How MNTGE is bringing authentic vintage fashion to the Metaverse

Vintage clothing and NFT collectibles are very different products, but both have nurtured secondary markets with value determined in part by provenance, rarity and unique features. These commonalities led to MNTGE (pronounced “Mintage”), a digital fashion startup that seeks to bridge the gap between vintage and metaverse.

MNTGE was founded by Nick Adler – Snoop Dogg’s entrepreneur and brand manager – along with sneaker designer and streetwear store owner Sean Wotherspoon and former Adidas marketing manager Brennan Russo. Adler said decode that he and Russo had their “aha moment” after MNTGE while visiting Wotherspoon’s store, Round Two.

“We just started to feel very impressed with it,” Adler said of the parallels and potential combination between NFTs and vintage clothing.

Departure on Wednesday with one Ethereum Called Day One NFT Pass, MNTGE aims to bring vintage physical fashion to the NFT world as digital devices that can be used on metaverse platforms. But it also seeks to build a community among fashion and streetwear aficionados by providing priority access to true vintage finds.

MNTGE’s post-launch mint pass plans are varied, but they start with a digital fashion drop curated by Wotherspoon itself in the first quarter of 2023. The drop will showcase the kind of technology the startup is playing with , using a high-end capture system—the same one used to create digital doubles of actors for movies—to perfectly recreate vintage physical costumes.

Adler showed a video demo of the jacket above, which was stitched together via images captured by the device and turned into a digital precision knit device. It’s based on a real 1960s denim jacket that Wotherspoon won at auction, and Adler said his co-founder wanted to be able to see the stitching in the digitally scanned recreation.

Wotherspoon, who collects rare vintage clothing and has designed for brands such as Nike, Adidas and Porsche, said decode that MNTGE aims at to bring “a level of detail and imagination that you wouldn’t have expected in a Web3 clothes before.”

While it would be possible for MNTGE to simply scan existing vintage clothing and sell that clothing as NFT, there is an obvious legal hurdle to clear. Adler said the startup has obtained “extensive licenses” from as-yet-unannounced brands to bring their vintage fashion into the metaverse, but that it will initially be deployed through non-licensing pieces.

Each of the 1,500 Day One mint cards will sell for 0.5 ETH (about $640) and will give holders access to MNTGE’s Discord community, plus priority access to the Wotherspoon drop and more ahead from other designers. There will also be NFTs issued to holders along the way — bonus “easter eggs,” Adler said.

Beyond digital drops, MNTGE is working on ways to provide keepers with access to the kind of old rocks that Wotherspoon and his allies get on a regular basis. Passholders will be able to shop the upcoming MNTGE Market online store to buy authentic vintage clothing, which Adler said will be sold without the typical substantial markups seen in fashion stores.

MNTGE also intends to host future physical stores displayed around art and fashion world events such as Art Basel or New York Fashion Week, offering further benefits to holders. The firm is also working with popular NFTs profile picture (PFP) projects, Adler said, to develop possible future collaborations around digital clothing.

Along with Snoop’s help in his many NFT effortsAdler has served as a consultant to a number of Web3 projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club AND The sandbox. He is now creating for the metaverse at a time when NFT land plots and avatars no longer command the kind of high sums and fervent demand seen this time last year.

“No pun intended – the land grab is over,” Adler said.

Instead, with MNTGE, he said he wanted to build something original from scratch that he believes will endure through the bear market. Like hardware like VR headset and AR glasses becoming more accessible and accessible in the future, Adler believes that digital clothing will be poised to take off as an NFT-powered Web3 metaverse expands.

“Some of the advertising is dead and you’re going to see a lot of losers from the metaverse mania,” he said. “But there will be a handful that will stick around and emerge as big winners. We’re going to a future where this metaverse exists.”