The Sneaker Savant

The Origin

In 2009, I agreed to buy a pair of Jordan 9s from a seller I'd only spoken to online. He said they were in great condition. We agreed to meet at Supreme on the Lower East Side. He showed up with a crew of ten guys.

The shoes had holes in the soles.

His version of "great condition" and mine had nothing in common. There was no shared standard - just vibes, trust, and whoever blinked first.

That same year, on the other side: I was selling a pair. The buyer wanted a hundred photos. He asked about every scuff, every crease, every angle. I sent everything. We met up in Chinatown. He picked up the shoes, inspected them, verbally tore them apart - told me they were trash, condition was terrible. Then he bought them anyway. Paid full price. Walked away.

Later he left negative feedback online.

He had every photo. He saw exactly what he was getting. He still went through with it. Then punished me for his own decision.

"I was in the middle - not the guy ignoring holes in the soles, not the guy losing it over invisible scuffs. I realized we needed a benchmark. That's where grading came in."

Those experiences spent five years rattling around. In 2014, when I founded The Sneaker Savant, I built the answer: Shoemetrics - a structured, repeatable method for evaluating pre-worn sneakers across four physical components - upper, midsole, interior, and outsole - each scored independently and combined into a single 1–10 grade.

What is Shoemetrics?

Shoemetrics is a structured, repeatable grading methodology for pre-worn sneakers. Every pair is evaluated across four physical components, each scored independently and combined into a single overall grade on a 1–10 scale with half grades.

Upper

Midsole

Interior

Outsole

Each component area has 20+ potential flaws evaluated at multiple severity levels - a 100+ point inspection that captures everything from creasing and discoloration to sole separation and insole wear. The result is a grade that means the same thing every time, no matter who's buying or selling.

What PSA did for trading cards and CGC did for comics, Shoemetrics does for sneakers.

Learn more about how Shoemetrics evaluates sneakers in our complete guide.

Timeline

2014

Founded The Sneaker Savant. Created the Shoemetrics grading system: a 1–10 scale across four components, built to give buyers and sellers a shared language for sneaker condition.
2017

Began professional sneaker authentication work. Built expertise across thousands of pairs, learning to spot fakes at scale.
2020

Launched 1 To Stock, a collectibles brand. Over 700 unique sneaker card designs created. More than 500,000 cards distributed to collectors worldwide.
2021–2025

Consulted with AI sneaker grading startups including Andrew Medal's Vault and What Are Those?, providing domain expertise on condition assessment and grading methodology. Interviewed with System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan for his proposed sneaker grading venture, Trust Sneaker Grading. Met and discussed sneaker grading with Certified Guaranty Company and Beckett Grading. Worked with OPSkins, Wax.IO, Urban Necessities, and StockX on various projects.
2025

Crossed 100,000 sneakers authenticated and 3,000+ individually graded. Invited to "It's the Stories That Matter," an invite-only sneaker collector gathering in Portland.

JT - Founder, The Sneaker Savant