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StockX consumers were interested in a diverse footwear rotation in 2023.
With the year winding down, StockX delivered its quarterly “Big Facts” trend report, which offered a deep dive into the products and brands that shaped resale in 2023. In the latest report, it was clear StockX consumers were after variety this year.
Sneakers with a running aesthetic were in favor in 2023, and consumers also became increasingly interested in Adidas after the messy divorce with rapper-turned-designer Kanye West. And Ugg and Crocs — once scoffed at by sneakerheads — were also in high demand.
Aside from the year’s top trends, StockX also offered a look in the “Big Facts” report into the search terms that saw dramatic increases ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Below are some of the key takeaways from the StockX report.
The “Runner Aesthetic” Is in High Demand
Three of the fastest-growing sneakers in 2023 on StockX all have running roots.
For instance, trades on the platform of the Nike Vomero 5, a casual sneaker that was once a performance runner, increased 5,104 percent from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 over the same period the year prior. Also, StockX stated web and app searches for “Nike Vomero” increased 1,945 percent year-over-year.
Following the Nike Vomero 5 was the Asics Gel-1130, which saw an increase in trades of 1,176 percent (and a search increase of 997 percent), and the New Balance 9060, which saw trade growth of 744 percent. Specifically for the 9060, StockX said searches increased by more than 1,000 percent and consumers purchased upward of $10 million of the shoe over the last 12 months. Because of this, StockX said the sneaker is one of its top-traded New Balance styles.
Looking ahead, StockX merchandising director Drew Haines told FN that he’s confident running-inspired silhouettes will continue to perform in 2024, and that we’re in the early phase of a longer trend cycle.
“The growth that we’re seeing in models like the Gel-1130 and the Vomero 5, which if you look at what’s been released by those two brands, they don’t have that many colorways. They’re still in the early phases of pushing out those models,” Haines said. “In general, there’s this move toward lighter and more comfortable materials, and the runner aesthetic is representative of this. Coming out of COVID, it’s a tired story at this point to say we all prioritize comfort, but it’s still true. From our perspective, we’re not seeing people go away from comfort. They’re still leaning into that.”
Haines is also particularly confident in one brand to have a stellar 2024: Asics.
“We saw a moment this summer with the Kith x Marvel collaboration [with Asics in July]. It was a cool product and had a cool rollout. That caused a huge spike in volume and interest in Asics around search volume and trades. Following that release, we saw Asics maintain a significantly higher new water level than it had prior,” Haines said. “We saw them break records month after month in terms of monthly trade volume that we’ve ever seen on StockX. Any Gel-1130 general release colorway on StockX, we’re seeing tons of organic activity, people wanting to scoop that up.”
He continued, “Asics is the brand that’s poised to take the most amount of share from this space, simply because we’ve seen a lot of growth. They are still smaller than New Balance and Nike, but the models they’re putting out are resonating with customers.”
Adidas Is on the Rise
With a desire for nostalgic looks still alive and well, StockX consumers sought out classics from Adidas throughout 2023. Four silhouettes specifically were mentioned in its Big Facts report: Campus 00s, Gazelle, Handball Spezial and Samba.
Most notably, StockX stated consumers spent more than $8 million on pairs of the Campus 00s in the last 12 months, which was measured from Nov. 1, 2022 to Oct. 31. Searches for “Adidas Campus 00s,” according to StockX, climbed more than 15,000 percent this year.
StockX also stated both trades and searches for the Handball Spezial are on the rise, and the Samba — FN’s Shoe of the Year and Gazelle have seen triple-digit trade growth in 2023, besting their record sales in 2022.
“We were all interested to see what would happen with Adidas post Yeezy, and they’ve done a good job of leaning into their core and classic models — those that are soccer inspired, some that fit with that ’90s, Y2K aesthetic. All of those products are performing extremely well,” Haines said.
Looking ahead, Haines believes the Campus 00 could become a continuously sought-after product, similar to the Nike Dunk.
“In some ways, the Campus 00 in 2024 has a chance to be the new Dunk. The ‘Panda’ Dunk and the ‘Grey Fog’ and ‘Photon Dust’ Dunks, those are the evergreen, the most popular products on StockX overall throughout the year,” Haines said. “They’re approachable, they’re affordable, they’re neutral so everyone can wear them. In the past several weeks, we’ve seen the Campus 00, particularly the core black and gray colorways, approach volumes equal to their Dunk counterparts in the ‘Panda’ and the ‘Photon Dust’ colorways.”
Sneakerheads Love Ugg and Crocs
Ugg continued its success on StockX, particularly the brand’s Tasman and Tazz Slippers.
The looks, according to the Big Facts report, have seen more than 90,000 trades in the last year, which was measured from Nov. 1, 2022 to Oct. 31. Also, StockX said searches for “Ugg Tasman” and “Ugg Tazz” are up 2,340 percent and 1,340 percent, respectively.
Because of this, StockX confirmed Ugg is on pace to set a new all-time trade record for the brand in 2023, and Ugg is still the fastest growing in its “Shoes” category.
As for Crocs, StockX stated in its Big Facts report that consumers have spent more than $465,000 on the Mater Clog, a look inspired by the character of the same name from the 2006 movie “Cars.” StockX said the clog, which released in October, saw more release-week trades than any other Crocs collaboration in the platform’s history.
Aside from the Mater Clog, the Shrek and Hello Kitty looks were also among the best-performing Crocs releases on StockX in 2023.
“Crocs is an interesting brand in the sense that it’s so unique, it’s so different from what the normal sneakerhead is buying. There’s so much uniqueness and product innovation coming out of Crocs with the outlandishness of the releases,” Haines said. “It’s representative of the fact that sneakerheads, and consumers in general, are looking for something different, something fun, something exciting. This doesn’t mean that they’re not buying their Nikes and their Jordans. The consumer is just looking for more, something unique.”
Travis Scott Collaborations Reigned Supreme
In the Big Facts report, StockX revealed the sneaker collaborations that fared the best on the platform, which were based on 2023 releases with the highest average price premiums. Two of the top three looks were Travis Scott collabs.
The Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Retro Low Golf “Neutral Olive” secured the No. 1 spot, an average price premium of 397 percent on trades from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31. The No. 2 spot was the women’s-exclusive Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Retro Low OG SP “Olive,” which had an average price premium of 342 percent.
Coming in at No. 3 was the Nike SB Dunk Low collaboration with Born X Raised, dubbed “One Block at a Time.” This had a 323 percent average price premium.
What Consumers Are Checking For Ahead of the Holidays
To complete the “Big Facts” report, StockX offered a look at the search terms and most wished-for products on the platform. The growth data was measured from Q3 2023 over Q3 2022.
In terms of brands, there were several footwear labels and those with shoe collaborations. The names include Onitsuka Tiger, which had 425 percent growth for Q3 2023 over Q3 2022, as well as Sandy Liang (393 percent), Sporty & Rich (2,038 percent) and Eastside Golf (692 percent).
As far as silhouettes are concerned, the highest increase in search volume was the Adidas Campus 00s, with a 15,398 percent increase, followed by the New Balance 1906D (13,804 percent) and the Nike Zoom Freak 5 (7,058 percent). StockX listed 16 silhouettes in the report with a more than 400 percent search volume increase. New Balance and Nike had five styles each on the list, followed by Adidas with three, Ugg with two and one for Asics.
Some of the top collaborations StockX consumers are searching for include Shrek x Crocs, which experienced a 1,552 percent increase in search volume, as well as the Animé x New Balance 610T (1,388 percent), the Tiffany & Co x Nike Air Force 1 (920 percent), the Palace x Salomon XT-Wings 2 (891 percent), Crocs x Hello Kitty (747 percent), Gianni x New Balance 1906R (529 percent) and the Martine Rose x Nike Shox MR4 Mule (448 percent).
As for the most wished-for products, StockX has created a new feature that lets consumers add things to a list that they would like to own, along with their preferred sizes. Based on activity from Sept. 27 to Nov. 1, consumers were most interested in Air Jordan 1s and Air Jordan 4s, which each accounted for 22 percent of the products desired. Nike Dunks was the third most wished-for product, with 20 percent of the total adds. The footwear on the list also includes Air Jordan 3s (5 percent), Air Jordan 11s (4 percent), Nike Air Force 1s (4 percent), Yeezy Slides (4 percent), Yeezy 350s (3 percent) and Crocs Clogs (3 percent).
