Speaker 1: From the King of Sports Books comes the King Sports
Speaker 1: Podcast Unleashed, presented by bet MGM. You're your host, Speedy
Speaker 1: Mormon and Olivia Arland Decker. Welcome back to Unleashed from
Speaker 1: the King of Sports Books bet MGM. Today we are
Speaker 1: diving into the world of sneaker culture. Whether you are
Speaker 1: a hardcore sneaker head or just sneaker curious, this show
Speaker 1: is for you. Our guest is the ultimate sneakerhead, Josh Luber,
Speaker 1: who is the founder of stock x that transformed the
Speaker 1: sneaker resale business into a multibillion dollar industry. Later, Speedie
Speaker 1: will test my sneaker knowledge and our pal Peter Andrew
Speaker 1: from bet MGM will talk about his picks for this week.
Speaker 1: But before all of that, Speedy, what is all the
Speaker 1: fuss about sneakers? I don't get it. The question, I
Speaker 1: guess the better question is what is not the fuss
Speaker 1: about sneakers? Oh? I've been a guy that loves sneakers
Speaker 1: and has collected sneakers for many, many years. But let's
Speaker 1: let's start really basic. And I'm curious, how many pairs
Speaker 1: of sneakers do you own? Right now? Gosh? I I
Speaker 1: am guilty of having a lot because my husband was
Speaker 1: signed with Nike for four years, so I swear every
Speaker 1: time I opened the front door there was a Nike box.
Speaker 1: Now he's with under Armour, so we're all under Armour.
Speaker 1: I have a ton of sneakers for me, I just
Speaker 1: need to wear one pair Tilla wears out and then
Speaker 1: I'll go to another pair, and he thinks that's ludicrous. Um,
Speaker 1: I will say, just from a comfort standpoint, I really
Speaker 1: like under Armour. Now I walk all the time. I'm
Speaker 1: not a runner. I'm a walker. But I know when
Speaker 1: I'm talking about this, like the the use of sneakers,
Speaker 1: that's not at all what you're talking about. So I
Speaker 1: know you're not really thinking about the come where you're
Speaker 1: thinking of the appeal, the street cred, the fashion, And
Speaker 1: I'm just like, what doesn't give me shins wins? Well,
Speaker 1: sometimes comfort is important. It is not the most important thing.
Speaker 1: Sneakers are basically there. There are a few things, but
Speaker 1: I guess the main attraction of sneakers is the fact
Speaker 1: that there are a form of self expression. Right, So
Speaker 1: just like how you know you may like nice cars,
Speaker 1: or you may like nice bags or jewelry or whatever.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people like myself who like sneakers,
Speaker 1: and we call ourselves sneaker heads. And so basically that
Speaker 1: means we either spend way too much money on sneakers
Speaker 1: or have way too many pairs of shoes. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, we all only have one pair
Speaker 1: of feet. But there's no such thing as too many sneakers.
Speaker 1: So you have a good amount of sneakers. I have
Speaker 1: how many I want to say, maybe like maybe a
Speaker 1: hundred pairs of sneakers. And that's a low end. When
Speaker 1: it comes and you live in New York, You've got
Speaker 1: no room for that. No one any work has been
Speaker 1: for all those shoes. It was just scattered around my crib.
Speaker 1: Is just like like imagine like a pillar of sneakers,
Speaker 1: like a sneakers stack that goes from the floor to
Speaker 1: the ceiling. Just in the middle of the bathroom there's one,
Speaker 1: and then there's one in the in the sink, and
Speaker 1: then then on the bed there's another. There's just sneakers
Speaker 1: everywhere in my house. But I think that you know
Speaker 1: what a lot of people may be surprised to find
Speaker 1: out or maybe not actually at this point, is you know,
Speaker 1: sneakers these days can sell you know, upwards of four figures,
Speaker 1: sometimes even five. We're talking, you know, thousands of dollars
Speaker 1: for a single pair of sneakers. And you know, everyone
Speaker 1: knows that Michael Jordan's is a big contributor to the
Speaker 1: rise of sneaker culture, but you know, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of other people who have since chimed in and
Speaker 1: contributed a bit. We're talking pop cultural icons from you know,
Speaker 1: movie stars to rappers and musicians and even actors sometimes
Speaker 1: have collaborations with big sneaker brands. So sneakers are all
Speaker 1: of the fuss. But as much as I am a
Speaker 1: sneaker head, I don't know that I'm a sneaker expert. Well,
Speaker 1: if you had to guess, like if if truly the
Speaker 1: world was crumbling down you were fired from all twenty
Speaker 1: million of the jobs that you currently have, and you've
Speaker 1: had to sell all your sneakers, how much do you
Speaker 1: think your entire collection is worth? And that may be
Speaker 1: a nosy question, but I gotta know it isn't known
Speaker 1: the Questionabiba, But you know you and I have have
Speaker 1: built a rapport enough that I'll answer as close as
Speaker 1: I can without making myself the target of a home invasion. Yes,
Speaker 1: my sneekret collection. Uh, I'm trying to figure out an
Speaker 1: interesting way to say this without snitching on myself. Let's
Speaker 1: just say I'd be able to live for a few
Speaker 1: years relatively comfortably. Relatively comfortably, I'd be able to have
Speaker 1: a solid salary median incomes allary for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: I'll say that. Okay, now that is impressive, and you
Speaker 1: are very humble, but I know it rolling around in
Speaker 1: your head somewhere there's a number, so I'll leave your
Speaker 1: answer at that. Okay, I want to tell you a
Speaker 1: couple of sneakers I have, and I had to ask
Speaker 1: my husband for what they're even called, because I I
Speaker 1: just don't know, and he's like, no, no, you have
Speaker 1: a good collection. So let me. I'm gonna say what
Speaker 1: I have and you tell me if you're impressed. Let's
Speaker 1: let's do it. I'm excited and ready. Yeah, I've got
Speaker 1: multiple pairs of Jordan elevens. Oh, okay, see the Jordan's
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, the Jordan eleven is. You know,
Speaker 1: Jordan has thirty four signature models plus like a bunch
Speaker 1: of Team Jordan's, and but the thirty four the main
Speaker 1: and of those thirty four, the most popular are probably
Speaker 1: the ones, the threes, and the elevens, And so the
Speaker 1: fact that you have multiple pairs of elevens. As someone
Speaker 1: who claims to not be a sneaker head, I'm not
Speaker 1: buying the Olivia. I'm not buying it. Well, I also
Speaker 1: have the ones and the fours, but I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I get all these in boys sizes. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I have the boys sizes, but
Speaker 1: I have to get like a boy's large size. But
Speaker 1: so i have little boys Jordan's and then I've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of air Max nineties. I went through a
Speaker 1: big air MX nineties base. I think that they are
Speaker 1: such an attractive shoe. I love that their platform. I
Speaker 1: get a couple inches off of them. In fact, here's
Speaker 1: a good story about air Max nineties. When I covered
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks, Tapas Stepalosha was wearing them in games,
Speaker 1: and I remember thinking that was so odd, and I
Speaker 1: kind of did some research. I found out he was
Speaker 1: the only one who did it and the whole NBA.
Speaker 1: Tapas Cefalosia the only one to where air Max nineties
Speaker 1: in games, And I asked him why and he kind
Speaker 1: of chuckled because they're not a very functional basketball shoe
Speaker 1: at all. And he laughed and he said, I'll do
Speaker 1: anything I can to get a couple extra inches under
Speaker 1: the rim. And I love that. I thought that was great.
Speaker 1: And in the last couple before you Chi, let me
Speaker 1: just say this, the air Max is not a basketball sneaker.
Speaker 1: So air Max line by Nike is more of a
Speaker 1: lifestyle kind of comfortable, everyday type of shoe. That's the vibe,
Speaker 1: you know, running out the crypt to run errands, are
Speaker 1: going to the supermarket like air Max are just your
Speaker 1: everyday comfy sneaker. So for someone like me who knows
Speaker 1: a lot about sneakers to hear that an NBA player
Speaker 1: is wearing in air Max during a game, a shoe
Speaker 1: that it's not even intended to be jumped in and
Speaker 1: ran in, is is pretty crazy. So shout out to
Speaker 1: tabost Falosha for to my knowledge, not getting hurt on
Speaker 1: the court in these nineties. That's very impressive in its
Speaker 1: own right. Oh no, that's the thing he had ankle
Speaker 1: is shoes all the time and people are always asking
Speaker 1: them change your shoes. And I'll tell you right now,
Speaker 1: it's probably because he was playing in Air Max. And yes, yes,
Speaker 1: and then the last couple just names that I have.
Speaker 1: And again I had to ask what these were because
Speaker 1: I don't know. The Nike Dunks and the Nike Blazers, Bessie,
Speaker 1: these are these are more iconic shoes. So the Nike
Speaker 1: Dunks are a very classic shoe. The Nike Blazer as well,
Speaker 1: it's like a high top shoe. If you've ever seen
Speaker 1: the movie Like Mike, the Nike Blazer is the shoe
Speaker 1: that Calvin Cambridge got from off of the electrical wire
Speaker 1: that made him like Mike. Yes, those are the Nike Blazes.
Speaker 1: So wow, man, I feel like a nerd. I feel
Speaker 1: like a nerd just being schooled me on that take
Speaker 1: this information, give you fun facts. That's impressive. The Blazes.
Speaker 1: I have our Camo with a pink swoosh. They are
Speaker 1: very cool. Okay, see, you were telling me you weren't
Speaker 1: a sneaker head, but you've got you've got some of
Speaker 1: the sneaker head cornerstone shoes. These are the staples of
Speaker 1: sneaker collecting. So I am very very impressive with your
Speaker 1: sneaker collection. Well, you are a sneaker head. I'm just
Speaker 1: a consumer, but we need a real sneaker expert. So
Speaker 1: let's bring on Josh Luper. Alright, Olivia, at this time,
Speaker 1: I'd love to welcome in our special guest for this episode.
Speaker 1: He is the founder of stock X. He's also the
Speaker 1: ultimate sneaker head, as you can tell by the background
Speaker 1: right now on his video. But Josh Luber is with us. Josh,
Speaker 1: what's something? How are you? What's up? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: It is an honor to have you, and I guess
Speaker 1: we'll we'll start pretty basic here because Olivia, as she
Speaker 1: will certainly tell you in the moment, is not the
Speaker 1: biggest sneaker head. But just broad strokes here, how would
Speaker 1: you describe what sneaker culture is to the layman? Wow? Is?
Speaker 1: So we're starting small, right? Yeah? Uh? You know, the
Speaker 1: really like interesting thing about that question is that, you know,
Speaker 1: in one we're at a time where maybe we don't
Speaker 1: even have to explain that anymore. You know, there was
Speaker 1: we spent so much of our lives as sneaker heads
Speaker 1: in this culture explaining to our friends and families and
Speaker 1: girlfriends and boyfriends and everyone else about trying to explain
Speaker 1: what we do. And now it's it's culture, right, it's
Speaker 1: crossed over. You know, stock x is today somewhere between
Speaker 1: four or five times bigger than what we thought the
Speaker 1: entire resell sneaker market was when we started this business.
Speaker 1: And it's because that sneakers sit at the intersection of
Speaker 1: culture and commerce, and we never could have imagined what
Speaker 1: this would be like in the combination of those two things.
Speaker 1: You know, when we started stock X, Kanye had one
Speaker 1: choo with Adidas, Virgil hadn't created a single shoe. There
Speaker 1: was no Travis Scott Nike deals, there was no you know,
Speaker 1: Drake Nike deals. Obviously I just went way deep into
Speaker 1: all this. But to ask that question, it's such a
Speaker 1: great way to to look at the evolution of all
Speaker 1: of this because I don't really see much of a
Speaker 1: distinction anymore between you know, sort of sneaker head culture
Speaker 1: and culture, like it's all just become one thing. And
Speaker 1: how valuable is this sneaker industry? Right? Because you know,
Speaker 1: you and I have been sneaker heads for quite some time,
Speaker 1: and now that it's kind of permeated into what popular
Speaker 1: culture is, the value of it has grown immensely. How
Speaker 1: how valuable were talking here? The way to answer that
Speaker 1: is almost to think about the entire sneaker market. However,
Speaker 1: you value the resale sneaker market. And there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of people that have spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: and money trying to to value at different investment companies,
Speaker 1: different financial institutions, what is that number, six, seven, eight, nine,
Speaker 1: ten billion. There's an estimate that you know, maybe it
Speaker 1: goes to twenty billion within the next five years. However,
Speaker 1: I answer that question. There's a lot of variables that
Speaker 1: people could argue about, but what you can't argue about
Speaker 1: is that the retail sneaker market, the global sneaker market,
Speaker 1: is over a hundred billion dollars. And as the two
Speaker 1: things have converged, as the primary and secondary markets have converged,
Speaker 1: as sneaker culture and popular culture has converged, that's really
Speaker 1: all we're talking about right now is just sneaker culture generally,
Speaker 1: because if someone goes on to stock X to buy
Speaker 1: a pair of shoes, they no longer care if it's
Speaker 1: a ret or resell. They just want the product and
Speaker 1: they're willing to pay a certain amount for it. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of how we think about it now, both personally,
Speaker 1: how stock X how most of the people in the
Speaker 1: industry look at it, which is just, hey, this person
Speaker 1: wants a sneaker, where it comes from, and how we
Speaker 1: define that It's not really important to that customer. Now,
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about, you know, kind of the growth
Speaker 1: of sneaker culture. You know, from the days of being
Speaker 1: able to walk into a foot locker and just buying
Speaker 1: the shoes right off of the wall. And then you
Speaker 1: know the period where they were you know, the intense lineups,
Speaker 1: right and you heard about all of these crazy stories,
Speaker 1: crimes happening and people lining up for days on end,
Speaker 1: and and then having to explain to people who didn't
Speaker 1: understand what was happening why people line up to you
Speaker 1: know what you've built now with stock x, you know,
Speaker 1: the biggest reseller from up streetwear and sneakers on the internet.
Speaker 1: What do you make of what this whole journey has been? Like,
Speaker 1: you hit on a really important part, which is the
Speaker 1: the historic goal black eye. You know, within this industry,
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrate Cover your Sneakers in your Life right appair
Speaker 1: of Jordan's fives and a gun, all the stories about
Speaker 1: people robbing each other for Jordan's even back then you know,
Speaker 1: even you know, kind of one of the most seminal
Speaker 1: moments around the Galaxy Phone release in All Star Weekend,
Speaker 1: all the campouts and riots and everything that's gone on.
Speaker 1: The sneaker brands and retailers have done a really good
Speaker 1: job of cleaning that up, of creating a system of
Speaker 1: fair and equado distribution so that we don't have those
Speaker 1: scenarios anymore. It doesn't mean that the inherent demand and
Speaker 1: how strong that demand is and has become isn't doesn't
Speaker 1: still exist. We just now have a more structural process
Speaker 1: in which to to buy and sell those stock X.
Speaker 1: At the most most basic level, it's just about access.
Speaker 1: It's just about making this shoe or sneaker or streetwear
Speaker 1: or or trading card available to anybody at a fair
Speaker 1: market price. And so that is the democrazation of consumer
Speaker 1: goods that it should be. In fact, this is maybe
Speaker 1: the closest thing we've had two way way back in
Speaker 1: the day when anybody could walk into the store and
Speaker 1: buy whatever they want off of the shelf. No, that
Speaker 1: doesn't exist anymore, and it hasn't existed for a really
Speaker 1: long time for all the reasons that that we know.
Speaker 1: Because that demand is so high and everyone wants that product.
Speaker 1: So we've now kind of come full circle to that,
Speaker 1: you know, access for everybody. It just looks different because
Speaker 1: we're in an Internet age and we're at the point
Speaker 1: where sneaker culture pop culture have converged. So a lot
Speaker 1: of things have changed, but in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: we've kind of come back to the most basic, which
Speaker 1: is that anybody can get that product if they want it. Well,
Speaker 1: Josh Speedy mentioned, I'm not a sneaker head, but I
Speaker 1: can definitely appreciate the currency of it. It's such a
Speaker 1: you know, status symbol. Almost at this point, when do
Speaker 1: you think that happened? Like you mentioned back, it's available
Speaker 1: to everyone, but it's not. That's what makes a shoe
Speaker 1: more than a shoe, That's what makes this a culture.
Speaker 1: That's why you have such an important job. When do
Speaker 1: you think this became this lifestyle. There's been four really
Speaker 1: seminal moments in the history of sneakers and sneaker culture
Speaker 1: becoming what it is today. You know, the first is
Speaker 1: just five and the first air Jordan's. The second is thousand,
Speaker 1: that's the Internet, eBay, you know, the first Jordan's that
Speaker 1: kind of creates it and now it's an underground, local
Speaker 1: kind of thing. This is obviously pre Internet Internet eBay.
Speaker 1: It's still a underground sort of thing, but at least
Speaker 1: it's now global available because of the Internet. Two thousand eleven,
Speaker 1: two thousand and twelve. That's Galaxy Foam release and the
Speaker 1: All Star Weekend Concords at the end of two thousand
Speaker 1: and eleven. But really it was also Instagram going through
Speaker 1: its own hockey stick growth. Instagram had just been bought
Speaker 1: by Facebook. Everyone in the world was conversionally Instagram. You know,
Speaker 1: all sneaker ats ever wanted to do is show off
Speaker 1: the shoes they have and see what everyone else is
Speaker 1: wearing it. So Instagram allowed everyone to do that at scale.
Speaker 1: Then the brand started using social media. That's the third
Speaker 1: big moment. And I think the fourth big moment is
Speaker 1: really stock x and and the businesses like stock x
Speaker 1: that just again democratize that access to that. So you
Speaker 1: have these four points that move it from this local,
Speaker 1: underground thing to a mainstream, global thing over that and
Speaker 1: so there's no sort of one moment. But as you
Speaker 1: see that that timeline is all about difference of access.
Speaker 1: The demand is always there from the moment you put on,
Speaker 1: you know, a pair of shoes for Michael Jordan's, who's
Speaker 1: the most famous athlete in the world at the time,
Speaker 1: and then becomes the greatest basketball player of all time.
Speaker 1: You know, the demands there and keeps coming more and
Speaker 1: more relevant. But you know, it's the access to everybody
Speaker 1: that that continues to keep people involved and engage, because
Speaker 1: if you truly couldn't ever get it, if you truly could,
Speaker 1: at some point everyone just just gives up and goes
Speaker 1: away and they don't care anymore. So there is that
Speaker 1: that element of how do I get it in or
Speaker 1: how much is it worth? Etcetera that becomes important for it.
Speaker 1: But that demand is inherent. It's still there anyway around
Speaker 1: those shoes. And by the way, I love that you
Speaker 1: mentioned back in the day it was almost tough to explain. No, sorry,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I love the fact that we're
Speaker 1: already like knee deep and like the economics like lecture
Speaker 1: part of it. So yeah, I was gonna ask about
Speaker 1: your own trajectory in your career because you mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: it used to be hard to explain to your friends,
Speaker 1: your family what you even did for a living, and
Speaker 1: you started at IBM and then founded Campus and now
Speaker 1: stock X. So walk me through how you even got
Speaker 1: so into this industry. I have the exact same story
Speaker 1: as you know every other forty three year old stinker head, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I grew up, you know, playing basketball when
Speaker 1: Jordan played, I always wanted a pair of Air Jordan's.
Speaker 1: My mother would never buy me Air Jordan's. As soon
Speaker 1: as I got some money, I bought Air Jordan's. And
Speaker 1: we all have like the same story. And it's not
Speaker 1: even hyperbole. I mean, it's just it's just true. Anyone
Speaker 1: of our era, anyone near our age. I mean, actually,
Speaker 1: if you were anywhere near our age, you either came
Speaker 1: up through basketball or through skateboarding, which were two pretty
Speaker 1: distinct groups, you know, back when I was in middle
Speaker 1: school in high school, and now all that is is converged.
Speaker 1: But so for me, it was it was a kind
Speaker 1: of a very linear path starting there. But I'm an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur first, and I started three companies before stock X
Speaker 1: and Campus. They had nothing to do with sneakers, almost intentionally,
Speaker 1: so almost intentionally avoiding creating a business sneakers, so that
Speaker 1: I didn't create a business that was just an excuse
Speaker 1: to play with sneakers, and so it may be either
Speaker 1: you know, ironic or or inevitable that the company that
Speaker 1: was the most successful was the one where I was
Speaker 1: finally able to converge my personal passion with with the
Speaker 1: business part of it as well. But I also thought,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a there's a lot of other external
Speaker 1: factors that that got to that point too. Now, Josh,
Speaker 1: you spoke about the story that is consistent with almost
Speaker 1: every sneaker head or sneaker collector ever, right, because I
Speaker 1: have the same story as well. Always wanted Jordan's, my
Speaker 1: mom couldn't afford it, wouldn't buy it, whatever. But still,
Speaker 1: so many years later, there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: who just don't understand and can't wrap their heads around
Speaker 1: the fact that there are sneaker prices, you know, well
Speaker 1: into the three, four and sometimes even five figures. I've
Speaker 1: become exhausted trying to explain this to people. But maybe
Speaker 1: you can help us explain that why are there sneakers
Speaker 1: that are so very expensive? It is exhausting. We've been
Speaker 1: talking about it for a while, and look, there's no
Speaker 1: question that it's ridiculous. All right, let's just put that
Speaker 1: out there. There's no question that you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here in my sneak room and I have
Speaker 1: a pair of Carhart Jordan fource here that that I
Speaker 1: didn't buy, that I was fortunate enough to be to
Speaker 1: be given a pair. But you know that shoe is
Speaker 1: sold at one time for as much as thirty thousand dollars, right,
Speaker 1: that's insane. But it's just supplying demand. And this is
Speaker 1: econ one oh one at its most most basic. And
Speaker 1: you know when those shoes sold for thirty thousand, it
Speaker 1: was a time when there were only ten that were released,
Speaker 1: so people thought they were only ten that exists. There
Speaker 1: was a collaboration between M and M and Jordan brands,
Speaker 1: So the demand is through the roof. The supply was
Speaker 1: almost non existent with their only being ten. So thirty
Speaker 1: hours seems actually pretty cheap compared to the the what
Speaker 1: that price should be if there's only ten in the world.
Speaker 1: And it's a collaboration with with Eminem and Jordan's. So
Speaker 1: this really is like economics that at its most basic,
Speaker 1: and you have to somewhat distance yourself from the fact
Speaker 1: that a pair of sneakers should cost a hundred hours
Speaker 1: because that's just an aniquated thought, like retail pricing for
Speaker 1: for sneakers, actually for any consumer good that's supply and
Speaker 1: demand driven, that has this construct of of limited supply
Speaker 1: and high demand that that people collect and value. The
Speaker 1: retail price is a is an aniquated concept. You know,
Speaker 1: I spent years at at stock X trying to talk
Speaker 1: to the people at Nike and Adidas and the other brands,
Speaker 1: trying to get them to literally get rid of retail pricing, which,
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, goes over exactly as well as
Speaker 1: you think it did, but it's actually the right way
Speaker 1: to sell these products. And you you know, you spoke
Speaker 1: about the force, the eminem car hard force that you
Speaker 1: have for thirty K and that is a collaboration. And
Speaker 1: we know that collaboration in the sneaker world is something
Speaker 1: that really takes a shoe to the next level. It's
Speaker 1: also sometimes the origin story of of brands, right like
Speaker 1: Jordan's at its core is a collaboration to some degree.
Speaker 1: They decided that they needed Michael Jordan, the most popular
Speaker 1: athlete in the world, to be a part of their brand,
Speaker 1: and that was Nike. Can you kind of just speak
Speaker 1: to the intersection of sneakers and sports. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: athletes need to wear sneakers to be able to do
Speaker 1: their job, but just on a lifestyle perspective and on
Speaker 1: a business side, the importance of having you know, an
Speaker 1: eminem a DJ Khalid, a Lebron James, the importance of
Speaker 1: people like this being connected with some of the biggest
Speaker 1: sneaker brands in the world. I love the fact that
Speaker 1: you pointed out the fact that Jordan brand itself is
Speaker 1: a collab and that started that way because it's true, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had Nike and Eric Jordan in the day,
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people you know, gloss
Speaker 1: over that or don't realize that it was maybe the
Speaker 1: first true, you know, hype clab that existed. There's a
Speaker 1: ton of clabs that have not been done well. There's
Speaker 1: a ton that have sit on end up sitting on
Speaker 1: on sale shelves and our bricks in the parlance um.
Speaker 1: And so it's about those ones that truly hit, that
Speaker 1: are done right for the right reason, that have real
Speaker 1: creative juice behind it. You can't just take the biggest
Speaker 1: names in the world and the biggest brands in the
Speaker 1: world and smash them together. And expect that it's gonna hip.
Speaker 1: That said, back to the point, it's just supply and demand.
Speaker 1: So if you take two things that both have high
Speaker 1: demand and put them together and create something that is
Speaker 1: now more limited because these brands don't normally work together,
Speaker 1: you're creating something that you're there's a multiplier effect on
Speaker 1: the demand side, and the supply side is that much lower.
Speaker 1: And that's how you end up with some of these
Speaker 1: truly out just outsize pricing and just you know, crazy examples.
Speaker 1: But at the core, the important point of any collab
Speaker 1: is the fact that it is the convergence of culture,
Speaker 1: right and where we started to before, the more people
Speaker 1: that are outside of the sneaker enertry that aren't in
Speaker 1: this direct line of site. Example, you know, Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: plays basketball, Lebron James plays basketball, So the great basketball
Speaker 1: shoes with Nike, that's easy. It's bringing in the cultural relevance.
Speaker 1: And and Virgil Ablow and everything he's done with Nike
Speaker 1: is a perfect example of that of taking that way
Speaker 1: way beyond just the traditional viewpoint. Olivia, do you feel
Speaker 1: at all convinced to become a sneaker head yet or
Speaker 1: should we keep trying to convince you. I mean, I
Speaker 1: hear thirty thousand dollar shoes, and I just think of
Speaker 1: all the things I could buy with that. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's one broken bag, and I don't even think I
Speaker 1: want a broken bag, but that's like thirty three pairs
Speaker 1: of Lubertan's. Well. Well, look, the thing about stock x
Speaker 1: is that, you know, it's evolved from you know, what
Speaker 1: we knew was just a place to go get cool
Speaker 1: sneakers to a place where you can get you know,
Speaker 1: designer items and and and purses and figurines and things
Speaker 1: like that. Josh, can you just kind of speak to
Speaker 1: the growth of stock x and how you call it
Speaker 1: the stock market of things? Yeah, you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: glad you brought that up. And for sure we don't
Speaker 1: need to to convince you to buy thirty shoes. But
Speaker 1: there's there's products at every price point across the board
Speaker 1: at stock X, and it's really not about that. It
Speaker 1: absolutely started that way. You know, I left stock x
Speaker 1: in September to create businesses in the trading card space,
Speaker 1: and trading cards are what's happening in trading cards today
Speaker 1: is almost identical to what was happening in sneakers as
Speaker 1: we were concepting what would become stock X, and it's
Speaker 1: the same people, it's the same plame, supply and demand
Speaker 1: constructor of Michael Jordan's the center of both of it.
Speaker 1: And the reason I bring this up is because the
Speaker 1: vision for stock X, even from the very beginning, and
Speaker 1: the vision for the trading card businesses that I'm now
Speaker 1: involved in now, and even the entire trading card industry,
Speaker 1: it's the same thing. This concept of stock market of
Speaker 1: things is not about sneakers. It's about this unique model.
Speaker 1: It's about this viewpoint that retail pricing is antiquated concept
Speaker 1: that we should understand supply and demand to understand what
Speaker 1: is the true market value, what is the true price
Speaker 1: of any consumer good. And so that's why we very
Speaker 1: quickly added watches and handbags. That was the first categories
Speaker 1: that we added. In fact, you know, maybe we were
Speaker 1: just stupid, but we added watch in handbags before we
Speaker 1: added supreme and streetwear right And eventually we added Supreme
Speaker 1: and streetwear and it very quickly became, you know, the
Speaker 1: second largest category in the site. And then we added
Speaker 1: collectibles and cause and bare brick and other toys, and
Speaker 1: then trading cards, and even since I left, you know,
Speaker 1: the team has continued to to add products and has
Speaker 1: a pretty deep electronics business there as well. All the consoles,
Speaker 1: the PlayStation and Xbox and all the periphery products around it.
Speaker 1: All of these come back to that same question on
Speaker 1: is these should be supply and demand priced products. And
Speaker 1: that's what's pockex is. That's what the stock market of
Speaker 1: things is. And it's a confusing concept, which is why
Speaker 1: we spent years out there talking about it. But that's
Speaker 1: the real business. It's the model. And Josh, now you've
Speaker 1: made you know, you're speaking about this kind of shift
Speaker 1: that you've made into the trading card industry and you know,
Speaker 1: watching what's happening in that realm with you know, sports
Speaker 1: trading cards, which was you know, a hobby for a
Speaker 1: lot of people when they were younger, and then now
Speaker 1: this explosion of like sports, n f t s do
Speaker 1: things like NBA Top Shot and stuff. Can you kind
Speaker 1: of just speak to how sports is playing a role
Speaker 1: in other industries besides just you know, ticket sales and
Speaker 1: streaming and things like that. Yeah, you know I said
Speaker 1: it earlier for sneakers, but for trading cards also, I
Speaker 1: have the exact same stories every other year old card collector,
Speaker 1: which is we all collected cards in the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 1: we all left our cards under our parents basement for
Speaker 1: the last twenty five years as we grew up and
Speaker 1: went away and build a life, and we're all now
Speaker 1: coming back into that that hobby in that industry because
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just the perfect like every man from
Speaker 1: that generation. Like when I was ten, the only two
Speaker 1: things I cared about in the world where sneakers and
Speaker 1: baseball cards, and there's a through line to two sports,
Speaker 1: you know, in that and a lot of the other
Speaker 1: collectible products that have been created recently around this n
Speaker 1: f T S and top Shot being kind of the
Speaker 1: most notable. Looks and feels like trading cards. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a pack element, there's an opening element, there's a
Speaker 1: chase element to it. It is something very very different,
Speaker 1: but it is that through line of sports and trading cards,
Speaker 1: even though there's a huge trading card business in non sports.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I've been sitting here watching my my
Speaker 1: phone as I'm trying to win some eBay auctions right
Speaker 1: now for some Jimi Hendricks rookie cards, which is a
Speaker 1: whole another other story. But you know, sports being such
Speaker 1: a big part of it, It is back to the
Speaker 1: economics part of this. It is the demand part of it. Right.
Speaker 1: We have this inherent demand that's been built around Eric
Speaker 1: Jordan's and the sport part of that, and trading cards
Speaker 1: and the sport part of that. And it's almost identical. Man.
Speaker 1: I would get hit up, you know, five six times
Speaker 1: a week from from friends saying, hey man, can you
Speaker 1: help me find those Jordan's we used to wear in
Speaker 1: high school? And today it's hey man, can you help
Speaker 1: me find Jordan rookies? Right, that's a through line to
Speaker 1: to all of this. I've got to ask Josh, what
Speaker 1: is your favorite pair behind you or maybe within arms retriview.
Speaker 1: There's only about like five pairs within arm reach, and
Speaker 1: there's about five pairs in the room. You know that,
Speaker 1: you guys can't see the rest of it. Next to
Speaker 1: the next to the car heart is a pair of
Speaker 1: shoes that we had made out of Chicago's bulls, Jordan's
Speaker 1: jerseys and NBA basketballs. So it's a series of ten
Speaker 1: Air Jordan ones. We actually made it for the second
Speaker 1: Complex Con. The first Complex Con that stock x head
Speaker 1: at a presence app and we gave away five of
Speaker 1: them and then we kept five of them. I kept
Speaker 1: one and everyone had it. But there was a good
Speaker 1: example of, you know, again the kind of convergence of
Speaker 1: all of this, but the shoes extraordinary because you know,
Speaker 1: the quality was amazing. And there's one of the ten
Speaker 1: that is made of all NBA basketball. The whole thing
Speaker 1: is NBA basketball, which is super cool. But this is
Speaker 1: the one that was in my size, got some of
Speaker 1: the red and white stripe pulls, jersey and NBA basketball
Speaker 1: on itself, and that that one is priceless. There's no
Speaker 1: there's no price one on. That one's the only so
Speaker 1: it's a one of one. Well, I will say, I
Speaker 1: think the collection behind you is just beautiful, and thank
Speaker 1: you so much. My mind is pretty blown right now.
Speaker 1: This is about sneaker one oh one, the economy of it,
Speaker 1: the social importance of it, the way it kind of
Speaker 1: reflects our own history and culture is so fascinating me.
Speaker 1: So honestly, thank you so much. I learned a lot
Speaker 1: and my friends are going to be very impressed as
Speaker 1: I rattle some of this back out. Thank you, Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. I appreciate well Olivia. Josh obviously was
Speaker 1: great as we expected, and he spoke very vaguely at
Speaker 1: times about the price of shoes. He didn't want to
Speaker 1: get too in depth with it. But I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: being that you were so much intrigued by the prices,
Speaker 1: why they're so expensive? Yeah knows he maybe. I figured
Speaker 1: maybe I'd throw a few pairs of shoes actually not
Speaker 1: literally but metaphorically here so that you can try to
Speaker 1: guess what the price of them is. I want to
Speaker 1: be bad. Are you nervous to do this? The price
Speaker 1: is right, let's do it. Well. I decided, because we
Speaker 1: are a sports podcast, to do sneakers that are somehow
Speaker 1: tethered to athletes or program So I've got four of them,
Speaker 1: and we'll start with Lebron's first signature shoe. It's called
Speaker 1: the Nike air Zoom Generation. And just for the sake
Speaker 1: of this, since we had Josh, we're going to go
Speaker 1: based on stock X prices. If you wanted to buy
Speaker 1: Lebron's first ever shoe in a size ten, which is
Speaker 1: my size, how much do you think it would cost?
Speaker 1: Right now? Can I phone a friend? You can, but
Speaker 1: you may want to use that for my friend for
Speaker 1: a more difficult. I've got four of them and this
Speaker 1: is the first one, so maybe you want to save
Speaker 1: it two d Why two hundred? Why that rate? Because
Speaker 1: you made it sound like the best is yet to come.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to guess that you're starting me low. Okay,
Speaker 1: well I am starting you low. It's not quite two
Speaker 1: hundred bucks. It is a bit more than that. But
Speaker 1: I thought that you were going to oversell these. You
Speaker 1: can buy them right now in the size ten on
Speaker 1: stock X for three hundred and eighty three dollars, So
Speaker 1: not horrible. God, but what you're already saying, Oh that
Speaker 1: was horrible. It was almost half Do you think this
Speaker 1: is too much? I mean, look, I buy shoes that
Speaker 1: have Commas in them, Like, I get it, but I
Speaker 1: have a hard time imagining that a sneakers that much.
Speaker 1: But again, I'm learning here. This is an educational episode
Speaker 1: for me. I will say, what a flex that is
Speaker 1: to say that I buy shoes with a comment it
Speaker 1: that's hard. That is a flex for sure, alright here.
Speaker 1: But they're worth it. They're worth it. Yeah you're talking
Speaker 1: high designer, you know, I'm sure luxury goods these are,
Speaker 1: but they're also they're what I call I need to
Speaker 1: take an uber to the front door of the restaurant
Speaker 1: because I can't walk in the table that every close
Speaker 1: to the host to stand. I've seen my sisters try
Speaker 1: to make it through the restaurant and appear of Lubotan's.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always go that well. But let's on rolling here.
Speaker 1: This shoe that I'm asking about now is a University
Speaker 1: of Kentucky pe Pe is an acronym for player exclusive,
Speaker 1: so not everyone can get them. These were made solely
Speaker 1: for the players, and at one point they were won
Speaker 1: by Drake when he came to their version of Midnight Madness,
Speaker 1: which I think they called Blue Madness, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: But this is a pair of shoes called the Air
Speaker 1: Jordans eight retro Kentucky Madness. He e, what is the
Speaker 1: average resell price of the Kentucky Jordan's eights? Do you
Speaker 1: think on stocks? I'm gonna guess because Drake is attached
Speaker 1: to them now and I feel like everything Kentucky does
Speaker 1: is gold. I rack Kentucky Blue on these. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: guess five bucks. I loved the Drake bar that you
Speaker 1: just dropped. You guessed five hundred, but you missed a
Speaker 1: key mentioned. I told you that they were a player exclusive,
Speaker 1: which means they're super limited. Do you want to give
Speaker 1: it another goal so you can't get them? Shoot? Um.
Speaker 1: Seven hundred and fifty dollars is roughly of what the
Speaker 1: actual average resale price of these are on stock x.
Speaker 1: The average resale price, as Olivia's Joe has dropped to
Speaker 1: the floor, is seven thousand dollars. No, yes, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Like again, there are so many more valuable things you
Speaker 1: can do with seven thousand dollars. You can invest in
Speaker 1: the stock market, for example, and really set yourself up.
Speaker 1: Why would someone buy those? Sometimes you just want to
Speaker 1: look fly, you know, sometimes you just want to look
Speaker 1: like money. Let's take it over to the tennis court.
Speaker 1: This is a pair of shoes from Roger Federer. They're
Speaker 1: called the Nike Zoom Vapor Air Jordan three white Cements.
Speaker 1: So as a clap between Roger Federer and Air Jordan's
Speaker 1: obviously two very very high profile athletes, size ten my side.
Speaker 1: If you wanted to buy him right now on sty X,
Speaker 1: how much would they run you? Olivia? What do you think?
Speaker 1: Is it four digits? So you gotta give me some
Speaker 1: I can't give you that. I can't give you that. Okay,
Speaker 1: then I'm going to go seven fifty again and I
Speaker 1: just be like, that is what an expensive sneaker would cost.
Speaker 1: But I'm not good so far. Well, Olivia, seven fifty
Speaker 1: is close enough to give you the point. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say that's you're right here, because these are seven hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty five dollars in a size ten if you
Speaker 1: wanted to borrow right now on st X. Okay, Now,
Speaker 1: let's see if I can hold serve. What's the fourth
Speaker 1: Here we go the fourth one. Let's go to the
Speaker 1: baseball diamond. Derek Jeter has a collaboration with Jordan's brand
Speaker 1: on a Jordan's eleven, a shoe that you own. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a Jordan Derek Jeter edition right now on
Speaker 1: stock X. How much? Okay? Can I use my phone
Speaker 1: a friend on this one? To someone who's standing in
Speaker 1: the kitchen. You can't for it? Hey, some I'm standing
Speaker 1: in the kitchen. Derek Jeter Jordan eleven sized ten on
Speaker 1: stock X. How much of that retail for? Not? Retail? Resell,
Speaker 1: re sell? Final answer fifteen thousand was what your friend said.
Speaker 1: Your friend is someone good friend. Your your friend was
Speaker 1: someone who knows a thing or two about sneakers, who's
Speaker 1: been signed to some major sneaker deals. He is close.
Speaker 1: He is very very close close. The average resell price
Speaker 1: on stock X right now it's eighteen thousand, two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty seven dollars. Very close from Sam over eighteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Good job, Honey, good job, Thank you, Sam.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Sam, who is your husband and again
Speaker 1: a professional basketball player, Olivia, I don't know that you
Speaker 1: would have gotten remotely close to guessing that Eric Peters
Speaker 1: Jordan's are eighteen thousand dollars. That's disturbing. Come on again,
Speaker 1: put it in the stock market, kids, and not into
Speaker 1: stock X, but stock market instead. Well, guys, we are
Speaker 1: wrapping up with this week's lions Lock, where our guru
Speaker 1: from bet MGM, Peter Andrew, if you all of the
Speaker 1: insider knowledge about which picks are worth your money, which
Speaker 1: ones they may want to hold off one. Well, we're
Speaker 1: wrapping things up with this week's lions Lock, where our
Speaker 1: guru and at this point honorary co host from bet MGM,
Speaker 1: Peter Andrew, gives you all of the insider knowledge about
Speaker 1: which picks are worth your money and which ones you
Speaker 1: should hold off on. Peter, Welcome back to the show,
Speaker 1: which is at this point never seen a single episode
Speaker 1: without you. How's everything and how was the week in
Speaker 1: sports betting? Yeah, thanks for having me again, guys. Everything great,
Speaker 1: obviously an amazing Masters week, so nice to get funny.
Speaker 1: We get back to some normalcy there. But now we're
Speaker 1: on that stretch, you know, going towards NBA and NHL playoffs,
Speaker 1: so it's about to get exciting. Looking like mid May
Speaker 1: we'll have the kickoff playoffs, so really it's a grind
Speaker 1: from here. Is there something that people should be looking
Speaker 1: out for when it comes to this upcoming week? Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think you look at the top of the East
Speaker 1: in the NBA with the Nets and the Sixers now
Speaker 1: tied for first place. Team like the Sixers, I think
Speaker 1: twelve of their last nineteen games are all at home,
Speaker 1: where NETS is almost the opposite. So Sixers have a
Speaker 1: pretty decent opportunity of getting that number one seed, whichild
Speaker 1: be huge for the playoffs. Obviously, positioning themselves against some
Speaker 1: of the weaker teams in the East as they go
Speaker 1: through I think would be really important. But when you
Speaker 1: talk about just this week specifically. Obviously we had a
Speaker 1: tilt on Wednesday between the Nets and the Sixers, but
Speaker 1: they come right back at it against the Clippers on Friday.
Speaker 1: I think this is a real test to where they
Speaker 1: can be in and how they can shape up come
Speaker 1: playoff time. So I love the Sixers here. They're at
Speaker 1: home against a really good Clippers teams. You know they'll
Speaker 1: have their their Friday best, and I think it would
Speaker 1: be a nice exciting matchup, especially as we get in
Speaker 1: Tony Peter, as we do get into May and playoff season.
Speaker 1: What are some other ways than maybe the more obvious
Speaker 1: ones that people think of where they can put their money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's there's always obviously the day to day betting,
Speaker 1: and there's the features, but I personally like the some
Speaker 1: of our more binary markets, like team to make a
Speaker 1: playoff run or team to make the playoffs, I should say,
Speaker 1: So you know, you get a team that's on the fringe,
Speaker 1: maybe like the Knicks, that you think will get in.
Speaker 1: I think that's a decent way to put your money.
Speaker 1: You're rooting for them to kind of wrap up the
Speaker 1: best way possible. And then certainly just our one game parlays,
Speaker 1: so where you're really putting your kind of knowledge to
Speaker 1: what players are actually doing with it a game, not
Speaker 1: just betting on the actual outcome of games. So Lebron
Speaker 1: to score twenty five points in a D two have
Speaker 1: ten rebounds, I think those are the most exciting bets.
Speaker 1: We're really rooting for specific player prob and what they're
Speaker 1: gonna do in that given game. In same in the MLB,
Speaker 1: with you know, down the stretch finish, and we're so
Speaker 1: early in the MLB season, But what teams do you
Speaker 1: think are already undervalued or maybe overvalued? Well, on the
Speaker 1: undervalued side, I think you'd have to probably stick with
Speaker 1: the two New York teams. They've they've definitely started off
Speaker 1: not so great Yanks specifically, but certainly Mets are kind
Speaker 1: of in that similar situation, So certainly I think there's
Speaker 1: some room for improvement there, and then maybe on the
Speaker 1: overvalued side, I'm still not sold on the On the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds, I think they've started pretty decently. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, by the time of recording this, there's something
Speaker 1: like six and two, But but certainly think things will
Speaker 1: level out a bit as the season goes on. Central
Speaker 1: has a couple of decent teams, Cardinals. I think Cubs
Speaker 1: still have a legitimate shot to be in there in September. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting over the next couple of months, especially
Speaker 1: as we get into summer. Now, Peter, regardless of sport,
Speaker 1: is there maybe a team or a player that's just
Speaker 1: kind of been someone that's been leading you to the
Speaker 1: prom saying when it comes to bet, someone who's somebody
Speaker 1: to keep their eye on as people are deciding where
Speaker 1: to put their money. Yeah. So when we talk about
Speaker 1: NFL season, I'm a huge and Honors fan. It was
Speaker 1: always for him moster, But now that we've gotten into
Speaker 1: NBA season, James Harden bet him a couple of times
Speaker 1: to record triple doubles, which you're getting a plus a
Speaker 1: thousand or plus twelve hundred kind of bet with him.
Speaker 1: I think that's that type of player that really leads
Speaker 1: you through and wins you quite a quite a handful
Speaker 1: of money on certain games, and we know how often
Speaker 1: he has the opportunity potential to get a triple double.
Speaker 1: So that's a bet I always like to take. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep riding that storm through the playoffs and
Speaker 1: then any predictions on some upsets that you think may
Speaker 1: happen as the NBA playoffs get closer. Is there a
Speaker 1: team that you know you're just thinking is not going
Speaker 1: to pan out the way most people think they will. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a few teams as as much as I just
Speaker 1: talked up Hard and I still think the Nets will
Speaker 1: potentially loose to the Sixers in these conference finals. So
Speaker 1: that's one that I'm really I'm really pinpointing. I just
Speaker 1: think the the size of the Sixers, I just don't
Speaker 1: think the Nets will match up well against them. So
Speaker 1: I'm probably going to don't put your money with the Nets,
Speaker 1: is what you're saying. Just put it on Hard and
Speaker 1: not with the Nets. Yeah, obviously the Nets are a
Speaker 1: really really good team, basically have a big six now
Speaker 1: if you talk about Aldridge and Blake Griffin when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: and obviously the Big three. But it's something about that
Speaker 1: Sixers team. I think they're just they're hungry, and I
Speaker 1: think they just have a little bit at um that
Speaker 1: size that that can end up being a matchup nightmare
Speaker 1: for the Nets. And then on the on the West
Speaker 1: Coast side, I'm not sold at all on the Lakers. Obviously,
Speaker 1: eight and Ron still hurt. They're coming really coming back soon.
Speaker 1: But I really like this Clippers team. I just don't
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of depth on this Lakers team.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I'm gonna go against probably the Grain
Speaker 1: again there, but I'm gonna say Clippers in the finals
Speaker 1: and and upsetting the Lakers. Very very interesting. Okay, Peter Andrew,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your insight as always. Thanks, guys,
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Well, that is our show. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: can go now and impress all your friends with your
Speaker 1: sneaker knowledge. I know I'm going to try. Make sure
Speaker 1: to check out all of the action from bet MGM,
Speaker 1: follow them everywhere at bet MGM, and please leave a
Speaker 1: review of the show on Apple Podcasts and follow us
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts.