Hypebeast will open a resell platform

Does it still make sense to talk about reselling? According to Hypebeast, it does, as the streetwear site has announced plans to unveil its own resell platform to challenge StockX and Goat. "It's a great opportunity with great growth potential," said founder and CEO Kevin Ma. "Today, all the e-commerce companies are advertising with us to reach our audience. But now we're going to start doing it better than anyone else." The move marks an important step forward for the platform, which has long been active in online retail with HBX but now seems to want to capitalise on its loyal audience, turning its readers into potential buyers with the hope of finding new ones too. According to its last fiscal year's report, of the $112 million in earnings achieved by Hypebeast, only 30 per cent came from HBX, a figure that underlines the new platform's ample room for growth as it looks to enter a growing market.

Despite the apparent demise of streetwear and hype culture, platforms such as StockX and Flight Club have seen significant growth in recent years, demonstrating that the market is still thriving. StockX in particular is now worth $3.8 billion, while according to Cowen & Co. the resell market in North America could be worth over $30 billion by 2030.

For some time now, almost every media company, from The New York Times to Condé Nast and Hearst, has been merging content with commerce to overcome the decade-long print crisis in alternative ways, the fickle nature of reselling has made curating crucial: StockX and other shoe resale platforms have expanded their content by creating buyers' guides and style advice. And when it comes to curating, Hypebeast is the undisputed leader as it was one of the true pioneers of streetwear and with investors including Tom Brady, Tony Hawk, Naomi Osaka, Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia and actor Jonah Hill, it is poised to shape the reselling market in its own image.