Designer Sneakers

Like cards, comics and dolls before them, a trading market of sorts has established itself at sneaker conventions across the country, where designer basketball shoes are being bartered and sold by high schoolers with the gusto of stockbrokers and at eye-opening prices, according to a report by The New York Times.

In mint condition, Nike’s Michael Jordan-branded footwear can fetch thousands of dollars -- as can limited edition designs only available in foreign countries. In one instance, reports the Times, a young trader turned down a $98,000 cash offer for a pair of Nike sneakers designed by Kanye West.

“I know I could buy a house with this kind of money,” the 18-year-old vendor said. “But I’m a huge Kanye West fan.”

While the cultural craze itself is a huge draw for many teens, those possessing a sharpened entrepreneurial eye are also aiming to trade up. For instance, the Times profiled a 13-year-old from New Jersey whose collection grew by four pairs and $815 after a flurry of 20 transactions in one day.

In addition to conventions held at hotel ballrooms and high school gyms, this business is booming online, as social media-savvy teens can showcase their wares on Instagram and Facebook.

And when they do in fact choose to wear the shoes instead of merely investing in them, special precautions are taken. While some only sport their shoes in the summertime in order to avoid weather damage, others have perfected the art of walking like a duck in order to avoid creasing, the paper reports.

Since my family strongly believes in the concept of business, I was inclined to push my limits to understand the business of making art wearable. My masters at University of Birmingham not only exposed me to the ethics of marketing, but even gave me global perspective of markets. After completing graduation, I started working in the sales division with Scottish Power. After a brief, but enriching experience, I moved on to start my own venture, Skylogic Technologies Pvt Ltd, at the age of 22.

I don’t think I am good at taking orders. This habit made me push myself to do something on my own. I always knew I was good at selling, so in order to explore my options I carried on with it. I sold gas and electric to collecting donations for homeless people, and that got me thinking, "If I can sell for others then why not for myself?"

I had new ideas every day, but somehow the concept to capturing the young market in India with interesting casual shoes, which still remains untapped, keeps me interested in the concept. Entrepreneurship was a by-product of my quest to finding a new horizon of making a unique concept.

Giving our venture a name became more difficult than actually making a business plan. We brainstormed for months, but couldn’t really finalize something. (Most of the time it was the unavailability of a domain name.) So, we knew the name had to be something unique, which is close to both of us and nothing is closer to a person than his or her own name. And bingo! Rivir was born, using Ri from Rini (Ankeeta’s nick name) and Vir from Viresh.