Poshmark is according to its own literature, ” a leafing social marketplace for new and secondhand style for women, men, kids, pets, hime and more.”
Wednesday the company announced the acquisition of Suede One, a virtual sneaker authentication platform. Poshmark said the purchase was part of the company’s effort to actuate growth in in popular secondhand goods categories and strengthen the user experience for both buyers and sellers.
Founded in 2020 by Matt Forloine, Suede One uses machine learning, computer vision and human experts to authenticate sneakers. Product images are analyzed, and algorithms focus on “consistencies to identify whether an item is real or counterfeit,” according to the company. According to tear own internal testing, can authenticate sneakers with an accuracy rate above 99 percent. One of their most noteworthy achievements was authenticating a pair of prototype Nike Air Yezzy I’s that sold at auction for $ 1.8 million.
“We built this company to solve a key challenge for the reseller community — creating technology that protects them from fraud and ensures fast, accurate authentication that they can rely on. Poshmark and Suede One share the same values of trust and focus on community, and by joining forces we’ll be able to advance our technology and scale these services to more products and categories and benefit as many people as possible.”
Matt Forloine, chief executive officer of Suede One.
The newly acquired Suede One will complemet Poshmark’s refund guarantee, Posh Protect as well as its Posh Authentic service, which utilizes a team of specialists to verify orders greater than %400.
“We are laser focused on making strategic investments that fuel the continued growth of our business, give the best overall experience for buyers and make our marketplace the number one, most trusted destination for sellers. Suede One has built impressive capabilities in virtual authentication that will allow us to deliver tangible benefits to our community, scale our authentication services in a meaningful way, and accelerate our momentum in sneakers as well as luxury goods, two of the fastest-growing categories in the resale space.”
Manish Chandra, Poshmark founder and CEO
With this acquisition it is appears that Poshmark is looking to develop and expand its foothold in the sneaker resale markets., as they are joining such other secondary markets such as eBay, GOAT and StockX that offer authentication services.
