How much would you be willing to pay for the sneaker of your dreams?

The success or failure of the high-end sneaker market revolves around this question. The answer? Looking at reality like Stadium Goods, Flight Club / GOAT and StockX we can say "a lot".

he figures that a sneakerhead will shell out to get a product they want can be exorbitant. A pair of white Nike Jordan 1 by Virgil Abloh, originally priced at $190, can reach $2'750 and apparently, a rare pair of adidas PW Human Race NMD TR, designed by musician Pharrell William, has been sold for $12'350.

It is now clear that rare and limited editions are big business nowadays. According to certain markets, some would say around $ 1 billion, but more realistically its maybe around $300 to $500 million.

In any case, shopping at one of these retailers is the equivalent of entering Tiffany's for a jewel.

Sneaker fans have been around for decades, with exchanges and purchases mostly taking place on eBay or as personal transactions, sales have accelerated in recent years. According to John McPheters, co-founder of Stadium Goods with Jed Stiller, the change was led by "men who are now learning from childhood how to treat fashion as a sport — the way that women have always treated fashion”.

Always McPheters underlines that

“Sneakers are the single most flexible and acceptable way to communicate personality for these new shopping-obsessed men”.

It thus becomes inevitable for Stadium Goods, Flight Club / GOAT, StockX, and others to ride that wave and expand.

Stadium Goods have in fact decided to exploit the demand for collectible sneakers and particularly lively streetwear market in China and has also announced in May that it has concluded a distribution agreement with Farfetch, the luxury e-commerce market. GOAT has focused on mobile devices with the so-called "ship-to-verify" models. (Once a sale is made, the seller sends the product to the GOAT distribution centers for verification, after which it is sent to the buyer).

StockX, which among its investors has, actor Mark Wahlberg and rapper Eminem, on the other hand, is a retailer model built on the concept that the prices of in-demand items vary like the stock market.

However, everyone agrees that the market is still relatively small, competing with individual resellers like Benjamin Kickz, who runs a concierge service for limited edition shoes, and that the future of sneaker retail will be a hybrid model that combines traditional channels and aftermarket sales.