The sneaker resale industry continues to grow as more and more folks try their luck at securing and selling kicks on the secondary market. The sneaker game has gotten so big that it's even spawned businesses within the business: With the increased demand for sneakers, there's increased demand for supplies to keep them fresh and clean. One of the giants in this space is sneaker cleaner supplier Reshoevn8r. Steve Grear, the company's founder and CEO, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the company's growth and the evolution of the sneaker resale market.
Grear created Reshoevn8r back in 2010, and since then, the business flourished. Its YouTube channel has amassed over 1 million followers of its weekly videos about sneaker cleaning, customizations, and restorations led by brand ambassador Vick Almighty.
“That is where it started, obviously keeping your shoes clean — these are investments for a lot of people. So being able to really maximize that investment is kind of where it started, but it’s leading into other things,” Grear said.
Grear tells Yahoo Finance that sneaker side hustles have been an essential part of people’s lives — especially now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, Reshoevn8r created an "Executive Club" that gives sneakerheads a chance to start their own sneaker cleaning businesses using Reshoevn8r supplies.
“Kids would come up to us and say, ‘Hey, we started our own business with your products.’ So the more I thought about it I said, ‘Well, why don’t we make that easier for them?’ So we offer an executive kit that comes with everything that you would need. Plus we have a membership that allows them to get training certification business cards and really help them take that to the next level.”
The executive club costs $228 and has a monthly charge of $14.99. Grear tells Yahoo Finance that the initials reviews for the program have been overwhelmingly positive.
“So we followed up with our first 50 members and we’ve got kids that say ‘I’ve made $1,200 this month, already.’ So, I think that the feedback so far is great from people who’ve been saying ‘I’ve been waiting for this, i’m so glad you did it.’”
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the sneaker community is the prevalence of bots — computer programs that operate as an agent for a user or other program — which are used to speed up the checkout process when buying products such as concert tickets and sneakers online. Many sneaker enthusiasts blame bots as the reason they cannot get their hands on some of the most sought-after shoes. When it comes to bots in the sneaker resale market, the Reshoevn8r CEO put it to Yahoo Finance plain and simple.
“You know as well as I do, man, if you don’t have a bot, good luck getting that shoe. It was not that hard years ago — the reseller market has just completely changed.”
Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.
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