Also present at the second Italian edition of Sneakerness Milano are the legendary Jordan 1 Retro Reverse Shattered Backboard. The pair was purchased at a Milan Foot Locker by Andrea Canziani, one of the founders of Dropout Milano, at the regular list price. Well, those sneakers are now valued at 125,000 euros, just because one of the shoes has the Nike swoosh sewn on backwards. Sneakerness is an international fair launched in Bern eleven years ago, which has been held in various European cities including Milan. The 2018 edition sold 10,000 tickets and this year, according to organizer Sergio Muster, aims to reach 15,000 attendees with the participation of 52 resellers.

The event presentation provided an opportunity for a small chat among the most prominent figures in the Italian collectible sneaker market. Stefano Pomogranato, founder of Special Milano, Federico Pasquetti – partner of Andrea Canziani in the Dropout Milano venture – Jacopo Pozzati founder of the street fashion multibrand Soft, and Omar Bertoni, head of the communication agency SG in charge of organizing Sneakerness, were all present. The only one missing was Marco Colombo, a legendary Italian sneaker expert who is said to be able to identify a model in seconds, and also determine if it is original or fake.

What we gathered from the conversation is that the market for collectible sneakers is thriving, even in Italy. Word of mouth grows before an exclusive sale, leading to long queues outside the store from the night before. Valuations increase, as do counterfeits, often very well-executed because they are so perfect. And there is a growing interest from brands that, while not taking any specific stance, oversee and fuel the trend, for example with carefully orchestrated sellouts.

StockX: a startup valued at a billion thanks to sneakers

Fakes are being discussed to the extent that, and this is a novelty of the upcoming Sneakerness edition (weekend of October 5th and 6th, 2019 at Fabbrica Orobia), StockX, the event sponsor, has decided to send their authenticators to the city, the experts who certify the sneakers. The first localization of StockX, we are told, was done in Italian, and there must be a reason for that – evidently, Italians really love collectible sneakers. The valuation (and resale) service of sneakers, which operates like a stock market and was created in 2015 in Detroit from an idea of the collector Josh Luber, has recently become a unicorn, meaning a startup with a valuation of at least one billion dollars. This should be enough to make us understand that sneaker collecting is now to be considered on par with art, stamps, coins or vintage cars. Venture capital firms, institutional investors, and investment funds think so. In Italy, collectors are growing, especially in the North, as are reselling stores, places where collectors meet to assess, propose, or buy first edition Air Jordans, as long as they are unused and come with packaging. These entities are needed, say the protagonists, to create communities, share experiences, but also to curb the soles, which are always a threat especially in online sales.

So, at Sneakerness Milano, a bustling scene of collectors is expected, along with budding investors who have realized before anyone else that queuing overnight in front of a store can result in exorbitant markups, forget bitcoin, provided that one doesn’t succumb to the temptation to wear them. In that case, be prepared with the capital to purchase two pairs, one for walking and one for display. Also because, try wearing a pair of sneakers never used from ten years ago, the sole disintegrates at the first step.

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