French Teen Aims To Revolutionize Resale Market Through SneakMart

Annual sales of the sneaker resale market are an estimated $1 billion, but sellers often take a financial hit with fees assessed from consignment platforms. Anthony Debrant, a 17-year-old from France, aims to lessen that burden through SneakMart.

SneakMart is an online consignment store and mobile app founded by Debrant created for sneakerheads to buy and sell limited and classic kicks. What separates SneakMart from other consignment platforms is the commission taken from each sale. The recently launched company will take a 2.5 percent fee on sales from now until July, then after that, the commission fee for each sale will be 5 percent.

“It’s a big point of differentiation because other competitors take 8 [percent], 15 [percent], up to 30 percent on each selection,” Debrant said.

Anthony Debrant SneakMart — SneakMart founder Anthony Debrant with some selections from his sneaker collection.

CREDIT: Courtesy of SneakMart

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Debrant and his team of developers have attempted to streamline the process of selling sneakers through SneakMart, simplifying the process of uploading a picture, entering product details, and choosing a price point. Users could also track sales and income through the seller portal on SneakMart, and check what sneakers will be hitting retail soon through the “Releases” section.

While the initial launch of SneakMart is solely a digital store, the long-term goal is to also have it serve as a Facebook for sneakerheads, where fans of rare sneakers could share their experiences, photos of their latest purchases and more, engaging others in the sneakerhead community.

The native of France thought of SneakMart while vacationing in Washington, D.C., roughly two years ago. Debrant, who’s collection boasts roughly 70 pairs of sneakers, including his two favorites — the Jordan 6 “Carmine” and the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 “Turtle Dove” — had trouble finding a pair of Jordans he wanted while in the states, but were sold out in stores.

“When I was at the hotel, I searched on my phone. I was on eBay and I realized there was no real platform and app for the sneaker community to buy and sell sneakers,” he said.

The site and app, which is linked through PayPal, will debut Thursday, a special date for Debrant — it’s the birthday of his father, Remy, who serves as the SneakMart COO. SneakMart will first be available in the Apple App Store, with an Android version coming one to two months after the initial launch.