In 2008, Sole Supremacy owner Derek Lew had just lost his job and decided to begin selling off parts of his sneaker collection to make ends meet. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was quite a lucrative hustle, and soon he was buying pairs from other collectors who had fallen on hard times to flip for profit.
Now, seven years later, Sole Supremacy has blossomed into one of the biggest reseller platforms around, bringing in over $3 million each year. But how exactly does one make the transition from financial distress to millions in sales? Highsnobiety sat down with Lew to find out.
"We buy, sell and trade in-store. It's taken a long time to get here — we opened up a physical store after I did two years of trading just online. For the first two years, I wanna say like 80-90% of our sales were through eBay," Lew said.
Years of eBay hustling let to Sole Supremacy's first brick and mortar location in Newark, Calif, although Lew says that the majority of sales are still done through its website. "Honestly, most of our business is online — so we don’t really have face-to-face interaction with a lot of our customers," Lew said.
Anyone can open up an online store, but it takes a thorough understanding of the market and trends to really flourish as a reseller. When it comes to bringing in sales, Lew says Air Jordans are the far and away leader, accounting for as much as 80 to 90 percent of the store's sales. Meanwhile, sneakers like KDs, Kobes, Air Force 1s, SBs, and rare running shoes, including the occasional ASICS or New Balance release, make up the rest of the most popular stock.
In regards to a potential market downshift, Lew admits that it's probably inevitable, but that it could be father away than some think. "I think there will be a point — not sure when — but we as a shop and culture just have to adapt to it. However, it seems that for every long-time collector that leaves "the game" for different reasons 10 younger people start collecting — so it seems to just keep building and building."
To read the full interview, head over to Highsnobiety.
