Last June, when home improvement conglomerate Lowe's made the decision to enter into Web3, its focus on sustaining pandemic peak sales growth came at a time where demand for home improvement goods were beginning to stabilize from the global COVID-19 outbreak.

That foray into the metaverse was met five months later when the retailer debuted its Measure Your Space tool, enabling Lowe's shoppers to measure and organize their spaces through its mobile app.

Its NFT collection, which also debuted last June, was marketed towards builders who wanted to virtually visualize their workspaces. The 500 free 3D digital asset collection allowed for customers to download and use them in Lowe’s metaverse hub, Open Builder. 

Seemantini Godbole, chief information officer of Lowe's, previously stated the retailer’s efforts over the years in infusing new technologies into the planning and shopping experience, acknowledging the benefit Lowe’s customers receive from being able to explore and test home improvement projects in the virtual world before taking the leap into implementation in their real-world homes or job sites.

On Friday, CoinDesk revealed that the home improvement giant released a physical garden flag earlier this week that featured the popular pixelated characters from the popular NFT project, ‘mfers’, which currently exists in the public domain under a CC0 license that allows anyone to use mfers NFT characters to create any type of commercial good. 

gm mfers#mfersinthewildhttps://t.co/4lSSzCezUe pic.twitter.com/mfp8FHnsQZ

— MSV (@matthewvarnell) June 5, 2023

Stephen Thompson, a lawyer by trade, and his brother-in-law Matthew Varnell, recently started the company Total Marketing Web3 (TM3) as an umbrella company to oversee different projects that seek to mesh NFT storytelling with real-world commercial products and applications. 

Their “Evergreen Siezenals” garden flag, which is currently available on Lowe’s website for $39.98, is TM3’s first product that sits at 1 foot wide by 1.5 feet high, featuring the phrase “cc0 summer 2023” above an image of two mfers characters sipping tropical drinks on the beach. 

Evergreen, a lawn & garden manufacturer which currently has an existing business relationship with Lowe’s, was the next step, according to Thompson, in helping retailers like Lowe’s build brand loyalty among younger consumers who are prioritizing their digital identities in the real world. 

"The Web2 industry, as far as our experiences goes, is very curious and eager to tap into what is happening here in Web3," he told CoinDesk.

Launched in 2021 by a fictitious artist named “Sartoshi,” Mfers are hand-drawn characters that were inspired by the “Are ya winning, son?” meme that have garnered a strong following and collector base, having an original mint price of approximately $320 USD. 

Last June, Sartoshi transferred the project’s smart contract and ownership to the community, despite the project not presenting any utility or roadmap as to its longevity. With over $125 million USD in sales, according to OpenSea, Mfers currently trades at just over $1,000 USD. 

In November, Home Depot also hinted at its foray into Web3 after filing approximately 24 trademark applications last November, including plans for home improvement services in virtual and augmented reality.

In other news, read about TikTok's now former COO, V Pappas, submitting their resignation and looking towards a blockchain future.

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