I can already hear all the sneakerheads cussing out “Fuck this bullshit”. We can all agree that reselling is a controversial element of sneaker culture. It’s a taboo subject, in fact, many resellers are reluctant to claim the title. Some make their living off it that eventually leads to a full grown business. Whether we like it or not, their service is necessary and inevitable part of a game that is constantly evolving. The reseller popularity is driven by extremely high demand and non-sufficient supply. As the sneaker community has grown so does the number of limited releases – joining two factors; online-only releases (to prevent camp-outs and riots) and computer bots. For the most part, resellers just like the rest of us who are enthusiasts and collectors, except they just so happen to make money off their ability to buy and sell desirable kicks that everybody wants but only the lucky ones can own. The sneaker quest isn’t underestimate due the power of hype and lengths taken to be the first to cop the limited releases. Collectors have a higher bet to attain their dream shoe, in other words, by paying a convenience fee. Genuine collectors buy them as proud collectible pieces even if it mean sneakers are being charged twice the price or more depending on how rare it is. Reselling a pair from your own collection that you no longer want at market value, by doing so you’re still contributing to resell culture. Brands like Supreme has admitted to be against resellers. Once a limited piece sells out at Supreme retail stores or on its website, we are forced to resort dealing with a reseller for prices well above MSRP. Most wanted brands can multiply the releases and eliminate the hype however nothing is changing yet. Resellers can only exist when demand outweighs supply. Will reselling be normalised?
Inside look of the sneakers resellers in the game; Julian Leong from Soleciety and Calen Leong from Streetlavida.
1. Introduce yourself and a little background on your business.
Julian: Hello, I’m Julian and I’m one of the co-founders of Soleciety MY. I’ve been collecting for the past 4 to 5 years and I mainly collect runners. Soleciety MY was founded in 2016 and is run by three friends. We started Soleciety MY because like every other reseller, we wanted to earn a little more than our usual student allowance to buy our own pairs to build our collection. Another reason we started Soleciety MY is to provide more reasonable pricing to the crowd because we believe everyone deserves to have a nice pair of shoes whether you’re a sneakerhead or not. The name Soleciety MY came about as we are building a community where we could share our opinions on anything related to sneakers or the activities surrounding sneakerheads. Sole + Society = Soleciety. The MY is just to show where we represent.
Calen: Hi, I’m Leong Calen. Currently 21 years old, I just graduated my accounting degree. Upon graduation, I had a decision to make which was either to pursue my accounting papers (ACCA) or dedicate full time into my reselling business whereby I chose the latter. My business is called Street La Vida which means street life in Latin. It started back when I was studying foundation in 2013. Basically, this idea came to me when I learned about supply and demand in microeconomics and applied them into the sneaker/streetwear market. I resell everything related to streetwear and sometimes even high-end brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
2. Why and how did you started reselling?
Julian: I started reselling because as a student before, my allowance wasn’t enough to buy the shoes I wanted or even anything materialistic. It all started when I sold a pair of SB’s for more than the price I paid for. Another reason is because when I talk about shoes, it rubs off on my friends and influence them to buy too. I would say convincing them to purchase their favourite shoe pretty fulfilling to me. So, extra cash and fulfilment, why not start a business?
Calen: Initially, I never intend to resell for a living. Back then, I started Street La Vida just to earn some extra pocket money to sustain my spending on sneakers. Who would have thought that 4 years down the road, I would be doing this as a full time job. I started reselling on Facebook groups. Back then when I started, nobody knew about me so it’s hard to gain the trust of customers. I had to slowly build my reputation. Also, I didn’t have much money to start as I was only using my leftover monthly savings to bring in stock. With every successful sale, more people are trusting me due to the word of mouth from their other friends and it snowballed from then onwards. It took me roughly 5 months of reselling in Facebook groups before I decided to start my own Instagram and Facebook page of Street La Vida. Despite having my own social media platform, I would continue to post up stuff on Facebook groups once in awhile as it was still a bigger platform with a wider range of potential customers.
3. How do you get your supply and go about selling them? Is it different between general releases and limited releases?
Julian: Soleciety MY provides consignment services and we have our own stock as well. So, some of our supply comes from consignees but most of our own stock are sourced from overseas to provide the Malaysian sneakerheads with sneakers that they can’t get their hands on in Malaysia. We sell them on our Instagram page (@solecietymy) and in Facebook sneaker groups. I believe the limited releases drive the market that consists of collectors where resell value is very significant. Times have changed, people who are sneakerheads or are just in sneaker collecting for the hype and attention now aim mostly the limited releases and wait for general releases to go into outlets at discounted prices.
Calen: When I first started, I mainly focused on reselling general releases sneakers that aren’t available in Malaysia. For example, I noticed that the Vans x Liberty was highly sought-after Malaysians as their designs have resemblance of batik and it wasn’t brought in by local vans retailers back then. So, I purchased them from online retailers in USA and shipped them back to resell. With the passing of time, the demand for certain sneakers is constantly changing. The trend come and goes hence I have to continuously bring in sneakers that are currently in demand. In recent times, limited releases like the Yeezy Boosts are the new trend. I get my supply from oversea resellers as the stock available there is much higher as compared to Malaysia. Not to forget, the resell price is way cheaper abroad.
4. How do you determine the mark up prices?
Julian: We would usually source from overseas if there is a margin to make comparing the market value in the foreign market and local market. We try our best to price our sneakers reasonably but as an example, a pair costs RM1800 in Malaysia but we sourced it for RM1600, so we will list it at RM1700 where both parties win. We stand by the reason we started the Soleciety for.
Calen: It depends on few factors like which business model i plan to apply, the amount of supply of the shoes in Malaysia and how many i can get. For instance, i could mark it up higher and hold onto the shoe longer or i could just mark up by RM100 and have faster turnover rates to help my cash flow. You have to obtain a good understanding of the market equilibrium to price the product accordingly.
5. What are the Do’s and Don’t of being a reseller?
Julian: Do build a genuine relationship with customers, respecting each other while standing your ground. You ought to know what’s right and wrong, for example customers aren’t always right (trust me) but try to provide added value for customers whenever available. Don’t be greedy nor treat customers in a biased sense. A customer is a customer. Also do not show off how much you earn and put down other resellers or anyone.
Calen: I think resellers should always be honest and true to everyone. In today’s world, reputation is everything. It may take a few years to build the trust of your customers but only a few hours to lose all of your reputation with how fast news can spread on social media. Like I said, never scam or cancel on a deal after agreeing to it even if it means you found cheaper alternative or you’re on the losing side of the deal. Once you agreed to something, you should honour your part of the deal or nobody would take you seriously in the future.
6. What is the most expensive shoes you’ve sold?
Julian: Asics x Colette x LaMJC ‘Sold Out’ for RM7,500 in used condition.
Calen: The most expensive shoes i’ve sold was a pair of Yeezy Boost 350 V2 “Zebra’ for RM8500 before adidas decided to restock them recently.
7. Some resellers have methods to getting the release such as using bots. Share us some tips and tricks on reselling shoes.
Julian: Make sure you know discount codes on various sites. Check which site offers free shipping or does not charge tax. Always let them negotiate a little to make the customers happy and make sure your customers are comfortable. The obvious one would be join every single raffle you can, overseas or locally.
Calen: Tips and tricks on reselling shoes would be to have a good understanding of the market. By doing so, you can analyse and predict whether certain models would have higher resale value compared to others. For example, why would someone purchase a pair of Ultraboost from you at a resell price when they could still get it for retail price in an adidas retail store?
8. How was your experience and feedback gotten from the recent Streetware Con? Will you be participating in Sneakerlah Con?
Julian: Experience was great, made new friends, more interaction with our customers, sales was good, and combined forces with other resellers. The feedback we got was that we have a good variety of brands to choose from and of course, reasonable and steal prices. Yes, we will be taking part in SneakerLAH, so prepare to empty your wallets at our booth.
Calen: Unfortunately I didn’t went to the recent Streetware Con cause I was busy with other stuff but I will be participating in Sneakerlah Con.
9. What misconceptions about resellers you want to clear out?
Julian: People often complain that resellers take away the opportunity from the scene to get their favourite shoes for retail. People fail to realize that without resellers, the rare, limited releases are not within their reach. I guess, people tend to always focus on negativity and fail to realize the advantages of the resell market or resellers in general. If a product is priced too high, just pass the deal and wait for the next deal you’re willing to pay for. In the end, its all economics, supply and demand, so don’t blame the player, blame the game. Lastly, many people take pride on not being a ‘reseller’ just because they hate the concept of reselling as they are not willing to pay resell prices. In the end, they value their collection from resell values and even would sell their ‘personal pairs’ at resell prices, so what does that make you? We are all in it for the same passion, so let’s drop the ego and pride and just get along already.
Calen: I always hear people raging that resellers are destroying the sneaker market for ‘ true sneaker collector” but they don’t understand that resellers are part of the whole equation. If the demand for a certain shoes outweighs the supply, of course there would be customers willing to pay more to get their hands on their desired shoes. It is just how the system works, willing buyer willing seller. If it’s not highly sought-after, who would spend extra money to afford it when they could just walk into retailers and purchase them? Without the demand of consumers, there will not be any resellers. It is as simple as that.
10. Tell us the most valuable shoe you own?
Julian: The shoe above is Saucony Shadow 6000 x Acht ‘Invictus’. There are only 120 pairs of these made and is the holy grail of the Saucony brand which makes this a ‘unicorn’. Whenever this pair goes up for sale in FB groups, they usually sell out within minutes to a day (max). The shop that did this collaboration has closed down unfortunately, which gives no chance of this shoe to ever be reproduced again. To own this pair, makes you a guardian of a rare pair which is almost every collector’s dream.
Calen: The shoe is called New Balance 1400 x Invincible “Brogue” released back in 2013. It’s my most valuable shoe because it was the first pair of shoes that i had to queued for it. While queuing for it, i met a group of friends and get to understand the sneaker scene before the hype of reselling shoes came to be. So it can be said that this pair of shoes is the one that started everything for me. I still kept it to this day and most probably would never sell it off.
Your sneaker quest begins here: Soleciety MY Facebook & Instagram and Streetlavida Facebook & Instagram.
Don’t forget to head to SneakerLAH Con this 7th & 8th October 2017.
