Shoshy Ciment and Irene Jiang / Business Insider
- Sneakers are having a moment.
- Launches of hyped models are drawing massive crowds, and resale platforms like StockX are blowing up. A recent report from Cowen & Co. estimated that the sneaker resale market would grow to be worth $6 billion globally by 2025.
- Business Insider spent the last several weeks talking to sneaker experts to get their perspective on the future of the market.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Even casual observers have likely noticed that sneakers are everywhere these days.
From increasingly casual offices to the streets of major cities across America, rare and high-quality sneakers have more cachet today than ever before.
Just this month, Canadian investor Miles Nadal dropped more than $1.2 million on 100 pairs of rare sneakers at an auction run by Sotheby’s and Stadium Goods.
"I believe that sneakers are where automobiles were 20 years ago," Nadal said in an interview with Business Insider’s Shoshy Ciment.
"I always call my cars ‘moveable’ art, and I call sneakers ‘wearable’ or ‘walkable’ art," he said.
Earlier in July, New York City police shut down a pop-up event where Adidas and Arizona Iced Tea came together to sell pairs of a limited-edition sneaker that cost just $0.99 each. Two teens were assaulted when massive crowds showed up to the event, and everyone was sent home empty-handed.
It’s likely that many who showed up to that event were hoping to get their hands on the sneakers so that they could resell them for high sums later.
They’re not alone in that thinking. A recent report from Cowen & Co. estimated that the sneaker resale market would grow to be worth $6 billion globally by 2025. High-profile releases from athletes like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and from entertainers like Kanye West have contributed to both the hype and high prices.
With more people buying more and more sneakers — and thus, producing more waste — creating products with sustainability in mind is also becoming a larger consideration among the biggest players in the sector. Adidas executives spoke with Business Insider’s Dennis Green about the company’s plans to create the first-ever recyclable sneaker for the mass market.
"[Focusing on sustainability is] good for business, and it will increasingly be mandatory for business," Adidas’ global creative director Paul Gaudio said.
With all of this in mind, Business Insider is unveiling a series of stories on these topics and more this week. Read our first story, about how sneakers came to be so expensive, here.
See Also:
- Shoppers are now willing to drop hundreds of dollars on sneakers — and they might need to spend even more in the future
- Costco is making it easier for members to shop in its stores, and it could help it to win over millennial shoppers
- This soon-to-be-married Icelandic couple met in a Facebook group for Costco fans, and their friends call their child the ‘Costco Baby’
Source: Business Insider – mstone@businessinsider.com (Madeline Stone)