Ox Street: Singapore’s Wall Street For Hypebeasts
Founder Gijs Verheijke on rental-economy fashion
Not to be confused with “牛车水” (Chinatown, or “Ox Car Water” in direct translation), Ox Street is a streetwear marketplace connecting resellers to buyers of limited edition sneakers. I recently discovered them on Men’s Folio and Metropolitant, and saw them again when they appeared at this year’s Culture Cartel Con. Curious at what they meant by “The future of buying and selling in Asia” (it’s in their Instagram bio), I reached out to founder Gijs Verheijke (he’s Dutch) for answers.
StockX, GOAT, Grailed, eBay, Facebook, Carousell…Ox Street?
Because of StockX’s size, service is not always great. It’s faceless, feels like a machine. In Southeast Asia, demand for Yeezys is crazy. Demand for Air Jordans is higher in Philippines because they’re very into basketball. Language is also an issue that needs to be solved; bigger companies like StockX and Poison will not do that. There’s also issues with authentication. Such platforms also do not touch custom sneakers, which I see us getting into too.
Getting supply is global, but the buying experience is local.
Started working on Ox Street in May, moved to Singapore from Bali in August, launched Ox Street 29 October 2019.
“Ox Street”.
It’s a play on being the ultimate Hypebeast. Street is where people meet and trade. [A play on Wall Street, perhaps?] Coincidentally, I was born in 1985, the year of the Ox. Year of the ox is back in 2021, which could be a great year for us.
Who’s Gijs?
When I was 8, classmates wore Nike Air Max’s. Asked my mum for a pair, she said, “You can have these cheap Reeboks instead.” Delivered newspapers, did odd jobs. Went through a hip-hop, skater phase. Wore Airwalk, Vans. Then Nike SB. People used to trash Nike when they entered skate market. I’m not really a collector, I tend to top-out at around 20 pairs of sneakers.
Worked in banking, private equity. Was not allowed to wear sneakers, not even on casual Fridays. Had started a few businesses. Wanted to test myself, move to another country.
Working with young people, I noticed every time they got a raise or bonus, the first thing they’d buy is an iPhone, second fashion.
I should use Ox Street because…
Right now, it’s a marketplace for sneakers that haven’t been worn.
For buyers:
- We can filter-out even the best fakes (by comparing with the real shoes)
- You can return your sneakers to us (not to seller); no one else does that
- You can put a committed order (even if a shoe is not available yet); once it becomes available on our platform, we’ll help you buy it directly from sellers
- Sneakers get delivered to your home; feels like buying new
For sellers:
- You don’t have to deal with buyers who complain, are flaky
- Either you can accept a committed offer from a buyer and sell at the buyer’s offer price, OR you can sell at higher price and wait for another buyer to accept
Why Singapore?
Initially thought Singapore was too western and “stable” for me. But after working around Southeast Asia, realised it was right to start Ox Street here: it’s easy to be friends with Singaporeans/expats, has great food, is great to live, it’s easy to start a business here.
It’s a new, vibrant fashion, arts scene. Singapore has StyleTheory (fashion rental subscription), Style Tribute (luxury fashion marketplace, with delivery).
Singapore is the biggest port for premium watches in the world. Luxury shoes and bags are starting to be sold in the same way as hype sneakers: limited-edition, quickly sold-out, prices on resale market much higher than retail.
Singaporean buyers/sellers…
Care about price, reliability. “Can nego?” Singaporeans love Yeezys.
Ox Street in 6–12 months.
A mobile app. Another category, not sure yet. The obvious one is clothing, but maybe we’ll try something else. Expand to another country.
