StockX 2026 Trends: Vans, Women's Basketball and Live Commerce

A resale market that no longer revolves around deadstock trainers

The second-hand fashion and collectibles sector is widening fast, and the latest data from global marketplace StockX makes the shift hard to ignore. Its Big Facts: 2026 Trends report, covering sales between January and October 2026 alongside third-quarter search figures, shows demand spreading well beyond the usual limited-edition sneaker drops into skate footwear, activewear and even live-streamed selling.

For anyone who follows resale as a business rather than a hobby, three themes stand out: the astonishing return of Vans, the commercial weight of women’s basketball, and the early traction of two brand-new formats—live shopping and a dedicated vintage marketplace—just as the Christmas trading period begins.

Vans quadruples its resale volume

Perhaps the most eye-catching number in the report relates to footwear’s heritage skate segment. Vans recorded a 301 per cent year-on-year rise in sales, effectively quadrupling the volume it moves on the platform, while average resale prices climbed 49 per cent. The label rose from being outside the top 100 search terms in 2025 to 22nd place overall.

Collaborative releases did much of the heavy lifting. The Vans OTW Era 95 Satoshi Nakamoto Round Lucky Charm edition averaged a resale price of $656, an illustration of how limited skater silhouettes can now command genuine collector premiums. It is a useful reminder that the resale hierarchy is not fixed: a brand positioned as accessible high-street skatewear one year can be a speculative asset class the next.

Jordan holds steady while women’s basketball moves markets

Jordan Brand posted an 8 per cent overall sales gain, underpinned by the Jordan 5 (up 73 per cent) and the Jordan 4 (up 3 per cent), which retained its place as the brand’s highest-volume silhouette. The more significant story, however, is the emergence of women’s basketball as a measurable commercial force.

Caitlin Clark’s Player Exclusive Kobe 5s accounted for 48 per cent of all Kobe 5 trades in 2026, and the “Caitlin Blue” Caitlin 1 delivered the highest release-day sales of any performance basketball shoe on the platform this year. Put simply, a women’s signature athlete is now shifting trading volume at a scale usually reserved for the men’s game—a signal worth watching for collectors and retailers planning ranges around celebrity-driven demand.

Activewear and new labels take share

In apparel and non-trainer footwear, activewear and newer contemporary names captured meaningful ground. Gymshark sales rose 151 per cent, while Alo Yoga surged by more than 6,000 per cent—a figure that partly reflects a very small starting base but still points to serious secondary-market appetite for studio-to-street clothing.

Emerging streetwear labels scaled quickly too. Newcomer Vale Forever reached fifth place among apparel brands in October with $1.6 million in year-to-date gross merchandise spend, and Mixed Emotion recorded a 3,604 per cent quarter-on-quarter jump between Q2 and Q3.

Crocs also bucked a two-year pattern of declining resale volume, posting a 13 per cent sales increase supported by licensing partnerships with Disney, Lego and One Piece, plus a 48 per cent lift in its Echo line. Unexpected pairings, in other words, remain one of resale’s most reliable growth engines.

Live selling and the circular marketplace

The report also provides the first operational disclosure for two business models introduced in 2026: StockX Live and StockX Listings. The livestream commerce channel generated hundreds of thousands of sales within its first three months, with active users averaging more than an hour per day in the app—engagement numbers that look closer to entertainment than traditional e-commerce.

Meanwhile, the dedicated marketplace for pre-owned and vintage stock saw Jordan retros lead footwear volume, while sports-related merchandise accounted for roughly 30 per cent of vintage apparel orders. Chief executive Greg Schwartz said that combining live entertainment with peer-to-peer vintage formats has deepened customer engagement as the company prepares for seasonal demand in high-velocity categories. Among those is trading cards, where basketball card spend jumped 462 per cent, alongside consumer electronics.

What it means for the fourth quarter

The backdrop matters. As traditional primary retailers navigate promotional pressure and cautious discretionary spending in the final quarter of 2026, StockX’s widening format mix suggests a structural evolution in re-commerce—away from pure-play authentication hubs and towards multi-format social and circular marketplaces.

The Detroit-based company, which runs a global network of verification centres, will lean on these higher-engagement formats through the Christmas shopping cycle before publishing a full-year review in early 2027.

Practical takeaways for buyers and sellers

• Skate is back on the radar. Vans’ jump from outside the top 100 search terms to 22nd shows how quickly a heritage label can re-enter collector consciousness, particularly through limited collaborations.
• Women’s sport is a commercial market. The Kobe 5 PE dynamics and the Caitlin 1 release show signature women’s athletes can drive both trade volume and release-day demand.
• Activewear deserves a watchlist. Gymshark and Alo Yoga are moving strongly in resale, which affects pricing for anyone selling wardrobe clear-outs.
• Vintage and live formats are worth trying. With sports items making up around 30 per cent of vintage apparel orders, second-hand sportswear looks less like clutter and more like inventory.

For British shoppers and sellers, sterling conversions will vary, but the direction of travel is clear: value is migrating towards brands with cultural momentum, and the platforms handling that demand are becoming more social, more circular and more entertainment-led with every quarter.