelo collection was released on one of the largest NFT marketplaces, Opensea. It went live on 29 June, allowing fans to mint the NFTs. It includes 20 NFTs representing different sneaker sizes up to American size 15. 

According to the GutterMelo site, many buyers booked their mint immediately after the launch, and the site became over-allocated. Therefore, only the early buyers were able to mint the tokens. 

Initially, the LaMelo shoe price was set at $175 for early buyers. Wait-list buyers had to pay $195 for a GutterMelo NFT. The price for the public sale of these NFTs was $215.

At the moment, the floor price of GutterMelo NFTs is 0.069 ETH.

LaMelo Shoes NFT redemption closes

The ones who have minted the NFTs could redeem them for real shoes. The project opened the redemption period on 18 July, 2023, and was due to close on 20 August. During this period, you could claim your physical sneakers by going to the GutterMelo site and redeeming the NFT there.  

How to redeem a GutterMelo MB.03 NFT

Here's the step-by-step process owners followed to redeem MB.03 sneakers:

1. Visit the GutterMelo site within the redemption period. 
2. Find the Connect Wallet option on the top-right of the screen. Click to integrate cryptocurrency wallets like Metamask, Trust, or Coinbase into the website.
3. Ensure that the wallet has some amount of Ethereum to pay for the gas fee. Usually, the amount required for gas is between $5 and $35.
4. Click the redeem button to burn a token to get a new LaMelo shoes NFT and physical shoes.
5. Provide your shipping address while redeeming the NFT.
6. The shipment procedure for the physical shoes will begin this month, and the receiver may have to pay the shipping charges.

By following this procedure before the closure of the redemption period, owners could get the 'Rare' GutterMelo sneakers.

Final thoughts

LaMelo Ball has launched his third edition of sneakers with Puma and GCG.

The unique thing about this edition is that they are NFT-based sneakers. When you purchased them, you got limited edition shoes and also had them as digital collectables.