What is StockX?

THE ONLINE shoe company, StockX was founded in 2015 and has become a major retailer competing with the Bricks and Mortar stores.

StockX expanded its inventory beyond shoes to include bags, Apple products, and other electronics.

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What is StockX?

StockX is not the typical online retailer as it works as a platform for buyers to purchase limited-edition sneakers, watches, handbags, and streetwear.

Unlike other buyer and seller platforms, StockX boasts of taking it upon itself to review the products so sellers do not have to spend time looking at reviews from past purchases of the item.

It works based on the true marketplace value of each item, much like the stock market, so buyers know they are getting the item at the best and most competitive price.

The premise of StockX is to provide transparent pricing for authenticated items that will allow buyers to feel secure when selecting an item for purchase.

The website works with buyers and sellers in over 200 countries to expand the marketplace for pre-released, regionally limited, or sold-out merchandise.

How was StockX founded?

StockX was founded in Detroit, Michigan in 2015 by Josh Luber who envisioned a stock market for sneakers.

Shortly after Easter that year, he was approached by George Schwartz and the co-founder of Quicken Loans, Dan Gilbert.

The two were interested in his plans to build StockX and they invited Luber to a Cleveland Cavaliers game which progressed into a conversation about Luber’s plans for the enterprise.

His proposal was to use Campless as a guide for pricing the sneakers and create portfolios that would track the sneakers’ price value over time. If he was successful in both those aspects, his plan was to create a stock market for sneakers.

When Schwartz showed Luber that he had drafted the same plan, StockX was born.

“The craziest part of this story is that the one other person with the exact same idea happens to be one of the most successful businessmen in America,” Luber said in an interview with Hero, in 2020.

The three modeled StockX after the stock market, and after a year of building the site, it went live in February 2016.

However, it wasn’t until 2019 when StockX launched its’ first IPO (Initial Product Offering) to team up with a sneaker brand and release the new product directly on the site.

The test proved to be successful, with the item, a pair of red and black slides that was designed by celebrity jeweler Ben Baller, receiving 10k bids on 800 pairs.

Following the success of StockX’s first IPO, Luber raised $110million in venture capital funding from DST Global, General Atlantic, and GGV Capital.

He had also received previous investments from major celebrities including Mark Wahlberg, Eminem, and Drake, which resulted in a $1billion valuation of StockX.

Luber decided it was time to hand over the reins as CEO, and passed the torch to Scott Cutler.

“None of us thought that so much of my job and my life was going to be traveling the world, talking about StockX,” Luber told Hero.

“That was a very organic thing that was a function of the unique nature of the StockX model and how revolutionary it was.”

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What makes StockX like the stock market?

StockX uses information like the item’s release date, retail price, how many units have sold, and the previous sale prices, among other information to ensure the buyer never overpays.

While in-store items of the same sneaker are priced up based on the value when the item was made, StockX looks at the current market value.

For example, a sneaker can peak at its market value making it worth $1.5k, but two weeks later, the value may decrease to $800.

StockX keeps tabs on the ebb and flow of the market, to ensure that instead of paying $1.5k in-store, the buyer will get the sneaker for its current value.