“We made thrifting cool again by building a community and a culture around it”

ALIFYA SOHAIL: Tell us the origin story of Swag Kicks.

NOFAL KHAN: There is a personal story behind Swag Kicks. When I was in school, one of my co-founders (he was a childhood friend) used to take me to his dad’s warehouse. His dad was involved in the pre-loved trade, importing containers similar to the ones that supply traditional landa bazaars in Pakistan. We would open the containers and find all kinds of shoe brands, like Air Jordans and Nikes. At the time you could not just walk into a Nike store and buy a pair of Jordans, and even if you could, the cost would have been Rs 60,000 to 70,000, which wasn’t something I could afford coming from a middle-class background. I have always been into shoes, but buying expensive new sneakers was not an option. I used to ask relatives abroad to bring me shoes, but I never knew what I would end up getting. I started hunting through my friend’s containers and ended up with some really cool sneakers and suddenly we were the coolest kids in school. I then noticed more and more people asking me where I got my shoes and I realised there was a huge demand for quality sneakers in Pakistan, especially among young people. So, we set out to democratise access to Jordans and Nikes by digitising the landa bazaar experience and removing the stigma around second-hand shopping.

AS: How have consumer attitudes towards second-hand clothing changed since Swag Kicks began?

NK: Landa bazaars are packed with people looking for deals on used clothes, but they are looked at as a ‘poor man’s solution’. It was never cool or aspirational. Swag Kicks changes that perception. We are not just selling second-hand clothes; we are selling an experience. That buying preloved items is not about settling for less – it is about making a conscious choice for something that has character. Our branding and storytelling play a big role in this. People associated second-hand with low quality, but once we started curating, showcasing and building a brand around thrifting, the narrative started to shift. Today, people don’t just shop with us for affordability; they shop for the thrill of discovery. We have positioned thrifting as not only sustainable but as something cool, aspirational and trendy.

AS: How did you make thrifting ‘cool again’?

NK: Coming from a marketing agency background, I realised that we needed to build an in-house marketing team and then focus on creating a brand rather than just marketing individual shoes. We knew we could not market individual products the way a traditional brand does, so we decided to create a culture around Swag Kicks. I took inspiration from brands like Coca-Cola and Red Bull that sell their product by building a lifestyle around it. We collaborated with break dancers, the basketball crowd and even mountaineers in Islamabad. We gave these communities a platform, adopted their vibe and made it part of our brand identity. Then we started engaging with the younger population. We identified where they hung out on social media and what topics they were interested in. For instance, a kid in Faisalabad might be into Quick Style. So we began collaborating with hip-hop artists in Karachi and Lahore, promoting them on our socials, and essentially aligning Swag Kicks with the cultural moments and movements that our audience cares about. We made thrifting cool again by building a community and a culture around it.

AS: Have inflation and boycott movements impacted your ability to source from global brands?

NK: Thrift cycles have an inbuilt time lag, so the effects of any current boycott will not be felt in our inventory until next year. The immediate issue is inflation and the dollar-rupee parity. We buy everything in dollars and prices have essentially doubled. If we pass that cost to our customers, it becomes a problem because people are still very price-sensitive. A preloved pair of Nikes for six to seven thousand rupees makes sense, but if it jumps to Rs 10,000-11,000, it is not appealing anymore. We have tried selling cheaper shoes for Rs 2,500-3,000, but they do not last as the quality is already degraded and this ends up hurting our brand image. It is a constant struggle to figure out where to position ourselves. Right now, we are leaning toward sticking with shoes priced around six to seven thousand rupees, but it is a tough market to navigate. One of the reasons we are investing in our SaaS product is to create something in Pakistan that we can export globally and that will help us manage the impact on our direct-to-consumer (D2C) business.

AS: How does Swag Kicks give back to the local economy?

NK: The best way of giving back is by investing heavily in local talent, and we have worked with artists, musicians and athletes – people who might not have the means to afford expensive gear. There is an athlete in Sukkur who cannot afford $200 shoes, but he buys a particular pair of Asics from us; this is the kind of impact we are making. We are democratising access to quality products and providing sustainable options. We are also creating opportunities within our own team. Our Shopify manager started out packing boxes in the warehouse. Over the years, he learnt data skills, SQL and Python, and he is now enrolled in a computer science programme and on track to becoming a data engineer. This is just one example and we have hundreds of stories like this. We are empowering people at every level, giving them opportunities to grow and build better futures.

AS: How does Swag Kicks differentiate itself from competitors?

NK: The key differentiator is our customer and user experience. Since we are all sourcing similar products, there is no real product distinction. What sets us apart is how we communicate our brand story and interact with our customers online. Many thrift stores focus on being cheap and appealing; we wanted to move away from that narrative. We conducted research to understand who our customers are and found that a lot of young people relate to the message behind Swag Kicks. It was surprising to learn that half the classrooms in institutions like the Karachi Grammar School shop with us. This trickle-down effect means that if aspirational groups embrace us, it eventually spreads to others, regardless of social class. We nailed that approach, focusing on the quality of the experience rather than affordability.

AS: You said you want Swag Kicks to become the biggest thrift brand in the world. Are you on track to make that happen?

NK: Our ultimate goal is not just to become the biggest D2C thrift brand in the world, but to be the leading force in digitising thrift globally. Although we are focused on D2C, we have also cracked supply, ensuring consistent, reliable access to quality products and we were the first to do this effectively. However, the bigger vision lies in our SaaS product and consultancy, helping other brands navigate the sustainable and preloved market. Global brands like Nike, Adidas and Lululemon are starting to go into resale, especially as European regulations mandate more sustainably sourced materials. However, these big players do not have the expertise or infrastructure to sell used products and this is where we come in. Major brands have approached us for advice on how to sell their own pre-loved items. So, whether it’s through D2C, our SaaS or consultancy, we aim to be the company that digitises thrifting on a global scale. That’s our real ambition, and we are well on track for it.

For feedback: aurora@dawn.com