Meet the sneakerheads driving the massive $1 billion resale market

retail wat was 200 and I would say like average resale price is probably like around - ximena for $30,000 undefeated Jordan 4 it's a $19,000 I have a guy you have a guy looking at you I haven't actually got there is a kind of competitive drive in this - and that's just getting your hands on something that other people can't there's two sides of research on the street if there's a release going I'm the guy where you can get it from quick you know living in New York City the average sneaker line to be anywhere from 150 to a thousand feet sneakers folks are passion and the marketplace are bigger today than they've ever been our journeys into the crazy world of sneakers we're at flight Club in New York City the center of the resale economy and we're in the center of the center in their showcase a tiny room with several hundred sneakers worth over $100,000 this 11 year-old Soho shop is known worldwide in the sneaker economy everyone's tracking the latest sneaker drops happening nearly every week the hottest of these new releases are snapped up and immediately we sold here I think by far the most popular franchise is Jordan everyone comes in here like asking for them likes that the probably shoot at it or the line that started the entire craze I got in sneakers by athletes there was the Andre Agassi's it was the bo Jackson and the Michael Jordan's in particular the the products were amazing but it was also the stories the irreverence of these athletes Nike continues to release updated versions of Jordan classics so far Nike and its competitors carefully control supply and demand but don't reap the rewards of the resale mania you'll see that every Jordan is in every sequential order ones twos threes fours 5 6 7 8 name it we got it this is our inspiration wall I just an original that is original Jordan I shouldn't be touching it go ahead touch away it's an ode to the beginning here and in other resale shops you could only buy and sell so called deadstock unworn and perfect pairs only what's behind the glass here what is this that's some of the most coveted sneakers you probably ever want is there some kind of like James Bond security system built into the vid definitely is some James Bond security code behind it but if you're in there no one can hear you scream are there any stories that you remember of somebody being the happiest on there was a woman who she must have been everywhere and couldn't get her pair and she was literally crying she was waiting for us to open she couldn't believe we had her size searching for stuff and not finding it that's what we do and we make sure you find what you're looking for oh wow um yeah the water shoes there's a lot of shoes Lex Adler a music producer from Australia has lived in New York for over a decade lining his walls with his prized possessions he's all about the Jordans and the popular Yeezys from Kanye West which as deadstock can fetch thousands of dollars a pair if you can guess how much would you say your entire collection is worth it it has to be like you know twenty twenty thousand always yeah but Lex wears his sneakers for him it's a passion that dates back to his youth is there a sneaker from your pasture from your childhood that you think about now yeah as the one that got away and the one that I lost was a pair of Nike Air right which was a basketball shoe they have the the crossover straps couldn't find them one day and I hit the local basketball courts and a kid was wearing a pair of their shoes and I might do that in my shoes and he's like no my sister got them for me I said I know they're mine I later found that my mother sold them at a yard sale for $2 so I was very mad about that Nike and its competitor sell new releases at retail stores like Foot Locker and other stores where lines snake around the block you got a note you have to know someone that can get them in the Internet age everyone knows every website where every shoe is gonna win exactly what time your chances of getting like a limited shoe through conventional means or like very very difficult if you want a pair of of a new release yeah worth something I have a jar you have a guy I have an actual guy you have an actual guy my broker your broker and I drop him a text message and I ask him if you anyone that hasn't had this we're gonna sell a pair we negotiate where do you fit in to that world we sell on the street if there's a release going I'm the guy where you can get it from quick and you know it's always a little bit cheaper to buy it for me than it is to go to flight club but when you're on the street that's all it has to be a relationship it has to be a genuine relationship to like I'm your personal shopper to the extent you're that guy yes so when there's a sneaker drop do you do you also wait in line I maybe pay my friends like 10 dollars an hour to wait on line or maybe even a little bit more it depends on how much money I can make off the shoes I worked in full lockers so I would know who got what I would know how many pairs are being distributed amongst New York City and what stores aren't gonna be the stores that go to and but that knowledge that's something I should charge for how much money do you think you're made in total over the last couple of years that you started I would say anywhere between maybe 100 grand 2,200 and I've been able to survive without having a job for no little two three years I can't see what they got here I know another guy making a killing is Jason harp an actor who was virtually a pro consignor how did you get into consigning brought a pair of shoes here one day and it's old and I don't know three hours and I was $200 richer than when I first bought the shoes the first thing that perked my interest it was not so much selling it as actually acquiring it the more difficult it is to get a pair of sneakers the more interested you are are exact like absolutely 100% I will prepare to get a shoe depending on how it's being released sometimes for a month at access to things coming to my phone probably 30 messages came through into time and sat down here about a shoe i source with social media i posted to nothing first rule was talk to me about twitter listen don't speak made a lot of money doing that how much money have you made it's in the six figures in Brownsville Brooklyn at this middle school fresco Wilson is actually teaching a class on the sneaker economy to kids for number one consumers why not teach them about what they're getting into before they get into it so instead of them just going out to spend their money on the retail why not invest in Nike why not invest in Ibiza I try to give them some facets of Matt but ties into entrepreneurship and finance and marketing do any of you guys own a pair of Nike dunks the Nike Dunk was originally created for basketball with a campaign called be true to your school when we first heard about it is like I sneak climbing what do you know learn about sneakers everybody know that one sneaker some other stuff but Matt over in the class we learned how to make money off our speakers how to produce customers in different ways we learned about the back fill Rita sneakers it turns out sneakers from superstar Steph Curry sell out at retail and are powering Under Armour's profits but they don't even figure into today's hot resale market at least not yet and someone said that Michael Jordan shoes weren't as popular back then as they are now why can't that be Steph Curry in the kitchen if issues aren't that popular in now like you said why can't it be in the future it's about knowing how to value the investment my father he has everything is now my father is a sneaker head his closet yeah he has a walk-in closet and it's just a whole bunch of sneakers right here by sneaker and he'll sell it for a higher price he won't even touch it you can love sneakers but you got to know what you want sneaker store just down the block from flight club is stadium goods and upstart capitalizing on the resale industry going digital we partnered with eBay where we put all of our inventory another partnership we have is with a sneaker app called dope another big marketplace for us as well most of our inventory is there and we that become a huge driver of the business as well everything that I was about for the majority of the 90s was there max one air max 90 two Air Max 95 this guy right here is the Air Max classic VW I won't say it but I can remember exactly what I was doing when I was wearing these back in 91 or something how many pairs of sneakers do you think you have about 25,000 25 pounds this must be one of the world's largest speaker 1:i we're opening up a warehouse to continuously never say no to sneakers if you want to bring in a hundred pairs we'll say yes if you want to bring in a thousand pairs will say yes I see the future of sneakers being very very bright this feature of resale of sneakers also very very bright

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 2,492,089

Rating: 4.8788691 out of 5

Keywords: Business, Insider, Sneakers, Sneakerheads, Air Jordans, Yeezy, Jordans, Nike, Adidas, Michael Jordan, Kanye West

Id: yhluyCvzsTs

Length: 9min 8sec (548 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2016