Flipping Air Jordan kicks inspired Delaware man to quit desk job. Now he's giving back

When Ryan Johnson, owner of 10kthelongway, was a Dickinson High student, his bedroom was almost filled to the ceiling with shoe boxes.

"If you tried to pull out one pair, the whole tower would fall down," Ninna Johnson of Wilmington, Ryan Johnson's mom, remembered.

That was early in Johnson's career of reselling sneakers, a popular industry that Cowen & Co. estimated in 2020 could reach $30 billion globally by 2030.

This sole rebel is gearing up to draw sneakerheads to his fourth annual sneaker expo, SneakPeekConvention, set for Saturday at Stubbs Early Education Center in Wilmington and featuring music, and clothing and sneakers for sale.

Johnson, 26, also of Wilmington, said he will give away a few pairs of kicks, probably generic Nikes, to some guests.

The entrepreneur gives kicks away a few times a year because he knows parents don't always have money to buy name-brand shoes for kids.

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His family wasn't rich when he was growing up in Wilmington, Johnson said. But his parents always figured out a way to bless him with nice shoes, he recalled. 

In high school, he gave shoes he didn't wear to one of his friends who had fewer footwear options.

"If you're a good friend, you're going to make sure your friend is good. You're not going to let them sit there and wear the same pair of shoes all year-round.''

Offering sneakers to those who need them

Carter Bartkowski, 14, of Wilmington discovered Johnson's generosity last year. Carter visited Johnson's shop, hoping to sell a few pairs of shoes to him. But Johnson declined the deal.

Carter's mom, Kate Bartkowski, offered to pay for one pair of shoes but Carter was torn between two. One was a pair of Nike KDs.

Johnson gave Carter the KDs, and his mom bought her son the second pair. 

"It made me feel great. I thought it was super nice," said Carter, who added 10kthelongway is popular with his friends.

The teen's mom, who teaches at Oberle Elementary School in Bear, was blown away by Ryan's generosity.

"I'm a teacher. I don't have $500 to be shelling out for shoes, especially since my son is still growing," Bartkowski said. "So we've been supporting Ryan ever since."  

What is sneaker flipping?

The practice of flipping sneakers is similar to pawn shops. A customer offers new or gently used shoes for cash, then the buyer resells the shoes at a higher cost for a profit.

While there are brick-and-mortar stores, a lot of transactions take place on Instagram or in digital marketplaces like StockX. Sellers often meet customers in parking lots.

The price of shoes on StockX, one of the most popular sites, helps set their value, Johnson explained.

Air Jordan sneakers remain a longtime favorite for buyers and resellers, he added.

Flipping Air Jordans at Dickinson

Johnson and his friends were early adopters of reselling back in 2013 when he was a high school sophomore. He discovered this lucrative business through friends before the general public started catching on around 2015 or 2016.

Around 2013, he said, Jordan kicks were still hot and a new pair would get released monthly. Johnson and his friends would camp out all night in front of the DTLR Villa store, waiting to buy a new pair.

They'd buy a pair at retail price, which could be around $200, and easily flip them for at least double that. His team also paid people to camp out to get them extra shoes to flip.

"We'd make about $1,000 a night at freaking 15 years old," he recalled. "We were like geniuses."

Losing his father

During his sophomore year, Johnson's father died at 40. The tragedy shook his household and inspired him to take reselling more seriously.

"I was extremely hurt ...  me and my dad definitely had a great relationship," he explained. "Now I gotta be here for my mom and be the man of the house."

In high school, he began working at Footlocker. He lasted a few years before leaving the company after his supervisor discovered he was scalping shoes.

Johnson then landed an office job at Phillips & Cohen Associates, a debt collection agency in Wilmington. He'd spend his paychecks on shoe inventory and his lunch breaks selling shoes to customers in the company parking lot.

He made more money flipping shoes than he was making in the office.

During the first summer of the pandemic, a friend recommended Johnson open his own store. By late 2020, he left his job and opened up 10kthelongway in Newark, which sells sneakers, clothing and smoothies.

While he said he enjoyed working at Phillips & Cohen, he hasn't looked back.

"I had a great job before I opened my store. It was a major risk."

His goal is to take care of mom

This year marks Johnson's 10th anniversary reselling shoes.

His goal is to move his mom out of Wilmington, where they live 10 minutes apart. He hopes his Wilmington location will help him reach this goal.

"When this second store takes off, it'll make the dream come true. For me the dream is ... I already have financial stability. But I really want to take care of my mom."

SneakPeekConvention at Stubbs Early Education Center (1100 N Pine St., Wilmington) from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25. For more info, visit instagram.com/10kthelongway

If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware at delawareonline.com/newsletters.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Air Jordan kicks helped Delaware man flipping sneakers grow an empire