Inside India's hush-hush hype luxury economy where sneakers cost more than gold

Mint

7 days ago

Would you pay ₹7 lakh for a pair of limited-edition Nike-Dior Air Jordan sneakers or ₹50,000 for a tiny monster stuffed toy or ₹20,000 for lip gloss iPhone covers? India's young, style-conscious and wealthy shoppers are shelling out big money for such hype-driven luxury.
The country's super-rich shoppers are driving demand for hype wear and collectibles, some of which is never officially sold in the country. Demand is propelled by scarcity, brand hype, and social media buzz created by global fashion houses, streetwear giants, or celebrity-led brands through exclusive drops and collaborations. Buyers pay a premium for underground luxury on resale platforms such as Culture Circle and Crepdog Crew. Some even treat it as an investment which they can flip in the future.
As high as 72% of buyers are under 28 years of age—mostly males from big metros, according to Devansh Jain, who co-founded Culture Circle with Ackshay Jain. But sales in tier II cities are now growing at over 60% month-on-month, he said.
The average spend is about ₹32,000 per order, with some users spending lakhs within weeks of their first purchase. Handbags are being picked up by women aged 25-32, often as a first, big luxury purchase, Jain said. Many customers are purchasing two or three sizes of the same item: one to wear, others to store 'like wine" in the hope of appreciation.
Hype wear or limited-edition clothes, shoes and accessories are a global style phenomenon built on scarcity and status. While they're tough to find in stores and sell out fast, they reappear (usually brand new) on resale platforms at much higher prices, targeting those who want a shot at exclusivity. Among India's young consumers, search for such alternative assets and a hunger to own and experience luxury also reflects growing affluence.
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Luxury sneakers and Stanley tumblers to collectible Japanese soft toys and Hailey Bieber's lip gloss are flying off the shelves as global novelty 'drops" or limited collections find buyers in India. Even everyday items like ₹7,500 Off-White branded arrow socks or ₹8,000 Supreme branded water bottle are turning into status symbols.
Some sellers even stay anonymous because they are holding stock worth crores of rupees, multiple collectors told Mint, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Culture Circle recently facilitated the sale of The Air Jordan 1 High OG Dior, Nike's streetwear shoes with Dior's luxe detailing and monogram under the shoe. Only 8,500 pairs exist worldwide, making the sneaker a coveted collector's item, with resale prices crossing ₹7 lakh apiece.
A footmat to most, the Virgil Abloh x Ikea Marekrad "Wet Grass" rug stirred a resale frenzy, fetching around ₹1.4 lakh. Abloh, a designer and an artist, is known for blending streetwear with high fashion. The collection included over a dozen items sold globally, with the rug originally priced at $249, selling for 560% more than its base price.
On Culture Circle and Crepdog Crew, you can find the special edition Rhode lip-gloss case to a ₹400,000 Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami Keepall Bandouliere 50 Black bag, which otherwise retails for ₹320,000. These are frequently resold at steep markups.
Sneaker love in Ludhiana
A pair of rare, red sneakers can fetch up to ₹30 lakh and go even as high as ₹50 lakh on Culture Circle, according to Jain. Last month, a woman in Delhi walked into its physical stores and bought every pair of special-edition sneakers in her size. No questions asked, no discounts needed. And the motivation? 'Bragging rights, cred, and being able to say, 'You can't find this anywhere else."
In Haryana's Sonipat, Ronak Batra, 26, runs a company called Kicks Charger that sells special-edition sneakers from Adidas and Nike to On Cloud and Yeezy. The lawyer, who is not practising anymore, said he spends all his time acquiring special-edition sneakers from these retail stores and then reselling them.
"Earlier, when the competition was less, the percentage you could earn from a sneaker could go up 15-20%, but now that's gone down somewhat and is around 10%, especially if the pair is under ₹10,000," he said.
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This month, he sold a ₹35,000 The Air Jordan 1 'Lost & Found' Chicago', which became popular in 2022 for its nostalgic design that replicates a vintage 1985 sneaker discovered in a dusty stockroom, complete with aged details and a mismatched box lid. It taps into sneaker culture's love for storytelling and history, while appealing to both old-school collectors and new fans.
Batra, who started collecting himself at the age of 21 and slowly turned it into a business, said, 'Globally, there must be under 10,000 such pairs. Though the real number is unknown, but collectors know it is a special shoe."
Earlier, his clients were in college, but now the hype shoes business is transcending the age barrier. He even has 50-year-old buyers who are friends of his father. 'Maybe some of these people won't understand the cultural significance, but their family members tend to teach them about them as well."
Sneakers also top the demand charts. Some buyers will even pay double, triple and even 10 times the original price just to own a sneaker seen on a celebrity's Instagram. A black-and-white pair of Nike shoes named 'Panda" Dunks sold 780 units in three minutes around the world.
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The obsession is not confined to the metro cities. Ludhiana—with a population 1.6 million—now ranks among the top five in luxury sneaker sales for Culture Circle. Business families' Gen Z kids are apparently driving that trend, said co-founder Devansh Jain.
'No logic'
Labubu dolls, a line of expressive Japanese soft toys, are now prized collectibles among Indian buyers. There's a surge in demand for brands that aren't even officially in India: Rick Owens, LOEWE, Eric Emmanuel, Gymshark, Lululemon. And if something's spotted on a celebrity — whether it's Hailey Bieber or a cricketer from India's playing XI — it sells out in minutes. Prices can spike up to 400% purely because of an Instagram story.
Gurugram-based realtor and collector Abhijeet Singh, 25, a sneakerhead who has 130 pairs, buys in doubles so he can keep one and wear the other. He recently paid ₹480,000 for the Nike Air Jordan Low, but his average purchase price is ₹25,000-30,000.
'For me, it's all about authenticity," Singh said. 'Earlier, when I began to collect, there were no means to cross-check products, but now you can upload the original bill or receipts you get with the product on the Culture Circle platform to cross-check on a third-party platform if it's a legitimate product."
As for demand, 'there's no logic to it", he said. 'If it's rare, it is wanted. If it's sold out, it's worshipped."
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