According to Allied Market Research, the global sneaker market was valued at US$131.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach US$215.6 billion by 2031.
A sneaker shop owner and a professor spoke about the sneaker landscape and how it impacts today’s economy.
Nick Giarrusso is living the dream.
“[I was] probably 15 [or] 16,” he said. “I thought, ‘One day I’m going to own a sneaker shop.'”
Being a sneakerhead is a lifestyle for him.
“I camped outside for 20+ hours to get myself a pair of shoes just because I loved the shoe so much,” Giarrusso said.
As a child, he rarely got new couples, so this feeling was always special for him and fueled his passion for it.
“It doesn’t matter what shoe it is,” he said. “It could be Yeezy’s.” It could be Ultraboosts. It could be Jordans, literally anything. A brand new pair of shoes makes everyone feel a lot better and more confident.”
As the owner of Ambition Upstate, a shoe store in Syracuse, Giarrusso sells a wide range of upscale shoes. But getting here was more difficult than he thought.
“It took me a long time to get here though,” said Giarrusso. “There were definitely times when I didn’t want to do that anymore. I had a good support system that kept telling me to keep going.”
One of the most important aspects of his work is adaptability. As the way sneakers are perceived has changed, he must always be one step ahead in order to continue to be successful.
“It’s completely different,” he said. “It really is, I mean, you still have your die-hard collectors and stuff like that, but it’s more of a really big business at this point.”
Patrick Penfield sees the same thing
“A lot of people now look at sneakers as an investment,” Penfield said. “And it’s really about the economy having scale.” So when there’s not a lot of supply and demand, prices tend to go up, and that’s where you could buy sneakers, maybe hold them as an asset, and sell them later.”
According to Front Office Sports, the US sneaker resale market is worth $2 billion and is expected to reach $30 billion by 2030.
“These resellers, in turn, are very aggressive with their bots,” he said. “And when they go in, they buy up a lot of the inventory, and that’s why consumers often have a hard time buying directly from a manufacturer like Nike or Adidas.”
Since sneaker releases are mostly done through apps, using a bot is a huge benefit. It completes the checkout process for someone right at the time of the official release of the shoe.
“I mean, I don’t like it,” Giarrusso said. “But everything else just changes over time.” Either you have to adapt to the changes, or if you don’t adapt, you’re not really going to advance what you want to do. And especially in the sneaker market.”
Buying a retail shoe doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to make money from it. The key is to take it easy.
“You have to balance the good with the bad, that’s what you have to do in this market,” Giarrusso said. “Not everything is going to be a home run, not everything is going to make $100.” Some you won’t even make, you’ll break even, and others you’ll lose money.”
The sneaker landscape is constantly evolving.
Comments are closed.