If you're just starting to get into the shoe game or still can’t wrap your head around why people stand in front of a Foot Locker or Nike store early on a Saturday morning in order to get their hands on new sneakers, Josh Luber, the CEO and cofounder of StockX, can tell you. Luber has cracked the formula for people who engage in “flipping”—buying rare, exclusive products and then selling them for double, or more, their original cost.
StockX is a website and app where you can buy and sell products—but it's nothing like eBay or Craigslist. It's light-years ahead of what those sites offer; similar to the stock market, users have the ability to make an offer based on the market data collected and made visible on the site. Started in 2015, it's been the place where you can see the market value of a product, like a pair of highly coveted sneakers, "in real time."
Since its inception, it has become the de facto hub for selling the coolest footwear this side of the Back to the Future Nike Mag. Say you really want to buy a pair of sneakers that were impossible to find IRL and were sold out everywhere online. Instead of buying them from a shady website that happens to have the sneakers (marked up to an outrageous price and unclear if they are even legitimate), you can visit StockX to find the going rate and sales history, and get a guarantee of authenticity.
Users can make offers based on that information and get the sneakers they've been thirsting for. The idea attracted billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures—and the other co-founder of StockX. It has also gained traction with high-profile co-signs from Eminem, Mark Wahlberg and Wale, who have invested in the platform. StockX and Eminem teamed up to raise funds for the Marshall Mathers Foundation, giving everyone an exclusive opportunity to take home the never-before-seen Eminem Air Jordan 4 Encore (2017), and many other prizes from Eminem’s personal archives. All it took was a $10 donation for a chance to win. (FYI, the shoes go for a whopping $40,000 a pair right now.)