The sneaker game as we know it, gone are the days when people used to camp out overnight at Foot Locker for limited-edition pairs. As it stands, there’s nothing joyful about the process of buying sneakers anymore due to automated shopping software (AKA bots), stores’ shady “backdoor” operations,” and entrepreneurial teens who buy pairs with a single goal in mind: to make a profit.
Well there is hope for the consumer who want back a level of accessibility, those who grow up in the culture and grow up in sneakers. KYX World is the answer, changing the rules with the world’s first subscription platform offering wide access to authentic, limited edition sneakers with a try-before-you-buy and non-committal sneaker access model, subscription to KYX and get fresh sneakers every month — wear them, and then choose to keep them, buy them, or swap them out for a new pair next month. Whether you want an Air Jordan, a Nike Dunk, or an Adidas Bad Bunny shoe.
This service helps sneakerheads get access to hyped, limited-edition pairs for a monthly fee — but the math suggests it may be best to save up to own them.
With hopes to promote a more inclusion in the sneaker community, KYX membership offers four levels of access, from $49 per month up to $599 month, these plans scale according to the total number of pairs allotted per month, as well as by value. Each level comes with an allowance to rent a specified range of sneakers per month, and as users pay more for higher levels, more perks are afforded. This includes options like the pool of shoes members have access to, monthly shipment value, number of swaps, how many shoes they can rent and, of course, the amount of money they have to rent with.
Brian Mupo, CEO and founder of Kyx World, formed this idea based off his own expererinces of buying sneakers, wearing them for a short period of time, and then flipping them, similar to a rental model.
“When I got them, saw them, and I put them on and saw how fly I looked. Some I would keep for a while, some I would wear once and I knew I wasn’t probably going to wear them again, either at all or for a long time, and then I would liquidate,” said Mupo
KYX World CEO Brian Mupo (left) and Steve Dorfman COO. Image via KYX
Today I was given the oppertunity to speak with Kami Thomas, the Director of Brand Strategy for KYX World about the mission of this brand, how this brand sees itself sucess using a method often used in real estate, the goal it has set for itself, where the brand sees itself in the future of sneakers, and how exactly KYX World acquires these sneaker that everyone wants.
How was Brian so sure a business model in real estate would work with sneakers?
The short answer is when you think about sneaker resell there’s kind of this entire group of people who are essentially renting shoes and then flipping them. For example, they’re taking a $500 pair of shoes, and then when they’re done with those shoes they’ll sell them… More or least get some of the money back to get a new pair. If you think about it just essentially engaging in rental behavior whether they know that or not.
Explain in greater detail these memberships and the particular value each one would bring to a sneakerhead.
So we have four membership levels, the first level you can rent one shoe per month and the fourth level you can rent 4 shoes per month. For example, if you’re a level 3 membership then you can rent up to three shoes per month at a minimum of $199 (per) month…the value it would bring to a sneakerhead is you could buy one shoe for $199 if you could find that price on the resell market or if you think about from a sneakerheads perspective you’re able to experience significantly more sneakers with KYX then you would if you were buying them outright. Unless you have unlimited capital, which most people don’t.
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Step 1: Select Your Pair of Shoes
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Step 2: Choose Your Subscription Plan
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Step 3: Rock Your Kicks For As long As You Want
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Step 4: Swap And Repeat
How does KYX see itself affecting the landscape of sneaker culture today and about 5 years from now?
I necessarily see that this is going to kind of throw a wrench in the sneaker reseller’s businesses they’re such an inaccessible industry for people a lot of people, I think we’re giving a level of accessibility back to the hands of the consumer…people who grow up in the culture and grow up in sneakers are not able to experience a lot of the sneakers because of the prices. So what I see KYX doing and how I see us affecting sneaker culture is kind of making it something that’s accessible again, putting sneaker back into the hands of the people who created that culture to began with.
So how did the partnership with sneaker cleaner brand Reshoevn8r come about?
We were introduced to Reshoevn8r through our Executive Creative Director, Jeff Staple, so now internally at KYX when we are cleaning all of our shoes we clean every shoe that comes back to us with those Reshoevn8r products.
Who would you say is the targeted audience for this kind of subscription service?
I think the obvious answer is “Well sneakerheads,” but the more specific answer is our main target audience would be people who love sneakers. This has been traditionally been a very male-heavy culture, with males between the ages of 18-35, but as the culture evolving women, gen-z, older gentlemen, and dads they’ve become a focus as well. I think sneakers are for everyone and everyone deserves to experience these shoes so I think our target audience is just people who really love the sneakers and the culture.
How exactly does Kyx plan to secure the highly coveted pairs, does Kyx have a plug in the industry for exclusive access?
That’s something we’re keeping to ourselves, for now however what I can say is first and for most, we don’t backdoor pairs. We don’t take them out of the hands of retail consumers and the second thing is that all of our shoes are absolutely authentic, but, I can’t get into the procurement of the shoes for now.
Check out the interviewer in its entirety below:
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