Stadium Goods gets acquired by Farfetch as the sneaker resale market heats up

There was a time when buying secondhand goods was a slightly shady affair, one that would take you into a dark, ugly consignment shop or deep into the underbelly of eBay. But not anymore. That was made clear today when the luxury retailer Farfetch acquired the sneaker resale brand Stadium Goods for an undisclosed amount that will be paid in the form of cash and Farfetch shares.

Three-year-old Stadium Goods, which is now valued at $250 million, got the attention of sneakerheads with the sleek brand experience it offers customers on the website and in its New York store. The brand uses photography and video to tell stories about products. “Our goal was always to cut out some of the noise in the secondary market,” says Stadium Goods co-founder John McPheters. “It was to give customers a luxury experience.”

Related: The future of fashion is made-to-order, according to Farfetch CEO José Neves

Stadium holds all of its inventory, paying the seller only when the item is purchased. Now all of these products will be available on the Farfetch platform. That said, the brand will continue to operate independently. It plans to invest in growth both here in the United States as well as in other markets, like China, where both streetwear and luxury resale are gathering steam. “We want to take advantage of the relationship we have built with customers over the last three years,” McPheters says.

Farfetch has acquired several luxury goods companies over the last few years, from the London store Browns to a Chinese digital marketing agency called Curiosity China. It went public in September 2018, and is on track to generate $1 billion in revenue this year. Jose Neves, Farfetch’s founder and CEO, says the company is not investing in one specific segment of the luxury market, but wants to keep its finger on the many ways the luxury industry is evolving. “We saw how quickly Stadium Goods was growing, and we couldn’t ignore it,” Neves says.