Benoit Pagotto is the founder of RTFKT, a virtual fashion platform. Pagotto started his career in retail, working for four years at the famed Parisian concept store Colette, before moving into marketing. He had stints at various advertising and design agencies, eventually moving in-house at esports company Fnatic. 
In early 2020, he launched RTFKT with co-founders Chris Le and Steven Vasilev. Plans for the company’s debut were almost thwarted when in the weeks prior to launch, Nike was awarded a patent for CryptoKicks, a blockchain-based virtual sneaker — the exact product that was set to be at the centre of RTFKT’s brand. The founders forged on, and its virtual sneaker drops — which featured the work of artists such as Jeff Staple and Takashi Murakami — quickly gained attention.