🔒CT companies find lucrative market for high-end sneakers, designer fashion

While the slow death of in-store retail shopping has been eulogized ad nauseam for more than a decade, some local companies have found success — raising millions of dollars in capital and generating tens of millions in annual sales — in niche markets selling sneakers, clothing and streetwear in high-end boutique shops.

Connecticut is home to numerous local upscale clothiers, such as downtown Hartford’s Morneault’s Stackpole Moore Tryon, that sell professional office attire to lawyers, accountants and other white-collar workers.

Over the last several years, a number of Connecticut entrepreneurs have opened stores offering a similar model, with a twist: instead of suits and dresses, they sell sought after sneakers, like Air Jordans and Nike Dunks, fashion and accessories that are hard to find at mainstream stores like Foot Locker.

“The biggest thing is that everybody likes that attainable, luxury experience,” said John Mocadlo, co-founder and CEO of Impossible Kicks, a high-end sneaker reseller that opened its first store in West Hartford’s Westfarms mall in 2021, and has quickly grown into a national chain with 17 locations in 11 states. “A lot of our customers are people who want to become sneakerheads and want to invest in sneaker culture, but they’re not ready to spend hundreds of dollars online. … We really fill that niche and have solved the problem for people who want to get involved in the culture.”

The model appears to be working: Impossible Kicks continues to expand locally and nationwide, while Rundown, a Connecticut-based luxury sneaker and fashion reseller founded in 2020, has opened two locations in Bridgeport and downtown Hartford, with a third planned in New Haven.

“You’re always going to have online options and third-party avenues that are going to take a lot longer for people that prefer instant gratification,” said Rundown owner Christian Scott. “What we offer instead of these (online-only retailers) is an entire personalized experience — at any given time we have four or five representatives in the store doing different things, you get to try on the shoes and actually see how they look on your feet in the mirror and your comfort level with what you’re buying.”

From a collection to a business

The sneaker resale market is a big business that’s expected to generate $6 billion in global sales by 2025, and $30 billion by 2030, according to TD Cowen, a division of TD Securities. The market grew in popularity during the pandemic and was significantly outperforming the broader e-commerce sector last year, TD Cowen analysts said.

Connecticut natives and brothers Wayne and John Mocadlo opened their first Impossible Kicks store in Westfarms mall about two years ago with $60,000 in cash and Wayne’s vast sneaker collection.

The company is a postmarket reseller of sneakers and high-end fashion. It buys and sells in-demand clothing, shoes and sneakers, and gives customers an opportunity to check out products in-person, something not offered by online-only competitors such as StockX and GOAT.

Impossible Kicks’ merchandise includes popular Nike, Air Jordans and Yeezys sneaker models, as well as hard-to-find clothing from designer brands like Supreme and Vlone.

Prices for a pair of sneakers can range from in the hundreds to thousands of dollars: It currently has several sneakers available for less than $200, but size 9 Air Jordan 1 High “What the Doernbecher” sneakers are listed for $99,000.

“Companies like StockX, GOAT and eBay helped pave the way in telling society that sneakers are popular and in style, but you have to take the risk and order with them online,” John Mocadlo said. “Some people just don’t want to take a risk ordering something online.”

Before co-founding Impossible Kicks, John Mocadlo, 43, was an executive manager at Barberino Nissan for more than 18 years and in the automotive industry for more than two decades.

Wayne, 25, most recently worked at his parents’ paint-your-own-pottery workshop — Ready Glaze Fire, located in Foxwoods Resorts Casino in Ledyard— but he’d been collecting and selling shoes for years before deciding to turn his hobby and side hustle into a business.

“I ended up accumulating a small, then midsize, then pretty large collection,” Wayne Mocadlo said. “A majority of my collection was put into the store when we started.”

About a month after opening their first store, an angel investor reached out with a $1.5 million investment to help the company grow. Since then, Impossible Kicks has expanded into what John Mocadlo calls the “nation’s largest brick-and-mortar resell brand” with 17 stores in 11 states, including in major cities like Los Angeles, California, Denver, Colorado and Miami, Florida.

The company raised $7 million in 2022 through Falcon Capital, an international investment consulting firm.

“Our seed-plus round in 2022, which was $4 million, filled in three hours,” John Mocadlo said. “It’s actually been a phenomenal journey.”

Impossible Kicks hopes to raise at least an additional $5 million in 2023 to support further retail expansion. John Mocadlo said a store in Hawaii is scheduled to open this month, and more than five others will debut this year.

After recording $15 million in sales in 2021 and about $50 million in 2022, Mocadlo said he expects the company to hit $100 million in revenue this year.

While the retail experience is a differentiator, Impossible Kicks does utilize e-commerce as well. John Mocadlo said online shopping through the company’s website or phone app accounts for about 15% of sales.

CT growth

Scott, the 28-year-old Rundown owner, said he used online stores to resell sneakers before opening up his first boutique sneaker and designer fashion shop in Bridgeport in September 2020.

“I’ve been into sneakers, fashion and clothing since I was a kid, so it kind of came naturally once I developed my own collection and grew from there,” he said.

Scott opened another store on Pratt Street in downtown Hartford in 2021, after discovering many of his customers traveled from the Capital City to the Bridgeport store.

The Stamford native said the brick-and-mortar retail model works for high-end sneaker resales.

“Some people walk in with one mindset and then completely change their mind the minute they walk out. What we offer is that peace of mind that you’re getting professional service,” Scott said. “There are people who come in, are going out that night, and want to find an entire outfit.”

Rundown also offers e-commerce sales and a free store-transfer program.

Both Rundown and Impossible Kicks are expanding locally, too. Impossible Kicks recently moved into the former 3,000-square-foot Vera Bradley storefront in Westfarms mall, giving the retail chain’s original location a larger footprint.

“It’s monstrous — three times the size of our old store,” John Mocadlo said.

Meantime, Scott said Rundown is finalizing plans for the company’s third location in downtown New Haven.

“We’ve already secured the spot and it’s going to be our biggest store — at least twice the size of Hartford,” Scott said. “New Haven is next, but we’ll hopefully be out of state in the near future as well.”