The Market For Second-Hand Sports Shoes Is Still Hot. Stockx Is Close To Completing The New Round Of Financing.

Over the past five years, the fastest growing branch of clothing footwear industry is probably the second-hand shoe trading. A number of platforms that focus on this business have also risen and gained the attention and support of the capital market.

Among them, the online trading platform StockX established in 2016 is undoubtedly the leader.

According to Footwear News, StockX is about to become the first "unicorn" company in the field of second hand footwear (valued at more than $1 billion in start-up companies).

According to a report by science and technology website Re/Code, StockX's new round of financing has been further promoted. If the financing is completed, the valuation of StockX will be more than 1 billion US dollars, surpassing that of its rival GOAT group and Stadium Goods.

The ongoing financing is led by DST Global, a venture capital firm focused on late investment.

DST Global previously invested in e-commerce companies including Wish, Jingdong and Farfetch.

Ji Yuan capital, fitness equipment brand Peloton and e-commerce website Poshmark also participated in this round of financing.

However, StockX has not responded to the financing news.

4 years ago, the NBA Cavaliers Dan Gilbert and Josh Luber jointly founded StockX, formerly known as Campless, founded in 2012.

The platform uses the form of product display and paction similar to that of the stock exchange. The products sold by the seller will be auctioned on the platform. The highest bidder will pick up the product. StockX will draw a certain proportion of the fee as a commission. Users can also check the price trend of a shoe in the past period on StockX, and determine the value of the shoe.

This innovative form of trading, as well as product authentication services provided by StockX, has led many fans to move from other platforms to StockX.

According to the data provided by the company in September 2018, the single day sales of the platform had exceeded $2 million at that time.

At present, StockX has attracted investments from investment companies and star investors including GV (Google Ventures), Battery Ventures, supermodel Karlie Kloss, and music producer Steve Aoki. The latest round of financing was completed in September 2018 with a financing amount of US $44 million.

At that time, StockX said that the company plans to expand overseas business under sufficient capital conditions, increase and expand the channel center of the company, and launch a new category of business.

At present, there are sports shoes, handbags and watch business on the StockX platform.

Not only the performance of StockX has been affirmed by the capital market, but the second-hand trading platform has made breakthroughs in the past two years, and GOAT group got a $100 million financing from Foot Locker in February 2019, and the group valuation has reached US $550 million.

In December 2018, Stadium Goods was bought by the electronic commerce platform Farfetch at a price of US $250 million.

An observation report from the trend media website Highsnobiety shows that the global secondary shoe market has reached US $6 billion.

The number of main selling platforms is increasing, and the head platforms such as Stadium Goods, Grailed, StockX and GOAT have gradually stabilized.

The entry of many star investors is further pushing the whole industry forward.

Although the price of the tennis shoes is not as bright as before, the heat of the second-hand shoes market is still not cool.

Author: Wang Yi