Standing out in the cold, waiting in line, all Shloke Suri (‘23) can think is: almost there. The line shuffles forward, making him one step closer to his dream pair of shoes. He can almost feel the latest pair of Jordans in his grasp. Finally, the door opens. He purchases the shoe, triumphant, and adds it to his collection. Later, he resells the Jordans for a thick wad of cash–his long efforts had finally paid off. 

A junior at Amador, Suri recently reached seven figures on his shoe resale business, Secured Soles LLC, where he resells shoes in high demand like Jordans and Yeezys to stores and other resale companies. Suri’s business stemmed from his passion for basketball growing up.

“I was always a basketball fan, and when I became a fifth grader or sixth grader, family friends had Jordans and Yeezys and that kind of rubbed off on me. Seeing [those] Michael Jordan shoes…really connected with me,” said Suri.

Inspired by his family friends and basketball, his love for sneakers grew, and he began collecting basketball shoes. Soon, he encouraged himself to turn his hobby into a business to share his admiration for sneakers and sneaker culture with others. 

“At first I just thought that the shoes looked cool and I was a fan of Michael Jordan who [had] a popular brand, Jordan. Eventually, I realized I could make money off of these sneakers. So, this is when I decided to try to buy and sell them,” said Suri. 

Through his Twitter (@chefshloke_new) and Instagram (@securedsolesllc) presence, he reaches out to customers to notify them of his newest products. His business strategy involves buying in bulk and reselling shoes to other parties. 

 

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“I sell [product] to certain clients who buy them in bulk. For example, I’ll sell twenty pairs of shoes to one store, thirty pairs of shoes to, for example, a reseller on Instagram or Twitter. So typically I sell high quantities to a limited [number] of people,” said Suri.

It wasn’t always this easy. But running his business helped him learn about different ways to get products and decide which worked best. Learning from these experiences allowed his business to grow to greater success. 

“My biggest challenge was buying enough shoes, because when I would start out, I would only buy from retail directly from [brands] like Nike [and] Footlocker. It would be hard to get a high quantity of shoes,” said Suri. “But, as I transitioned my business, it definitely became a lot easier because now, I’m able to find inventory and the only hard part now is selling it. But, when I first started, buying shoes was harder and selling was easier,” said Suri. 

Having a wide range of customers from stores like Hype Los Angelos and Retail Boyz in Salinas, he’s also able to reach international customers. Suri mainly sells shoes from popular brands to buyers. 

“For the most part [I sell] 95 percent Nike and Adidas [shoes], mostly Jordans which are Nike shoes and then Yeezys which are Adidas by Kanye West,” said Suri.

Suri’s product releases depend on when specific shoes are released and what shoes are in high demand at the time. 

I have gone through the point where I don’t only buy from the drops, I buy from other people to make a lower margin. But I usually buy and sell more sneakers,” said Suri. 

While his parents were skeptical at first of his venture, Suri’s success soon reassured them. With their support, he was able to fully focus on running his business and learn new financial techniques. 

“At first, my dad thought that it was a really cool idea. They thought that it was really risky [in the beginning] because they didn’t understand the business side of sneakers. But it was really encouraging because it was a new skill to learn and having business knowledge. They didn’t like it when I started to escalate [because] they thought it was taking up too much time. But now, because of the point that it’s at, they are really happy about it,” said Suri. 

After making his first sale in December 2017, he was able to use his first profits to buy more inventory. By reinvesting into his company, he was able to grow his business greatly. 

“I borrowed my parent’s credit card to buy a pair of Yeezys and then when I sold them, I paid them the 250 dollars back, and then, with the profit, I bought other shoes and clothes to start growing my business,” said Suri. 

Through hard work and persistence, Suri’s business finally took off last summer. This became a turning point for Suri, as he was able to expand his business and increase his profits. 

“[That summer, I thought ‘I’m] about to be 16 [this] summer, so let me really go hard and take it to the next level,’” said Suri.

As his business continues to grow each month, he looks forward to branching out and potentially hiring employees. At the moment, Suri spends around 40 hours a week on his business.

“I’ve been thinking about getting employees for manual labor but at the moment, I’m just a one man army,” said Suri. “The manual labor for the most part besides doing things online is intaking shoes and going to pick up packages. I have to open each individually to make sure they are authentic and brand new, then I have to box them up, and ship them out to my buyers,” said Suri.

This, Suri knows, is just the beginning of a budding career in business and finance. Rather than spending all his profits from Secured Soles, he plans to use the money to help launch more ventures in some of his other interests, like real estate. 

“I definitely plan on trying to get away from this business as quickly as I can until I can get into bigger things like real estate. So, all the money now [is] going to go into bigger things until I stop reselling. Definitely, [I want to use the profits] towards something to keep growing it instead of wasting it,” said Suri.

Suri’s success with Secured Soles reflects his belief that, with hard work and dedication, anyone can create a good business, and he encourages other students to follow their interests and aim big.

“Whatever you think you may have an idea on, try it out because odds are: if you work hard it’s going to work. Even sometimes I look at myself and [think] like, wow there was no way I built something this big, I’m also [just] a kid from [a] public school,” said Suri. “So if I can work [on] something and do it on my own, anyone else can too.”