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

MNTGE was founded by Nick Adler—entrepreneur and Snoop Dogg’s brand manager—along with sneaker designer and streetwear store owner Sean Wotherspoon and former Adidas marketing manager Brennan Russo. Adler told Decrypt that he and Russo had the “aha moment” behind MNTGE while visiting Wotherspoon’s shop, Round Two.

“We just started to kind of really geek out over it,” said Adler of the parallels and potential mash-up between NFTs and vintage apparel.

Launching on Wednesday with an Ethereum NFT pass called Day One, MNTGE aims to bring physical vintage fashion to the NFT world as digital wearables that can be used in metaverse platforms. But it also seeks to build a community amongst fashion and streetwear aficionados, providing priority access to real vintage finds.

MNTGE’s plans after launching the mint pass are varied, but they start with a drop of digital fashion curated by Wotherspoon himself in Q1 2023….