Update (3/30/23): Unfortunately this story ends here. The pair did not pass verification, as expected. On a positive note, StockX verification is working as intended here.
The Owner of Request Boutique, Gabriel Salazar, has purchased a pair of Louis Vuitton Nike Air Force 1’s for $52,511.96… from StockX. Let that sink in.
The Louis V Air Force 1 was the swan song for the late, great Virgil Abloh. The collection was up for auction from Sotheby’s in 2022 with an extremely limited stock run. The 200-pair collection fetched a whopping $25.3 million in total, led by a size 5 that sold for $352,800. Each pair was dressed in the signature Louis Vuitton brown monogram print and was packed in a Virgil-esque bright orange suitcase.
The shoes speak for themselves, as does StockX’s reputation for authentication…or lack thereof. StockX is no stranger to headlines lately and has been under constant scrutiny for allowing replicas to sneak past them in recent years. To be fair, the quality of replicas has increased dramatically and even the most seasoned authenticator can have a hard time telling the difference sometimes.
That being said, $50K is an awful lot of money to trust with a company under this much fire. For this amount of money, there are several other marketplaces available that have a much better reputation than StockX. To be honest, for this amount of money, I probably wouldn’t trust anyone except Sotheby’s.
Will the pair even ship? Will it pass Authentication? We'll have to wait and see, stay tuned for updates.
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Image via @gabrielsalzr