Apparel

In brief

• Ponke has partnered with 223, a spinout of JCorp, to produce adult-focused products and showcase concept designs at the Las Vegas Licensing Expo.

• The team is exploring the opportunity to create blind box collectibles, high-end toys, and products in the cannabis industry.

• New products will include NFC chips that will potentially offer token rewards, additional physical merchandise, or an NFT proof of authenticity.

Top 25 Solana meme coin Ponke has announced a partnership with 223, a spinout venture of licensed accessories firm JCorp, to create a range of adult-focused collectibles and apparel.

Official products have yet to be confirmed, but the Ponke team told Decrypt they’re exploring the possibility of producing blind box collectibles, novelty and high-end toys, as well as other products aimed at countercultures like the cannabis industry. 

As part of this partnership, Ponke will present a dozen concept products at this week’s Las Vegas Licensing Expo, alongside some of JCorp’s global IPs including Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel. The Ponke team claims to already be in discussions with a number of big name brands for future collaborative co-branded products, with the Licensing Expo representing a major opportunity to expand its network.

New products created as part of the 223 partnership will include NFC tags, small wireless chips that interact with mobile phones, which will enable Ponke to add a number of different extra functionalities to their products.

By scanning an NFC chip the Ponke team is considering adding an NFT proof of authenticity, granting token rewards, or offering digital keys for loot boxes on partner site Looty.fi, which may reward people with merch, tokens, and more. 

“We view Ponke as an onboarding vehicle to the larger crypto landscape,” a Ponke representative told Decrypt. “We’re not necessarily going to always be extremely crypto forward in the memes, video content, or products we create. But, we want to welcome people into the club of digital ownership through token rewards and token gated experiences.”

Ponke already offers a range of clothes and a few accessories, like stickers and playing cards, on its official website. However, it is a fairly limited range and the products are quite pricey with a t-shirt costing $110.

The 223 partnership will see Ponke’s offerings expand, 223 will also look to “overhaul” Ponke’s website, simplify the existing product line and distribution channels, as well as bring Ponke products into physical retailers, although no store is confirmed as of yet.

“This partnership marks a turning point for Ponke—it transforms our brand from a viral internet phenomenon into a scalable consumer business.” A Ponke representative explained that, “With 223’s licensing infrastructure, retail relationships, and global reach, we now have the tools to drive real, sustained revenue across physical products, phygital collectibles, and new markets.”

The Ponke team claims that revenue generated will be put into scaling “the brand, the community, and the experiences that make Ponke special.” There are currently no plans to offer Ponke token holders discounts or exclusive opportunities to buy products, but the representative confirmed that it is possible to implement in the future.

223 is a spinout venture of JCorp, a major supplier of apparel, accessories, and merchandise for some of the world’s biggest IPs including Sega, Atari, and Coca Cola. The company’s founder Cole Gurman explained that the spinout leverages some of JCorp’s infrastructure to aid with design, manufacturing, and distribution—hence why the partnership will result in Ponke being presented at the Licensing Expo alongside JCorp IPs.

Ponke isn’t the first project to branch out into physical products through licensing deals. In 2023, Ethereum NFT project Pudgy Penguins teamed up with global toy brand PMI Kid’s World, in a partnership that led to over $10 million worth of Pudgy Toys being sold in less than a year across stores including Walmart.

But while Pudgy Penguins focused on a kid-friendly audience, a Ponke representative stressed that its new venture will be much more adult-focused.

Rather than producing a line of fluffy toys, the meme coin is ideally looking to create a range of “high-end” collector items akin to the Kaws art figure sets and explore products that cater to crypto-adjacent counter-cultures, with weed certainly being one of those.

The partnership “streamlines the path from concept to creation, allowing us to design and deliver merchandise in a matter of weeks,” a Ponke representative told Decrypt, adding that in the coming months, “we’ll bring both physical and digital drops to life with the intention of enriching the Ponke brand and ecosystem.”

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