While reselling has always existed, two big shifts in the industry turned it into the full-blown phenomenon it is today. Boston financial professional Dylan Dittrich saw so many parallels between the business of sneaker reselling and his day job investing that in he published a book titled Sneakonomic Growth: Scarcity, Storytelling and the Arrival of Sneakers as an Asset Class. The second factor was the emergence of sneaker reselling platforms such as GOAT, which launched online in , and StockX, which launched the following year and became a billion-dollar unicorn in The platforms provide a marketplace for resellers and buyers to transact their deals—for a fee—and even provide authentication services to root out fakes before dispatching sneakers to the buyer.
Many resellers prefer to sell directly if they can to avoid the fees, but most of them still use StockX incessantly as a price index. The site provides real-time valuations on what a particular model is going for on the secondary market, and whether the price is trending up or down, much like a stock ticker. These platforms, though, tell only part of the reselling story. The rest happens on Instagram.
Once I went down that rabbit hole, I found a universe so vast, so bottomless, that I was positively amazed it could have been going on right beneath my thumb without my knowledge. Online sites such as StockX and GOAT reported a significant uptick in activity since the outbreak, with no one, perhaps, benefiting more than teenage resellers—many of whom, including my daughter, got in on the game for the first time over the past year. Meanwhile, those who already had a business in the before-times saw their bottom lines soar.
In many ways, it was inevitable. After all, what can you expect from a bunch of teens—at an age when boys and some girls tend to become all-consumed by sneakers—who have more time and freedom away from the watchful eyes of their teachers than perhaps at any other moment in modern history?
Escamilla-Salomon went from sneaking his phone out during class to enter a raffle and then trying to contain his excitement when he scored a pair to spending all day alone in his bedroom, freely bouncing between Instagram, sneaker apps, and his Zoom classes without supervision. Remote schooling gave him the freedom to dart out of his house multiple times a day to the steps of a nearby elementary school, where he met his clients, handed them the product, and received a roll of cash before dashing back home in a matter of minutes.
His bedroom is evidence of his success: Shoeboxes are crammed in every available square foot of space, including above his dresser, beneath his desk, and under his bed, all alongside his personal collection of about 20 sneakers.
When I asked how much he brings in each month, Escamilla-Salomon would only admit to a few thousand. Gavi Escamilla-Salomon, a. Cambridge Kicks, spent his school year in his bedroom doing Zoom classes while tending to his booming sneaker-resale business. In August , while Ryan Waxler, soon to be an eighth grader, was on vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee, he looked down and noticed that his toes were starting to poke through his sneakers.
He bought both, went home, and listed the extra one on eBay. They sold for twice as much, and Waxler was hooked. Moving bricks is essentially a low-margin game where the seller makes money based on volume. After a successful couple of years, Waxler began to grow tired of toiling at the bottom of the resale food chain. Soon, he discovered sneaker Instagram, branded himself as Bullet Kicks, and started trafficking in high-dollar hyped releases.
These sneakers are more exclusive, harder to get, and instantly lucrative. Resellers, such as Singh and Escamilla-Salomon, either stand in line, try to get them via raffles on brand and retailer apps, or buy them off other resellers or collectors. When it comes to the online raffles, having the fastest thumbs in the East is often not enough. Many sneaker resellers purchase proxy servers and bots that can hit the raffles faster and more often than any human. As a result, hyped releases can sell out online in a matter of minutes.
Unlike many businesses, reselling sneakers has a relatively low barrier to entry, making it the perfect pursuit for capital-poor and energy-rich teenagers. Resellers say they also watch YouTube tutorials specific to different segments of the secondary market. Damian Mathews, a year-old high school senior known in the reselling community as Newton Kicks on Instagram, worked his way up during the pandemic to a point where he had enough capital that he could hold sneakers and let them appreciate like a good investment.
While almost anyone can play the sneaker resale game, making it to the highest echelon requires a lot more than knowledge or even capital: It requires highly placed contacts in the industry and a stable of big-spending customers.
This is exactly where Waxler, the onetime outlet king from Concord, found himself by the time he was a junior in high school. In July , the summer before his senior year, Waxler was back on Lake Winnipesaukee tearing it up on his Jet Ski, jumping over the wake of a ferry, when he heard his phone ringing from inside his waterproof pouch.
He took his hand off the gas, slowing down until he was floating in the middle of the lake, and answered the call. It was a reseller from L. I know people make millions. When Waxler and I spoke, he told me that while the Mags may have been the most expensive shoes he ever sold, they were not the most expensive he has owned.
Then he reached down and pulled out a pair of gray, red, and black Jordan high-tops with a bunch of small red-and-white words emblazoned across the top portion of the upper and explained to my untrained eyes what exactly I was looking at. The sneaker was part of an extremely limited run of an Air Jordan collaboration with the rapper Eminem. The other one, which has never been worn, is the one Waxler was turning around and palming in his hands. Bodega, a world-famous sneaker store.
On a Saturday morning, exactly two weeks after the Air Jordan 1 University Blues came out, a new Yeezy—the coveted sneaker-brand collaboration between Kanye West and Adidas—was set to drop at 10 a. The Adidas x Concepts store on Newbury—just a block away from the main Concepts store—was offering its supply of the sneaker on a first-come, first-served basis. Not long before it opened, a crowd of more than 60 fashionably shod people stood in a line that snaked down the street.
Right behind him were four equally haggard-looking year-olds from Medford sitting on a low wall and resting their heads in their hands. They had been there since 5 a.
About midway through the line was Singh, looking fresh and awake in his black sweatpants, black jacket, and black pair of Nike VaporMaxes after arriving at a decent hour that morning with Baker. Farther back still were two more year-olds from Newton.
By the time the Adidas x Concepts store finally threw open its doors at 10 a. One young reseller in the line was simultaneously working two phones, one in each hand. Slowly, the security guard began signaling with his hand to those at the head of the line, beckoning them inside the sleek, dimly lit store that sent thumping rap music pouring into the street.
When I asked the security guard how long it could take to get through the line—or through the supply, whichever came first—he told me it could take until 1 p.
Not even the security guard was privy to how many pairs were on hand that day, and no one in the store would say. That meant the fates of those in the back half of the line were uncertain. All that was clear on that bright Saturday morning was what is always the case these days: There would be legions of sneaker fans and regular customers at home who desperately wanted one of these new, limited-run Yeezy Boost Ash Pearls and would not be able to get a pair.
Unless, that is, they wanted to buy from a reseller. While resellers are happy making money and many buyers are equally content, not everyone is a fan of the current sneaker economics. After all, the growing resale phenomenon means that there are more people in line—and arriving much earlier—for these events than there used to be years ago.
This has created an enormous amount of frustration among sneaker fans, says Matt Powell, senior industry adviser for sports at the NPD Group. While frustrated sneaker fans are clamoring for more to be done to restrict resellers, brands are in a tight spot.
Yuming Wu, the founder of Sneaker News—who has resold sneakers in the past—says he has little patience for all the bellyaching. Oliver Mak, the cofounder of Bodega, says that his store strives to create a level playing field for everyone who wants the sneakers they sell. Still, he appreciates reselling. Foot Locker provides the best selection of premium products for a wide variety of activities, including basketball, running, and training.
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