The reselling of rare, exclusive, vintage and in-demand sneakers has recently developed into a billion dollar industry. The exclusivity of certain high-demand releases, as well as the increasingly prohibitive (in the name of safety) release practices at traditional retailers has brought many sneaker fanatics to Internet resellers in order to acquire these elusive prized possessions.
In Milwaukee, one particular online reselling community has become the go-to hub to buy, sell or trade treasured limited-edition shoes like retro Air Jordan’s, Adidas Yeezy’s or anything in between.
Pictured: The Jordan 11 "Space Jam". A highly sought-after sneaker (Image via Sam Deng, Flickr CC)
Nimesh “Nemo” Ruparel, a Milwaukee native and UW-Milwaukee business student, started The Milwaukee Swap on Facebook almost five years ago as a way to interact with the city’s fast-growing sneaker community. The group has grown to over 25 thousand members and sees hundreds of posts every day.
“The benefit of the group is that when you don’t get the opportunity to buy the shoe, whether you were busy, or it was sold out, our group is almost guaranteed to have a bunch of people trying to sell to people who missed out,” Ruparel says.
Ruparel has witnessed Milwaukee’s sneaker culture’s rapid growth as the main administrator and organizer of the group, as well as through his experience working at a variety of shoe stores around the city for a decade. Places like New York City, Chicago and Houston have been known as meccas for sneaker collectors for years, but Milwaukee is beginning to catch up.
|
|
“Milwaukee’s a smaller market, but we’re starting to make an impact in the sneaker world,” Ruparel says.
While the group is locally focused with a vast majority of members living in southeast Wisconsin, over time many of its members have spread out throughout the country. These migrated members have continued to stay connected with the group from their new homes, a practice that has opened up access to vaunted and exclusive out-of-market shoes for those still residing in Milwaukee. Ruparel says that this presents the group with a key opportunity to access limited releases.
Like any other online community, technological advancements have facilitated the growth of the sneaker-swap subculture. Without social networks like Facebook and payment services like PayPal, a group like this, with their focus on real-time selling, would not be able to thrive in the way that it has.
“People move, but still want to be tied to the group, and they’re able to continue to conduct transactions freely,” Ruparel says.
The relationships built within the group begin to carry over to the offline world. Ella White-Ragland, who is active on The Milwaukee Swap daily, refers to the group as a family. She tells stories of people who at one point only knew each other from profile pictures beginning to meet up on weekends to play basketball or take trips to sneaker shows in other cities.
White-Ragland says the group “brings people together who would probably never come into contact with each other, like a suburban kid making friends with a kid from the inner city, and their whole friendship is based off of the family that was built through The Milwaukee Swap.”
While members are given access to sneakers that were sold out or otherwise unavailable at the local Champ’s or Foot Locker, they will not be paying retail price. Shoes that go up for sale on The Milwaukee Swap are routinely sold for percentage markups in the hundreds. Ruparel says average prices in the group are between $250-$400, but there are shoes going up for sale for $800-$1,500 every day. Ruparel once sold an extremely rare pair of Nike Air Yeezy 2’s for $3,200. Upon release, the shoe retailed for $245.
Pictured: Nike Air Yeezy "Red October", the shoe Ruparel sold for $3,200 (image via Jenson1981, Flickr CC)
As with any business where such large monetary transactions are taking place, the sneaker-swap world is home to some shady dealings and dishonest players looking for a quick buck. Fraud, robberies and counterfeit shoes are a real and unfortunately frequent reality.
Ruparel and other members of the swap have made a point to stress safety and background checks in the group to eliminate or at least severely limit criminal activity. Even with the 25,000 people involved, the group’s focus on safety has eliminated almost all criminal activity.
The fact that the group is mostly local helps with security. Having each member’s account linked to Facebook with their public profile available is a quick and easy way to screen members for potential criminal activity, but the biggest deterrent to fraudulent activity is something that Ruparel implemented called a “Legit Check”.
This is when a buyer asks the members of the group to verify the legitimacy of the shoes up for sale and the track record of the seller. It turns into a 25,000 person vetting process where anyone can speak of specific negative experiences with a seller, or point out small details revealing a pair of shoes to be counterfeit. These checks and balances keep group members feeling safe, and serve to foster and maintain the spirit of community within the group.
“At the end of the day we all work hard for our money,” Ruparel says. “No one wants to get scammed or robbed.”
For Ruparel, sneakers aren’t just a fashion statement, or even a hobby. They’re a business. Even as a full-time student with two part-time jobs, he says he dedicates almost 40 hours a week to either driving to sales, negotiating prices or simply researching the next big release.
The Milwaukee Swap provides a place for young people to learn about business through their sneaker hobby, teaching them the basics of supply and demand, sales and marketing.
Ruparel’s background in business has been fundamental to the group’s success, and he is currently constructing a business plan to further its growth. He shies away from giving away too many details, but he says he is looking to expand on what he started with the Facebook group, and make it easier for people to buy, sell and trade sneakers.
While some may dismiss collecting shoes as a childish endeavor or even go as far as demonize it as an embodiment of a frivolous, wasteful culture, those within the world embrace it as a way of life. Ruparel sees it as a way to build a sense of community and add tremendous value and opportunity to the lives of everyone involved.
