What's the hype on Hype Vault?
ANAS IQBAL AHMAD
The world supply chain may still be affected by challenges that relate to the Covid-19 pandemic but luxury items in the market are still in demand. For those who can afford it, they are eager to spend.
At least, this is what the co-founders of Hype Vault tells us from their observation.
Hype Vault is a streetwear and sneakers store in Publika, that focuses on selling high-end luxury streetwear from brands like Supreme, Yeezy, Off-White, Nike, Jordan, and many more.
“Demand for streetwear items in Malaysia has grown exponentially over the last seven years or so and there is no sign of it slowing down,” said its co-founder, Arpit Goyal.
In 2015, Arpit with his friend and co-founder Aisha Dalila would go and line up for the available sneakers releases or ‘drops’ at the time fueled by their shared passion for streetwear.
At the time, they began to foster connections with the local streetwear community and learn about the business. From there, they gathered sufficient knowledge, funds, and confidence to start their business in 2018.
In the early days, their company was run through Instagram. However, over time they realized that using social media platforms just wasn't cutting it.
After that, they launched their own website and mobile app thus cementing their online presence.
“Doing business online is great as it enables us to have a wide reach, but more and more people started asking us if we have a physical store. Due to the high price of our items, most people want to see it first before spending their money.
“Because of that, we had a small office to accommodate those requests at first, then eventually we decided to open a retail store so that everyone can have a comfortable shopping experience.”
The items that are in stock at Hype Vault are not like those you can find in your ordinary retail store. The items that are on sale here are limited-edition releases either from collaborations between brands, artists, and designers or they are in special colorways, making them rare and highly sought after by streetwear enthusiasts.
“The way the prices are set goes back to the basic rule of economics. The lower the supply, the higher the demand.”
“Even the sizes can affect the prices, there are some sizes that are in demand more than others like sizes between four to seven, which are referred to as ‘base sizes’,” said Aisha.
With their impressive collections of rare items, it can be challenging to source them and stock up their store.
“Our sources come to us in multiple ways, most of them do come from local retail stores and we have people lining up in anticipation of new drops,” said Arpit.
Arpit continues by saying that the connections they have made through the years have been a massive help when it comes to sourcing the items as well.
“We have connections overseas with retailers that give us exclusive access to some of their stocks.”
“Aside from that, we also have a really wide network of individual resellers that we deal with on a day-to-day basis,” he adds.
VERIFIED FOR AUTHENTICITY
Hype Vault pride itself on selling authentic items and all of the items in-store have been through a verification process. They take this aspect seriously as the streetwear market has always been filled with fake or intimation products.
“We prioritize building trust with our customers which is very important for our online store as they cannot see the products before making the purchase.
“We manage to skip most of this problem when we buy directly from the brand’s retail stores and trusted sellers.”
“For the rest, we will make sure they have the required markings and tagging, making sure that they are on point before we display them,” said Arpit.
Arpit did say that the fakes have been getting “good” in recent years which can complicate this process.
Aside from looking at the obvious flaws such as the quality of the stitching, placement of logo, and quality of the materials, he said the number one factor that helps to differentiate them is the smell.
“If you can smell something like petroleum kind of smell, there is a high chance that they are fakes,” said Arpit.
When asked about his opinion on the local streetwear community in Malaysia, Arpit says that Malaysia has one of the best communities and is pretty well known worldwide.
“We have received love and support from the local streetwear enthusiasts, we really appreciate them.
“Having a local streetwear convention like SneakerLah is great for the community as it helps them grow and attract more people into the scene. Even for us at Hype Vault, SneakerLah was the platform we used when we were growing our brand in the early days.
“The community is very excited because the SneakerLah convention is coming back in full swing this September. It’s going to be massive since this will be the first convention ever since the pandemic, we cannot wait,” said Arpit.
To find out more about Hype Vault, check out their website at hypevault.co, their mobile app, and their store at Publika Shopping Gallery, Kuala Lump
