By Antoine Dufay
There are more and more shoe enthusiasts: there is no longer any age or cultural stereotype associated with fans, as sneakers have become part of today's culture.
In 2020, the market of the resale of Sneakers reached 1,8 billion dollars on the American platform StockX (against only 1 billion in 2019!).
This turnover represents about 7.5 million transactions. After a quick calculation, this brings the average price of a pair of shoes to $253! This may seem high, but there is a very simple explanation.
Drawing of lots. Raffle. Contest. Call it what you want, but the principle is the same: in order to get "permission" to buy the hot pair, you must either be drawn or be among the first to click.
With the covid crisis and the shortage of materials coming from China, the effects are immediate: less production and stock while the demand keeps increasing.
Result: sneaker prices are soaring even before their official release. According to Statista, Jordan sneakers are averaging 54%, Nike 46%, Adidas 30% and New Balance 39%.
Still according to StockX, the resale market could reach by 2025 up to 15 to 25% of the global sneaker market, estimated at 100 billion dollars within 4 years.
Some insiders (or not) have jumped on the opportunity to make it a lucrative business, or even open a store or specialized site. The most telling example being Joe Hebert, the son of Nike's North American CEO, who had to resign last week from his position (probably because of his activities).
Thus, in recent years, many resale sites of sneakers have emerged around the world: WeTheNew, Flight club, Klekt ...
While other unexpected players have also appeared: the house Christie's has sold, in May 2020, a pair of Air Jordan 1 worn by Michael Jordan to ... $ 615,000. The auction house Sotheby's inaugurated last month its sales site exclusively dedicated to sneakers: The Sneaker's shop. The latter is not subject to the rule of auctions, unlike the site called "sneaker exchange" as StockX.
The other side of the coin: the frustration of the enthusiasts and the outbursts generated.
"Today, if you're a sneaker enthusiast, you can only count on your luck or on a very well-filled bank account. If you have neither, you won't get your pair." These are the words of the manager of the FootPatrol store in Paris.
You might even think that brands are using frustration marketing to drive demand. Without this strategy, Nike wouldn't be able to sell these second-rate models the way it does so well. The desire caused by frustration marketing nowadays sells absolutely everything, and Nike takes advantage of this by offering new colors every day. An uninitiated public will buy without thinking a model that was absolutely not desired and desirable a few years before.
In addition to the often very long queues in front of the stores, some outbursts took place in New York in particular: Jeff Staple was releasing a "Pigeon" version of the shoe, estimated at over $15,000.
Distributed in only 150 copies in the Reed Space store, the sneaker caused a riot. Moreover, people armed with knives and baseball bats were waiting in the street, with the sole purpose of racketeering the lucky owners of the pair of sneakers.
Despite these bad sides due to the resell, the trend is not ready to stop: "Cowen analysts believe that the sneaker resale market could potentially reach $30 billion by 2030.
The resale market still has many years ahead of it.
631 Words
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