Sports footwear and apparel manufacturer Nike is exploring the pattern of virtual materials featuring its iconic logo and slogan.

According to records submitted to the Us Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday, Nike has filed applications for its namesake, swoosh logo and "but exercise it" slogan to exist used in virtual goods for its amusement services, retail stores and "for apply online and in online virtual worlds." The filings, along with two recent job postings for virtual material designers, suggest the company is laying the groundwork for Nike-branded products in the metaverse.

Nike said the prospective employees would "play a key role in redefining our digital earth, ushering us into the metaverse." They would join a team of virtual material designers in the company's Digital Production Cosmos group to create virtual footwear and other products.

The apparel visitor seems to have launched its foray into the metaverse in advance of Facebook's rebranding announcement on Thursday. The social media giant said it would create a virtual surround connecting online social experiences to the physical world.

Though Nike is seemingly advancing its metaverse plans at the aforementioned time equally Facebook, it has previously delved into nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and other crypto-related ventures. In 2022, the visitor patented a system for tokenizing its CryptoKicks shoes on the Ethereum blockchain.

Yet, the company already has some competition in the metaverse. Sneaker make RTFKT Studios has released both virtual and physical footwear and obtained the backing of Andreessen Horowitz, Galaxy Digital, and others in an $eight-one thousand thousand fundraising round in May.

Related: ' We are edifice for the metaverse,' says Meta VP Nick Clegg

While Nike's virtual offerings may not be afflicted past the global supply concatenation problems, the company has reported issues with delivering on its physical products, including a dearth of shipping containers, staffing problems, and other pandemic-related restrictions affecting workflow. Indonesia and Vietnam are responsible for the bulk of Nike's physical shoe production, only the virtual offerings may be created entirely at its Oregon headquarters.