Yeezys and Adidas Are Selling Like Hotcakes at Oak Cliff's Trap Boutique

Dallas sneakerheads and hypebeasts all go to one place to cop the latest releases and classic sneakers: Oak Cliff's Trap Boutique. During the Christmas season, the store sold 25 to 50 pair of shoes a day. About 300 people stood in line outside the store for two days for a chance to win various prizes, including a pair of Yeezys.

Trap Boutique is Dallas’ first and only sneaker consignment store. It had been in business for about a year when current owner Manuel De Paz purchased it. De Paz also co-owns Kicks101, a sneaker show and events company where people can buy, sell and trade sneakers.

“When I came in and started doing this, I already had the customer base, and I already had the connects to be able to get shoes,” he says.

After a couple of months, the original owner sold the business to De Paz outright. In the three years De Paz has owned Trap Boutique, it has moved locations twice and continued to grow as street style has hit the mainstream. This year, De Paz plans to open a store in a mall, possibly the Parks in Arlington.

“It started growing really fast out of nowhere," he says. "People started actually supporting. Yeah, it’s come a long way."

De Paz attributes the success of his store to its strong reputation.

“We don’t do any paid advertising. I’ve never paid for any advertising at all. Everything is just word of mouth," he says. "People telling other people."

While trend-chasing high-schoolers make up a large percentage of Trap Boutique’s costumers, the store’s clientele ranges from teenagers to longtime sneaker connoisseurs.

“There are a lot of people that are older, like 30s, 40s, and they’re still collecting shoes, and those are people that come and buy the older releases and collectible items,” De Paz says.

Along with sneakers, Trap Boutique sells vintage clothing and has started to carry popular streetwear brands like Supreme and BAPE. But the store’s bread and butter continues to be shoes, specifically Adidas.

“Yeah, it’s crazy, but people are actually into Adidas now. Yeezys. Ultaboosts. I never thought that would happen,” he says.

Although De Paz isn’t one for Adidas, he admits it’s what keeps the store going.

“It’s not even something where I have to sell it. As soon as I get it, it’s already sold,” he says.

For that reason, he buys about $25,000 of Yeezy inventory each time a new shoe is released.

“I’ll sell it for double the price, and like that’s where all the profit comes. Selling nothing but Adidas and Yeezys,” he says.

But Jordan fans, don’t despair. The store also carries a large selection of Jordans.

"Jordans are going be around forever," De Paz says. "There’s a lot of collectors that are original collectors, so I feel like that’s never going to die."

Trap Boutique has customers from across the state and country; many come from Austin and Houston, but the store also has its share of international visitors.

Recently, a father and son duo from South Africa stopped by the store. The father told De Paz his son had been talking about visiting the store since he discovered it on Instagram.

“They were only in town for one day. They travel the whole world and wanted to come here. … Yeah, that one was crazy,” De Paz says.

Not all of De Paz's friends trust his business model. Once, he bought a pair of Air Jordans Undefeated 4 for $3,000.

“Everyone was like, “You paid $3,000 for those shoes?” he recalls.

To the surprise of his friends, De Paz sold the shoes for $12,000 just two days later.

“There’ve been some shoes, some big-profit shoes," he says. "I don’t think people really know that the shoe market is so big."