A Full Service, Print-on-Demand NIL Platform for College Athlete Merch

By Brendan Menapace

Apparel company Vintage Brand and NIL marketplace MOGL have come together to create a full-service partnership for college athletes to market their names, images and likenesses through branded merchandise.

The Vintage Brand College Athlete marketplace will allow athletes to opt into the service through MOGL's tech platform. From there, they can create a selection of branded products, with the platform providing services like print-on-demand, fulfillment and e-commerce stores.

"The Vintage Brand College Athlete Marketplace provides a turnkey platform to build and merchandise individual college athlete brands and allow fans to purchase branded merchandise," Chad Hartvigson, co-founder of Vintage Brand, said in a press release. "Our innovative technology platform and print-on-demand manufacturing enables college athletes to create and monetize their merchandising brand."

MOGL x @_vintagebrand

MOGL is excited to connect athletes to their fans through its newest partnership!

Vintage Brand will allow athletes to develop their own merchandise stores on MOGL. The service will soon be integrated into the platform and is now listed as a job post! pic.twitter.com/bhyqe6Tk1Q

— MOGL (@TheMOGLApp) February 22, 2022

Since college athletes became allowed to license their NILs, brands and universities alike have set up programs to facilitate student-athletes' personal brands. Some universities have even built merchandising programs into recruiting tactics, as it's now a draw for a school to have a program for students looking to boost their brands and make it to the pros one day.

"This strategic partnership allows MOGL to leverage the Vintage Brand platform to create unique merchandising opportunities to help all college athletes maximize their value," said Michelle Young, co-founder and creative director for Vintage Brand. "The combination of Vintage Brand's branding and e-commerce expertise, along with MOGL's compliant NIL marketplace forms a best-in-class solution for college athletes to develop and monetize their brand."

Vintage Brand, which bills itself as a "digital sports brand," produces and sells unlicensed sports merchandise, drawing upon the histories of various teams and leagues to create throwback designs that make up the "world’s largest collection of unique vintage sports apparel and gear." MOGL is an online marketplace that connects athletes and brands for compliant NIL deals.

Both companies were founded by former student-athletes who graduated from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, giving them a unique position of knowing both the business perspective and that of a student-athlete at a major Division I school.

It also brings the "one-stop shop" model to the growing NIL marketplace, with the platform everything from product design to fulfillment handled in one place, without needing to go through multiple channels or vendors.