Email*
I’m interested in (please check all that apply)
You may opt-out anytime by clicking “unsubscribe” from the newsletter or from your account.
Mar 26, 2022
Photos by Nora Edinger When Tylan Mayo was still growing, sneakers from Nike’s canvas-based Air Force 1 series were his mom’s go-to choice as prices topped out at about $100 a pair. Now that he’s a shoe entrepreneur, Mayo uses higher-end sneakers as both a fashion statement and an investment. Most investment shoes are never worn — as some designs can increase in resale value to more than $1,000 over time in pristine condition — but he generally buys them in his own size 13, just in case.
WHEELING — When a rapper friend had a gig at the McLure Hotel, it felt sneaker worthy. Sneaker worthy in a dent-the-piggy-bank kind of way.
Tylan Mayo pulled out a pair of Air Jordan Retro Royalty 12s from his investment collection of unworn shoes for the occasion. And — unlike some of the most dedicated “sneaker heads” — he didn’t carry them to the venue in a bag, only to put them on when safely inside.
“If I’m going to wear them, I’m going to wear them,” said Mayo of giving the high-value pair of shoes the only outing of their lives. “I’ll worry about cleaning them up later.”
And, Mayo knows how to do that in a serious way.
When COVID-19 interrupted his start as a business major at West Virginia University, the 2019 Wheeling Park High School graduate began considering a new plan even before remote classes (and his interest in higher ed) could wrap up with a pandemic whimper in spring 2020.
“I came home, and I started doing the shoes,” the now 21-year-old said of his variety of cobbler shop, one that focuses on high-end sneakers rather than pricey dress shoes and boots. “I had to do something. It was awful.”
Once he went into action, it suddenly wasn’t awful.
Mayo the student soon became Mayo the entrepreneur. In just two years, he’s gone from watching YouTube tutorials and doing some apprentice work with Joe Campeti (a retired traditional cobbler who worked in downtown Wheeling) to registering The Shoe Guys an LLC.
A GOOD FIT
These days, hundreds of sneakers are in various stages of preservation and restoration around his basement shop — a location that turned out to be ideal as the cool temperature there is what Mayo said such shoes love.
At one workstation, there are airbrushing and heat guns, a cupful of artist brushes and specialty leather paints that can bring the most well-loved sneakers back to life. At another, sneakers whose transparent “ice” soles have yellowed with time are treated with chemicals and ultraviolet light until their original bluish-white is restored.
At still another, tiny picks and brushes stand ready to remove traces of contact with pavement or soil from soles.
Mayo said some customers have at least some of the above done every couple of months, part of a maintenance program to extend the life of beloved footwear.
If it seems like a lot of work for a shoe style with humble, utilitarian origins, he explained that high-end sneakers are now about fashion and style.
Ironically, he said this is especially true of the styles most informed by actual basketball.
“People just love the look,” Mayo said of this flavor of fine footwear. “Usually, if you see someone playing basketball in some Jordans, you’re like, ‘Are you crazy, messing those up?’”
A point to ponder: Some classic designs of Air Jordans — a storied line of sneakers forged from a collaboration between Nike and NBA luminary Michael Jordan — top $1,000 a pair if they are unworn.
SUPPLY & DEMAND
Sneakers are not unlike fine wine, as it turns out. They don’t last forever, Mayo said, but time can increase their value.
He noted that even sneakers that go on to become the most expensive of their kind generally drop, or reach the retail market, at about $200 a pair. But, because the distribution of any new design is limited and some resellers buy up to 20 or 30 pairs as an investment, demand exceeds supply from the get go.
Over time, some designs (most often plainer “color ways,” Mayo noted) reach such iconic status that serious sneaker heads will pay hundreds of dollars for even used shoes that are well restored. And the prices for investment shoes — old stock that is unworn, in perfect condition and in its original box — can eventually hit the stratosphere.
That is the kind of shoe Mayo broke out for the rap concert, knowing full well what he was doing. A guy who starts each outfit with the sneaker style of the day and matches all his other clothing to it, he said it was part of what made the evening special.
An aside: That night’s sneaker was primarily white with black accents and Mayo, as is his style, dressed to match in all white clothing. On the day of his interview, his sneakers and all clothing were solid black.
“If I’ve got $300 on my feet, you better believe I’m going to match,” he said of daily fashion choices.
FINE FOOTWEAR
Mayo noted that there is a time-vulnerable nature to sneakers, as well. Nike and rapper Travis Scott, for example, have successfully collaborated on a line of sneakers that sometimes includes the name Cactus Jack in a reference to Scott’s record label.
After Scott’s 2021 concert at Astroworld turned into a deadly crowd crush, Mayo said some top-value sneakers from that line suddenly dropped by as much as half in resale value. “It’s crazy how the stuff that people do affects the prices.”
That said, high-end styles associated with Jordan remain reliable to date as both investments and restored resellers, he added.
Pointing to a scruffy pair of Air Jordan 4 Retro Pure Money’s from 2017 waiting on a rack in his workshop, he said that $30 investment will likely resell for $200 to $300 once they’re fully restored. In contrast, Mayo resold an unworn investment pair of the same design for $700 after buying them new for $200.
Mayo generally doesn’t shop for the used shoes he intends to restore and resell, he added. People text him offers, knowing that he buys. It’s a shoe economy that works both ways, he said.
“It makes me a lot of money, but it also saves other people a lot of money,” he explained. Customers can buy specific restored shoes that might cost as much as $1,000 or more on the new-old-stock market for a few hundred dollars — the same look, the same branding without the new shoe cost.
The business of sneakers also feels like it has, well, legs in a career kind of way, Mayo said.
“My goal is to get this to where it can run kind of on its own so I can branch out.” He’d like to play a part in Wheeling’s revitalization by opening a storefront, possibly in the downtown, but would also like to have shops in locations such as Pittsburgh.
“I enjoy doing shoes,” he said. “This is something I can do forever.”
###
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
Sometimes the gloomiest of days are made brighter by someone else’s unexpected kindness. I found this out several …
WHEELING — The Viennese Ball takes place on its new, rescheduled date of Saturday, April 16, at Oglebay’s …
WHEELING — Oglebay Institute announded a new program that provides opportunities for older adults to try some new …
WHEELING — Miriam Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star, will be honored with the official Grand Visitation of …
Sons of the American Revolution to Meet WHEELING — The Fort Henry Chapter’s winter quarter meeting will be …
WHEELING — The Woman’s Club of Wheeling will meet at 1 p.m., Friday, March 25, at Monument Place in Elm Grove …
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
Copyright © The Intelligencer | https://www.theintelligencer.net | 1500 Main Street, Wheeling, WV 26003 | 304-233-0100 | Ogden Newspapers | The Nutting Company