His star player has been a sneaker giant since he first stepped foot into the NBA, so it makes some sense.
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and his venture capital firm have hopped into the lucrative sneaker collector’s industry, investing in Campless, a website that tracks sneaker values on the resale market.
Darren Rovell of ESPN.com has more:
Campless.com, a website that tracks the resale value of sneakers, has received a “significant” investment from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s venture capital firm, Detroit Venture Partners.
Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
The website, established in 2012, takes public data from what Campless estimates to be a $6 billion sneaker resale market from sales on sites like eBay and crunches the numbers to establish the true value of the most popular athletic shoes. So far the site has analyzed more than 21 million auctions and tracked more than 1,750 of the most coveted sneakers.
Campless is pretty solid with their valuations, and some of their work includes finding the most expensive shoe in retail, which is the Air Jordan 4 retro UNDFTD, which is worth more than $20,000.
The LeBron 4 “Fruity Pebbles” and the Nike Air Mag “Back To The Future” are the only other shoes worth more than $6,000 apiece, but were limited-edition shoes that never were available to the public.
According to Campless, the Nike SB Low Staple “NYC Pigeon,” which was released in 2005 for $200 and today sells for an average of $5,244, is the most valuable shoe available for retail.
By Glenn Erby
