Rares Is "Investing In Culture" And Giving Access To Sneaker Share IPOs On Its New Trading Platform

Kanye West’s 2008 Grammy-worn Air Yeezy 1 Prototype sneakers by Rares, at a whopping $1.8 million. Processed with VSCO with j2 preset.
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By Cassell Ferere originally published on Forbes.com

Rares is a platform that enables users to easily invest in sneaker culture as you do on ETF and stock trading platforms. Buying and trading shares of rare shoes will make it easier for users to invest in their future through these sneakers, assets that are inherent to popular culture. The Rares one-of-a-kind innovation in the sneaker reselling market allows users to invest in shares of ‘rare’ sneakers.

The merger of financial tech, sneaker culture, and social media has allowed the Rares platform to make “investing in culture” accessible to a broader audience. Users would own the rarest shoes at fractional ownership, sharing the wealth within the larger sneaker community.

Shareholders can't wear the sneakers they own shares of, but users can benefit from gaining financial literacy by entering in on sneaker resale Initial Public Offerings. IPOs allow for ‘first-dibs’ on shares of an asset - a rare and historic pair of sneakers - at a fractional price relative to the sneaker’s price volatility.

Gerome Sapp, Rares founder and sneakerhead.
COURTESY OF RARES

Former NFL safety, Gerome Sapp, founder of the Rares sneaker share trading platform, was the buyer behind the purchase of Kanye West’s 2008 Grammy-worn Air Yeezy 1 Prototype sneakers by Rares, at a whopping $1.8 million. The Yeezy sneaker acquisition broke a record, setting up the largest individual sale of a pair of sneakers in auction history.

Sapp has had a genuine love for sneakers tied to momentous times in his life since an early age. “My love for sneakers came about when I was nine years old. My father went away to prison, and he went away for a long time. He got me my first pair of Air Jordan 4s, and from that moment on, I’ve been hooked on the sneaker game,” he recalls. Sapp's passion for sneakers reflects his desires for Rares as a brand. He states that “this is not hype to me, this is real to me, very intrinsic. It’s an intimate thing - the sneaker game - to me.”

Sapp studied finance at the University of Notre Dame and then Harvard University, learning about alternative assets through his curriculum, growing an organic cognitive connection to the beloved sneaker assets he wore on his feet. Sneakers were always of his interest, and after he would retire from the NFL his focus would shift to entrepreneurship and tech. Sapp would mull over ideas for a sneaker business since his studies at university, and continued post his NFL career.

Rares sneaker asset options on its trading platform.
COURTESY OF RARES

Rares is that new pair of sneakers for Sapp and is appreciating value. As difficult as it can be, acquiring rare and vintage pairs of sneakers will keep that appreciation for Rares. “My background as an ex-professional athlete, playing in the NFL, and just being in the sneaker culture - I have a lot of contacts in the sneaker culture that get certain types of sneakers that no one else can get. Whether it’s rare vintage stuff that Nike isn't making anymore, Converse isn’t making anymore, Adidas isn’t making anymore, or if it’s new hype [sneakers], we look for sneakers that will appreciate so that when we put it on our platform and allow people to invest in it, the chance of making money is exponential.”