Source: Arkiv | Sneaker Solutions
Yesterday Tayib and I did an Insider Ties livestream discussing how reselling sneakers isn’t a business. It took the Housakicks Facebook page on a mission for clarification as resellers took offense to what we were saying. What didn’t come across is that we aren’t saying reselling is a waste of time, we were just establishing that it’s not a business because there isn’t any ownership or anything unique about the process. Today I was browsing Footwear News and ran across another sneaker industry startup, Arkiv. Arkiv is a company that allows you to inventory and safely protect your shoes from damage.
Not only do they take care of your collection they will help you sell them if you want too; which takes the process of reselling shoes to a completely different place. As usual I’m anxious to try out this business so I can report on it, but I’m not quite sure it’s something I’m interested in doing right away. The website link is in the Source cite above. If you check it out let me know how it works for you.
Note: Looking at the model as an analyst I don’t think it will be a successful platform. It requires an amount of trust that many collectors simply don’t have. I do think this is another potential outlet for sales, but there will have to be a considerable amount of marketing that takes place to acquire new clients on a consistent basis.