Tradeblock, a new sneaker trading platform that provides collectors an easy and secure pathway to use kicks as currency, has launched a free mobile app for iOS and Android. Founded in 2020 by Tony Malveaux, Darren Smith, and Mbiyimoh Ghogomu, three childhood friends and avid sneaker collectors, the startup began by building community successfully while in beta. Pre-launch, the team built a community of over 10,000 collectors on their web-based beta experience.
“Sneakerheads have been trading kicks with each other since the first Jordan 1s dropped in 1985,” says Mbiyimoh Ghogomu, Co-founder, CEO, Tradeblock. “But despite the emergence of multiple billion-dollar marketplaces over the past 5 years, nobody had taken on the challenge of trading. That’s the gap we set out to fill, but we quickly realized that there was also an insane amount of passion, energy, and social engagement in sneaker culture that the existing marketplaces were basically ignoring. Our goal is to combine the economic and social aspects of sneaker collecting in a single unified experience.”
Tradeblock is focused on providing an innovative digital trading experience that also cultivates and fosters the sneakerhead community across the country (online and in real life). It was built to be one part marketplace and one part social community: a platform created to specifically combine sneakerheads’ economic activities with the social aspects of sneaker culture.
The current functionality of the app is best explained on the Tradeblock website. Once the app is downloaded, a collector can create a handle name and add a profile photo. Next up, the collector / user can add kicks to “the block” by uploading owned sneakers to his/her/their digital closets, including both new and used sneakers. The app also allows users to create a “wish list” of sneakers they’re looking for to help other collectors understand their preferences before proposing a trade offer.
Once they’ve added a shoe to their Closet, collectors can easily propose trades to other people on the platform, much like you would with players in a fantasy sports app. They can include up to three shoes on either side of the trade and can also add or ask for cash to help balance out the terms of the deal. When you receive an offer, you can accept it, reject it, or counter it by changing the shoes or cash to be exchanged. When an offer is accepted, an auto generated shipping label is sent to both parties through the app. The two collectors then have 72 hours to ship their kicks to one of Tradeblock’s authentication centers. The shoes then go through a “two-factor authentication” process that includes both a digital and physical inspection. Once the shoes pass the authentication process, they are forwarded on to their new owners.
“Authentication might be the single most important thing to sneakerheads when it comes to securing kicks online,” says Tony Malveaux, one of Tradeblock’s co-founders who also serves as Tradeblock’s Director of Authentication. “When we started thinking about how we wanted to handle authentication, we asked ourselves what we as sneakerheads would want to see in an ideal world. Ultimately, we landed on the idea of having parallel digital and physical inspections on every single shoe. It definitely costs us a little bit more to do that, but the expense is more than worth it to provide that additional layer of trust and peace of mind to the Tradeblock community.”
The disruptive start-up has caught the attention of not only sneakerheads but investors who understand the culture and the value of aftermarket kicks. The three co-founders, all African American businessmen, have also been focused on attracting a diverse group of investors. The short list of investors includes Ronnie Price (former NBA player for the Jazz, Suns, Lakers), Bobby Wesley (Image Consultant and Celebrity Stylist whose clients include Future, Young Thug, Roddy Ricch), and Phil Gilbert (General Manager, Design, IBM). They have also attracted the attention of some of the most notable shoe-tubers and content creators in the sneaker space — Youtube personalities like Unbreakable Kicks, Mr. Foamer Simpson, and Blazendary are all active members of the Tradeblock community.
Currently, Tradeblock has more than 18,000 users and averages about 2,000 trade offers weekly. The most owned shoes in the app are the Jordan 1 Dark Mocha, in over 1,500 Tradeblock closets, Jordan 1 Royal Toe, in over 1,000 closets and the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Bred, in over 850 closets. Tradeblock also has the Travis Scott x Jordan 1 High Mocha on the wish list of over 600 Tradeblockers, and one of the most traded shoes on the Block is the OFF-WHITE x Jordan 5 Sail, which has been traded dozens of times already.
The Tradeblock co-founders and team will be attending all Sneaker Con events in 2021 and host ongoing giveaways on their Instagram page. To learn more about Tradeblock and to download the app, go to www.tradeblock.us.