27-year-old Adeel Shams makes millions reselling sneakers.Shams and his business partner, Davon Artis, run Cool Kicks, a store for buying, selling and trading sneakers and streetwear.Shams said his fleet of four stores earned $6.9 million in sales last year, marking a 103% increase from 2017 to 2018.Shams told Business Insider his top tips for breaking into the market and making the most money in the sneaker resale industry.Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.If you can figure it out, selling sneakers can be a gold mine.The global sneaker resale market could be worth$6 billion by 2025, a Cowen & Co. analysis estimated earlier this year. Sneakers on resale marketplaces like StockXandStadium Goods have gone for as much as $20,000, and a lot of more rare designs and colorways have the potential to explode in value over time.Sneakerhead Adeel Shams has hacked the sneaker resale market. Shams said his fleet of four stores earned $6.9 million in sales last year, marking a 103% increase from 2017 to 2018.But his journey in the industry started in 2008 with a yard sale and a lot of passion.After buying and then quickly selling a pair of Air Jordans at a yard sale, Shams turned his passion into a business and opened a store in Richmond, Virginia, in 2014, the same day he started graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University."Ever since then, I've had a passion of just collecting sneakers," the 27-year-old told Business Insider.After graduating in 2016, Shams sold his share of the Richmond store, moved to Los Angeles, California, with around 500 pairs of sneakers, and opened up Cool Kicks. Unlike traditional resale marketplaces like StockX and Stadium Goods, Cool Kicks is a brick-and-mortar shop that owns every item in the store. Instead of acting as a middleman between merchants and buyers, Cool Kicks specializes in buying, selling, and trading new and used sneakers.The store holds an array of coveted shoes like Air Jordans and Yeezys, which can resell for thousands of dollars.Today, Shams has three stores in Los Angeles and one in Springfield, Virginia. He's launching a subscription-based app that he says will work to offer subscribers sneakers for less than market value.We asked Shams for his top tips for breaking into the sneaker resale market and for making the most money.Here's what he had to say:SEE ALSO:Meet the 15-year-old who has made 6 figures reselling sneakers1. Treat the sneaker market like you would the stock marketThe sneaker market, like the stock market, ebbs and flows. Shams says that in order to make the most out of reselling, you need to be on top of the latest trends in the sneaker world and look closely to understand what is going on in the market."What I'll always recommend people is you follow the trend," Shams said, adding that he encourages people regularly look at sites like StockX and GOAT. "It's like a stock market."The key is determining how the supply of a shoe relates to the demand, Shams explained. If a highly in-demand pairlike a Travis Scott collaborationis not restocked, the value of that shoe can go up significantly over time, as there are fewer pairs available overall. This would make that shoe a great investment.2. Invest ' and overbuy ' in shoes that have proven their worthShams said that sometimes, the past is a reliable indicator. If a certain sneaker has proven its worth in previous releases, it is likely worth making a big investment in similar designs and colorways."I spent maybe $200,000 last week or the week before overbuying on the same pair of shoes because they released two different colorways before and it was the same thing," he said. "As soon as they released, they were only $500. But as days go by, months go by, they just increased and increased and increased."Shams says that following the trend of what consistently sells well is the key."Buy the right product," he said. "Don't buy a product that you think is going to sell one day."3. Be wary of shoes that are being overproducedAir Jordans and Yeezys are some of the most popular sneakers around. But Shams says that the return value for these pairs is not always what it used to be."Jordans are getting mass produced to a point where not all Jordans are resell-able like how it used be," Shams said. "Same thing with Yeezys."Shams' advice is to always search for how many pairs of each shoe is produced. He says this can be done on different blogs and websites."You know if one pair is being produced over a million times, the likelihood of that same sneaker reselling is very low," Shams said.4. Always buy collaboration sneakersWhen celebrities or athletes collaborate with a brand to make a sneaker, that sneaker is generally more valuable, Shams said."I always tell people to always buy collaboration shoes because they're less likely to be restocked," Shams said. "Because as soon as a product gets restocked, the value of the item goes back down because now there's more sneakers in circulation."Examples of popular sneaker collaborations include those with Travis Scott, Drake, and Kanye.5. Put your money back into your inventory and it will likely grow over time"I'd rather have no money in my bank account," Shams said. "I'd rather put it all in inventory that I know is going to gradually grow in price because I know it's the right inventory."Shams said that if you buy the right products, the return on investment is high. Sneakers often explode on the resale market years after they are released, so saving them to sell for later can be a smart move.Shams gave the example of Nike and Off-White, which have collaborated before. Though the collaboration sneakers were not selling for so much on StockX right away, he still recommended that people buy them and sell them later because he knew they would become more valuable over time due to the hyped-up nature of the collaboration.6. Passion is importantShams' business started with a passion, which he eventually grew into a booming company.Making it in the sneaker business requires time and devotion, so if you aren't totally passionate about it, the grind can be tough. Shams himself works about 40 to 50 hours a week in the store. But to himand a lot of other sneakerheadsit's a labor of love, in a lot of ways."It's just a passion," Shams said. "I love being there. It makes me happy."
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