The Edit LDN is a global marketplace for limited edition sneakers and high-end streetwear, and an innovative sneaker platform in a rapidly growing market.
It was founded in 2020 by Moses Rashid, a sneakerhead who identified a gap in the market and established his platform to digitally connect investors and owners of sneakers with buyers, redefining a market forecasted to hit US$30 million sales by 2030. By turning his passion into a multi-million business in two and a half years, his business has grown 500% Year on Year, and he might reach a US$115 million valuation in 2026.
Stock is sold through its e-commerce platform and through partnerships including Harrods, Galleries Lafayette and Threads Styling, The Edit LDN has a wide client base including international celebrities such as music stars, footballers through to the NFL.
Brands sold through it include Jordan, Yeezy, Louis Vuitton, Fear of God, Dior, amongst others. The platform is fast becoming synonymous with speed of service, authenticity, diverse selection of secure payment methods, and first class customer service.
The platform considers itself the first global reseller to pledge to removing one kilogram of plastic from the oceans with every sale, to becoming the first global reseller to launch into the Metaverse, and the first global sneaker reseller to deliver its customers a Same Day Service.
Moses Rashid, founder and CEO, The Edit LDN, explained The SPIN OFF what are his projects and targets.
We are widely considered as the most premium global online marketplace for limited sneakers, street wear and collectables. I am a huge sneakerhead. I found myself at a sneaker festival purchasing some sneakers for about €814, and before I made the purchase I asked a really simple question, do you have a bag for me? The gentleman said no. It blew my mind that I was paying a premium but not getting a premium service, and so I left that day shoeless. I thought about how I like to purchase my product and quite simply when I looked into the market I didn't see a platform that could cater to my needs, and therefore I built The Edit LDN.
We’ve had a phenomenal three years growing up to 500 - 600% Year-On-Year, we’ve seen our global footprint grow enormously and for the next year we’ve got a huge focus on opening our international territories with locations in the UAE, USA and middle Europe. Then we’ve got a huge focus on culture and community, so it’s a really exciting time for the team at The Edit LDN.
Is your platform committed to support the sustainability cause in the fashion industry?
As we continue to evolve our proposition, sustainability is front and center of what we do. We’re the first global platform to donate sustainably with every single sale that goes through our platform. We have partnered with Handprint technology, so essentially that means that every single sale that goes through our platform we commit to taking one kilogram of plastic out of the oceans [Editor’s note: until 2 November 2022, according to Handprint.tech, a globally recognised environmental and social regeneration platform, The Edit LDN has preserved 3,854 kilos of plastic away from the oceans, an equivalent of 192,700 PET bottles].
All our packaging is made from 100% recycled material, which can also be reused for different purposes if you choose to do so.
When I launched the business the very first thing was to get the team thinking like a global business and thankfully 50% of our traffic that comes to our website is international and about half of that goes straight out to the USA, so we've been looking at ways to really engage customers in US, in Europe and the UAE.
Now the first step of that is on November the 11th, we open up our first concession store through Galeries Lafayette in Qatar Doha, and actually we have a second store planned for Saudi Arabia in Riyadh with another premium retail partner and again will be doing lots of influencer activity in this space.
Now with the USA which is I guess is the market that we're targeting in the most part, we've already signed on our very first brand ambassador Xavier McKinney the captain of New York Giants. We’re in a number of conversations with a hotel groups ad are planning to open a global flagship store in Las Vegas at the end of next year.
In between now and then we’re in several talks with professional athletes, celebrities, some of which are clients, some of which will be friends of the brand and major sports teams and franchises to really align ourselves with the right partners in the USA before we then launch our Edit LDN American headquarters which could be either New York or LA.
The Metaverse is a fascinating place. Some people think it is really a PR stunt and some people think it's a commercial opportunity. I guess we've been really exploring about what Web3 really means, so the first part of that plan is we launch in to the Blocktopia Metaverse in first quarter of 2023.
Our plan is that while customers will visit our virtual store to purchase a pair of sneakers, and we will send them a physical product, then we will then give them an Edit LDN sneaker for their avatar.
Moving forward with reference to NFTs but really looking at how we can drive value to the customer so that might be through loyalty points that might be through exclusive invites to events that might even be to get pre-release product at cheaper prices. Furthermore, we are also looking at how we can use things like blockchain technology within our authentication process.
You recently said you aim to become the “Amazon of Sneakers", on a global level. Can you explain what are your aims in number terms and in which kind of sector?
So indeed, I was quoted in The Times about 12 months ago saying we will be the “Amazon of Sneakers”. It’s a huge statement, and there are two parts to that statement that we've already started implementing here at The Edit LDN.
That statement was about some change we have introduced as, for instance, how we have built a same day service in a market which traditionally takes two to five weeks to get your sneakers. I'm happy to say we've achieved that within London and will be rolling it out nationally as early as next month, and then we're expanding that out into key territories which include the EU, UAE and of course the USA.
Also related to that quote is how Amazon serves, as we already have resellers that provide product to the Edit LDN. We charge them a fee for storage of a said product and then actually when we fulfil that product to other platforms or private clients then we charge a fee for that as well. The best bit of all of this of course is that the customer always wins because all of that product gets plugged into the same day service.
What are the rarest and most prestigious sneakers you have sold?
We've sold a lot of very, very rare sneakers. There are two that really stand out, one of which I feel is a piece of history which is the Chicago Off White Jordan 1 High signed by the legend that is of course Virgil Abloh. For me that that was a great moment. On another occasion, a pair of Jordan One High Trophy Room. Only 12,000 were made, and it was a historic moment for me.
Do you collect sneakers yourself? How many pairs do you own, and what are your most valuable pieces?
The birth of The Edit LDN really came from me being a huge sneakerhead. It was essentially a hobby that turned into a business. I have about 300 sneakers. My faves include things like the Travis Scott SB Dunk, Bandana Dunk, my Off White ones and my Jordan 1 High Trophy Room.
I think the thing about any business pushing a sustainability agenda is that it needs to be transparent and quite simply when you go to our site through the partnership of Handprint technology there's a ticker at the top of our site. This shows you every single sale that we've has gone through the site and that converts into kilograms of plastic collected from the oceans.
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