Benjamin Kapelushnik was born on October 14, 1999. At the age of sixteen he had earned almost one hundred dollars in sales with his self-made sneaker business. Kapelushnik interest in sneakers started when his mom purchased him Nikes in middle school. His interest in sneakers grew even more after he used his bar-mitzvah money to buy more sneakers. He then started to consult sneaker magazines and get involved in the sneaker resale market. Using his initial profit, he began to buy shoes in bulk. His first bulk purchase being 85 pairs of Air Jordan 1s. Kapelushnik’s big break was when one of his customers introduced him to DJ Khaled. From there the two began to form a close relationship in real life and on social media. This customer connection was huge for Kapelushnik. Because of his close relations with DJ Khaled, Kapelushnik’s client list grew to an all-new extreme. Big names like Travis Scott, Drake, and Kevin Hart had began purchasing from him. Kapelushnik unlike other entrepreneurs he did not come up with a new idea and or invention. Sneakers have been around forever, instead of coming up with something new he took advantage of the resale market. He then made a brand not out of the sneakers, but himself. His brand revolved around being sixteen, being friends with the rich and famous, and this lead to being so successful
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In the past few years, the world has seen a dramatic increase in the resale platform for sneakers, mainly from StockX. I admire Ben for getting into the business as well and being able to reach people like DJ Khaled, Travis Scott, Drake, and Kevin Hart. I might be a customer of his one day.
I find it interesting how quite a few of the posts on this website tell a similar story as his. How a young person managed to get into selling or creating something right as the demand for that thing soars.
I think it is so cool how Ben took advantage of a pretty static market and found a way to make money off it. Not only did he make money, he made connections that led him to connecting with societies top influencers. This story of young ben is so inspiring for all entrepreneurs!
Interesting how he was able to find so much success in a market with a lot of competitors. I knew a few people in my old high school who had some success in the shoe resale market also, but none of them got to the level that Benjamin got to.