The startup company was founded by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, Greg Schwartz, and Chris Kaufman starting in 2015, and launched in February 2016. Luber had previously founded StockX's predecessor website about rare sneakers called Campless, and Schwartz holds the chief operating officer position. After Gilbert acquired Campless from Luber, Luber relocated from Philadelphia to work from Gilbert's One Campus Martius building in Downtown Detroit. StockX opened its first international headquarters in London in October 2018. Scott Cutler was appointed chief executive officer in June 2019. The company has more than 800 employees, as of August 2019. StockX is among the fastest-growing startups in Detroit and Michigan, as of late 2018. In addition to the One Campus Martius office, StockX has an authentication facility in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood. Prior to the authentication center's relocation in June 2018, the company had a team of 15 employees authenticating thousands of pairs of shoes daily. The larger Corktown facility increased the number of authentications. StockX opened a second authentication center in Tempe, Arizona, in late 2018, followed by two more in Moonachie, New Jersey and West London. In 2019, the company opened a fifth authentication center in Eindhoven, Netherlands. StockX maintains a catalog of all fake items received. The company's first "StockX Day" event in Detroit, which invited resellers, platform users, and industry influencers to meet employees and see operations, was held in October 2017 and attended by approximately 200 people. 150 buyers and sellers were selected from 3,000–5,000 applicants to attend the second "StockX Day" in April 2018. In May 2019, the company held a third "StockX Day" event for an audience of 300, and announced the opening of its first permanent location in New York City along with several major product updates. StockX has collaborated with numerous celebrities and companies on charitable initiatives. In 2017, Eminem collaborated with the company to raffle off his Air Jordan sneakers designed in collaboration with Carhartt to raise funds for the Greater Houston Community Foundation Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and Team Rubicon to support relief efforts in Texas and Florida following Hurricane Harvey. Nike Inc.'s debut of LeBron James' first retro sneaker via StockX marked the first time the brand bypassed retail and went directly to the secondary market. In 2018, StockX and Wu-Tang Clan collaborated on the Charity Rules Everyone Around Me campaign; proceeds from nine exclusive products benefitted the Wu-Tang Foundation to support children in underserved communities. StockX suffered a data breach in mid 2019. In September, the company and Bleacher Report reached a multiyear advertising agreement, and Deena Bahri became StockX's first chief marketing officer.
Business model
StockX serves as an online marketplace, facilitating auctions between sellers and buyers, then collecting transaction and payment fees. Sellers send purchased items to StockX facilities for inspection and verification, then authenticated products are shipped to buyers. StockX features a "stock market-like" variable pricing framework and discloses price histories for specific items. StockX is most known for sneakers and streetwear, but also carries other clothing and accessories such as handbags and watches. StockX surpassed eBay in total sneaker transactions in 2017. Counterfeit items are returned to sellers, and buyers are refunded. StockX charges a 3 percent processing fee for all resellers, and a 9.5 percenttransaction fee for new users, which decreases with experience. Prior to the company's expansion into Europe, StockX only advertised in the United States and accepted U.S dollars. Fifteen percent of the company's buyers were international, as of September 2018. In January 2019, StockX partnered with celebrity jeweler and influencer Ben Baller to sell 800 pairs of black and red slides directly to the public, marking the company's first "initial product offering". The shoes were printed with the phrase "Ben Baller did the chain", a lyric from ASAP Ferg's song "Plain Jane".
