A footwear reseller which has developed a cult following amongst Gen-Z shoppers has drafted in advisers to discover choices together with a £150m sale.
Sky News has learnt that Kick Game, which was based in 2013, is working with the accountancy agency PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to subject curiosity from various suitors.
The course of, which is predicted to take a number of months to conclude, highlights burgeoning curiosity in sneakers and streetwear as an rising asset class for collectors and merchants.
Kick Game has shops in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, and has seen gross sales volumes explode for the reason that onset of the pandemic.
It claims to be the UK’s largest reseller of its variety, with turnover approaching £40m this 12 months.
Kick Game employs about 150 individuals.
Demand for restricted version footwear specifically has pushed new income streams for multinational manufacturers reminiscent of Nike and Dior.
Cowen & Co, the funding financial institution, estimates that the sneaker resale market may very well be value $30bn by 2030.
‘Buying and promoting works of recent artwork’
“I tell my team they are buying and selling works of modern art,” Rob Franks, Kick Game co-founder, mentioned.
“There aren’t many things you can think of where you can buy something at face value one day and when it’s all sold out it goes up in price [tenfold] the very next day – certainly not at that volume,” he added.
He identified that costs can even fall equally sharply.
“One day a shoe is worth £1,500. Then the next day Nike will drop a surprise restock and it’s down to £150,” Mr Franks mentioned.
The booming marketplace for resold trainers has prompted main public sale homes reminiscent of Sotheby’s to determine groups devoted to luxurious footwear merchandise.
Mr Franks added that Kick Game was “on track” to generate month-to-month revenues of £5m.
Benefiting from the availability chain disaster
Kick Game is backed by VGC Partners, a progress funding agency targeted on client industries that was based by Parminder Basran, a serial entrepreneur and investor.
VGC, which has invested in companies together with SuperAwesome and Iconic Images, is now understood to be getting ready to finalise a £150m fundraising for its newest fund.
Resellers reminiscent of Kick Game are amongst a comparatively scarce pool of firms to have benefited from the availability chain disaster which has engulfed swathes of the worldwide economic system.
The costs it prices for trainers and streetwear rise as their shortage worth will increase, fuelling hopes of a bumper sale worth.
Insiders mentioned that Kick Game might go for an additional capital-raise fairly than an outright sale.
The firm declined to touch upon the appointment of PwC.
Source: information.sky.com”