Premium price tags spotlight rare styles

Even as the mainstream sneaker market takes off in China, a secondary or parallel market is emerging quickly. There, shoes are traded as if they were blue-chip shares.

A popular but limited pair of sneakers are precious and can be hard to get. Sometimes, consumers need to register online. Before they can lay their hands on a pair from a limited edition series, they need to first qualify to line up outside the designated store on the launch date. Many are willing to join the queue the night before the launch.

"They don't release the product where I live," said Wang Weiwei, 25, who loves sneakers. "Instead of going to the trouble of waiting endlessly, I'd rather buy in the secondary market."

Wang recently bought a pair of new Adidas Yeezy Boost 700 off a sneaker trading platform Poizon for twice the original price. For him, they were worth the money.

High demand for sneakers among consumers such as Wang has attracted the attention of established makers of sneakers at home and abroad.

Josh Luber, founder of StockX, the Detroit-based online marketplace, one of the most well-known sneaker trading platforms, anticipates that the sneaker market in China alone exceeds $1 billion, according to a report on Wall Street Cn, a financial information provider.

The company is now exploring potential partnership to enter China.

Early in 2016, Stadium Goods, a US-based street fashion marketplace, started its online shop on Tmall, Alibaba's e-commerce platform for established local brands.

"Over time, China could easily surpass the US as the biggest market for e-commerce sales for us," said John McPheters, CEO of Stadium Goods. "It's astounding how much opportunity still exists and how much we can scale up."

Chinese firms are also making their moves. Yoho!, one of the largest streetwear fashion groups in China, has started its secondary-fashion platform UFO - short for Unique Fashion Object.

Li Zhe, project manager, said UFO's core competitiveness lies in its genuine shoes as consumers have concerns about fakes in the market. "It's like Chinese medicine, your experience is the most precious thing," said Li.

(China Daily Global 04/25/2019 page10)