StockX: Asian sneakerheads give trainer traders a spring in their step
A stock market for trainers that allows people to buy and sell shoes using real-time data is expanding into Asia.
Asia is one of the fastest growing regions for StockX, a US tech firm that set up the shoe exchange.
Since its launch in 2016 the platform has grown rapidly and now has 115,000 products listed and close to
1,000 staff globally.
On Tuesday, StockX opened a new bricks-and-mortar centre in Hong Kong that will make it easier to trade
trainers.
In the last year, transactions in Asia have risen more than 500% with Hong Kong leading the way, StockX chief
executive Scott Cutler told the BBC.
Trading trainers, or sneakers depending on your preference, is big business and rare shoes sell for thousands
of dollars. A pair of trainers worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan fetched $615,000 (£460,000) at an online
auction in August.
The Nike Air Jordan 1 High sneakers, described as the "rarest of the rare", were used by the Chicago Bulls star
in an exhibition game in 1985.
For many, the Air Jordan 1s are the shoe that kickstarted the global sneaker resale market, an industry recently
valued at $6bn (£4.6bn) by Cowen Equity Research, and predicted to be worth $30bn by 2030.
Given the rapid rise in interest and prices, StockX decided to launch an exchange which mirrors a stock market
for shares.
The StockX platform, which describes itself as "the world's first stock market for things", connects buyers and
sellers using real-time data to work out a fair market value, much like trading shares.
For every item listed, StockX collects information like release date, retail price, how many units have sold and
previous sale prices.
"We have an extremely active customer base across key Asian markets, and we've seen tremendous growth
within Hong Kong in particular," he added.
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