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JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to a 
surprising way to make money: 
the sneaker resale market, where

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used Nikes and Adidas can 
sell for hundreds, sometimes 
thousands of dollars.

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Our economics correspondent, 
Paul Solman, has the story.

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It's part of our series 
Making Sense, which 
airs every Thursday.

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PAUL SOLMAN: In the back of New 
York's Javits Convention Center, 
buyers and sellers, teenage

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boys mostly, haggled 
in the trading pit.

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Here's one of the hottest 
markets in America I knew 
almost nothing about, sneakers.

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YU-MING WU, Founder, Sneaker 
Con: This weekend, we're 
going to have 20,000 people.

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PAUL SOLMAN: When Yu-Ming Wu 
founded Sneaker Con nine years 
ago, just 800 people showed

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up.

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This year, eight conventions 
of so-called sneakerheads are 
planned around the country.

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New York's is the biggest.

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YU-MING WU: We created this 
space for anyone to come in to 
buy a pair of sneakers, to sell

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a pair of sneakers, or 
trade a pair of sneakers.

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PAUL SOLMAN: So, in a sense, 
this is a physical eBay?

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YU-MING WU: It is a 
physical eBay, yes, 
correct, for sneakers.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Much-hyped limited 
releases of Nike Air Jordans, 
as in Michael, and Adidas

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Yeezys, the brand of 
Kanye West, have spurred a 
billion-dollar resale market.

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When they appear, they bring 
chaos, sometimes even violence, 
to the few stores that have

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them, and then bring 
premium prices on the 
secondary market, like here.

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Sneaker-monger Matt Bogy.

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MATT BOGY, Sneaker Reseller: 
So these are the Red Octobers.

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They're worth about five to 
$6,000 on average per pair.

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PAUL SOLMAN: That's what 
you're selling him for or...

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MATT BOGY: Yes.

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That's what I'm 
selling them for.

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And I also have a pair 
signed by Kim Kardashian, 
which is Kanye West's wife.

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Those are -- I price those 
at about $7,000, $8,000.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Wait a minute, 
thousands of dollars 
for a pair of sneakers?

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As a mom here put it:

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WOMAN: It is insane.

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And we're having a ton of 
fun, but it's incredible to 
see how much sneakers cost.

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PAUL SOLMAN: But there 
were some bargains.

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Sneakerhead Tyre Coles was 
hocking used kicks from his 
own ever-burgeoning collection.

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TYRE COLES, Sneaker 
Reseller: I love Nikes to 
the bottom of my heart.

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I buy any pair.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Nickson Descas 
was selling a pair of Nike 
Air Max trophies he'd bought

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for $300.

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NICKSON DESCAS, Sneaker 
Reseller: I have been 
wearing them a lot.

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They're a little beat.

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So, I will try to sell them 
around $150, maybe $200.

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PAUL SOLMAN: For used sneakers?

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What's going on here?

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Well, one thing, 
says, Nickson Descas:

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NICKSON DESCAS: We 
just love the hustle.

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We just love the game.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Ah, the hustle 
and bustle of the marketplace.

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GIOVANNI TORQUATO, Sneakerhead: 
I like buying the shoes, 
selling the shoes, trading the

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shoes.

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CINDY SHORE, Sneakerhead Mom: 
It's a great way for young 
kids to learn about business

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and how to make money 
and sometimes lose 
money, and based upon the 
decisions that they make.

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Why not learn early?

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PAUL SOLMAN: And 
not just sneakers.

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Brandon Shore dealt in leather.

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BRANDON SHORE, 
Sneakerhead: I bought this.

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And then I was able to 
sell it for more, and 
then buy a second one.

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PAUL SOLMAN: But sneakerhead 
culture drives the market.

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And it is, above all, about 
identity, by proxy, for example, 
through the Michael Jordans and

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Kanye Wests.

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Vlogger: Wow.

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Smells like a brand-new 
pair of denim.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Or a new breed of 
celebs, like Kice Omar (ph), 
who vlog, video blog, that

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is, about sneakers on YouTube.

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Mainly, though, through 
peer-to-peer connection 
and competition.

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GIOVANNI TORQUATO: There's a 
term, it's called a hypebeast, 
where someone just gets an item

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just to like brag about everyone 
that they have the newest, 
coolest item, even if they

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don't like it.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Again, 
convention founder Yu-Ming Wu:

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YU-MING WU: I always 
say they want to look 
fresher than the next.

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They want to look cooler than 
their peers, their friends, 
their classmates, and also

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have some level of status.

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I have something cooler.

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I have this rarer pair.

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I have something that you 
weren't -- not that you couldn't 
afford, but that you couldn't

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get.

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STEVEN QUARTZ, California 
Institute of Technology: 
Cool began in the 
1950s as rebel cool.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Steven Quartz 
has studied cool as a 
Caltech neuro-economist.

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His theory:

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STEVEN QUARTZ: What happened 
in the 1950s was that, as we 
began to increase our standard

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of living, in a hierarchical 
society, it really created 
what we can think of 
as a status dilemma.

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There just wasn't enough 
status to go around.

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And what people began to do, 
especially kids began to do, 
was create alternative status

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systems.

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PAUL SOLMAN: At his 
Nashville showroom, sneaker 
reseller Yuanrun "Z" Zheng 
also drew a connection

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to the increased inequality 
of recent decades.

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Sure, the sneaker market 
is status-driven, he says, 
but it's affordable status.

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YUANRUN "Z" ZHENG, Sneaker 
Reseller: The retail 
of any sneakers, I will 
say, have never eclipsed

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over $350, until that Nike 
came with the crazy self-lacing 
shoe that cost $800.

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But that's an outlier in itself.

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So people with no money or 
some people with no financial 
means can also get the limited

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edition sneaker, just like a 
person with a lot of money.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Back at 
Sneaker Con, it was clear 
that sneaker culture has 
taken on a commercial

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life of its own, with prize 
pairs so sought-after, 
counterfeits now abound, 
hence the long lines

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at the convention's legit check 
table, where Bryan Mora, among 
others, ferreted out fakes.

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BRYAN MORA, Legit Checker: It'll 
be the glue smell . It will 
be the way the shoe is shaped.

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PAUL SOLMAN: How many fakes 
have you guys caught today?

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How many fakes?

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BRYAN MORA: We caught 
about like 30 pairs.

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PAUL SOLMAN: There's even 
a lone ranger of kicks, who 
calls himself Yeezy Busta, and

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he's built a brand around 
busting knock-offs.

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YEEZY BUSTA, Yeezy Shoe Expert: 
The reason why I wear my 
mask is because what I do is,

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I call out celebrities 
who wear fake Yeezys.

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And some of them wanted to 
come after me and sue me, so 
I decided I wouldn't reveal my

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face.

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PAUL SOLMAN: Now, fans or family 
members of the Busta fam can 
get their own branded masks

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for only $20.

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I would imagine this is 
also fairly healthy, right?

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YEEZY BUSTA: Yes, I mean, if 
anybody's sick and somebody 
tries to cough on you, you don't

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get it in your mouth.

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You know?

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(LAUGHTER)

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PAUL SOLMAN: OK, so sneakers are 
fun and instructive to trade, a 
mark of status, comfortable of

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course, and finally, argues, 
Yu-Ming Wu, works of art.

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YU-MING WU: I believe 
that sneakers are 
mass-produced sculptures.

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We have incredible artists, 
incredible designers 
who design and create 
these incredible shoes

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PAUL SOLMAN: Most famously, 
Tinker Hatfield, the 
Nike designer behind 
the most iconic Air

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Jordans.

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TINKER HATFIELD, Nike Designer: 
It's not just scribbling on 
a piece of paper and coming

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up with a design.

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It's a lot of effort that goes 
into trying to be meaningful

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PAUL SOLMAN: A legend in the 
sneaker world, he got mainstream 
attention via a Netflix

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documentary.

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YU-MING WU: He saw architecture 
as inspiration for sneakers, 
and I believe he is a Leonardo

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da Vinci of the sneaker world.

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PAUL SOLMAN: So when you say 
Tinker Hatfield is the Leonardo 
of sneakers, are you equating

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the achievements 
of Leonardo, say?

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YU-MING WU: Centuries from 
today, we will look back at 
Tinker Hatfield and consider

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him to be one of the 
most incredible artists.

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PAUL SOLMAN: And centuries from 
now, maybe a pair of Air Jordans 
will sell for $450 million,

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as da Vinci's Salvator 
Mundi recently did.

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Who knows?

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As concert promoter 
Darryll Brooks put it:

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DARRYLL BROOKS, Concert 
Promoter: Value is in 
the eye of the beholder.

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Some people collect things.

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I'm a collector, 
but not of sneakers.

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When you were a kid, when 
they were collecting G.I.

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Joes, you had a set of G.I.

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Joes.

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Don't tell me you didn't.

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PAUL SOLMAN: I didn't.

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I never had a G.I.

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Joe in my life.

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But I did collect a 
variety of things, 
minerals, baseball cards.

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DARRYLL BROOKS: Same thing, 
different generation.

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I got old cars.

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But these kids wouldn't 
look at my cars.

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They would say, ah.

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What would they do with a 
1976 Eldorado convertible?

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They probably wouldn't know 
what the heck that was.

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It would look like 
a big boat to them.

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But it isn't a big boat to me.

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I love it.

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(LAUGHTER)

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PAUL SOLMAN: As the 
20,000 people in New 
York for the convention, 
and millions more around

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the country, love their 
sneakers, so long as 
they're the real thing.

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For the "PBS NewsHour," this 
is economics correspondent 
Paul Solman,, the real Paul

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Solman.