“Finally,” then 13-year-old Noah Sapiro said to himself. The Nike Air More Uptmepo Doernbecher ‒‒ a special edition shoe designed by a patient at the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital ‒‒ had just come out as a raffle prize on Nike’s website. 

For weeks, Sapiro had been waiting for this pair of shoes to hit the market. He considered its quality, studied its design, and after weeks of extensive research, Sapiro entered the raffle to claim a pair of the shoes for himself.  

A raffle like this wasn’t easy to win. Over a thousands entries had been placed, and only a dozen would be selected as winners. Yet only hours after entering, Sapiro received a shocking text notification from Nike. “Got em!” it read. He had won the raffle — the shoes were his!

At first, Sapiro wore the shoes with pride; he couldn’t keep them off his feet. But the more he wore them, the less special they began to feel. Not knowing what to do, Sapiro turned to reselling. He put his shoes up for bid on StockX, a popular reselling website, and was ecstatic when a user bought them for $320. Immediately, the simplicity of reselling and the ability to make easy cash fascinated Sapiro. 

“At the time, I wanted to make some money and had a little bit of a work ethic, but didn’t know where to place my efforts,” Sapiro said. “Once I found out about reselling and how the market works, I didn’t hesitate to start buying and selling items.”

Now a high school junior, Sapiro turns a profit through the reselling business. He markets a variety of items, from streetwear brands like Supreme and Palace to designer brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. But Sapiro doesn’t do it for the money alone; reselling has introduced him to the fashion and design industry, he said. 

“The more I resold, the more knowledge I gained about fashion,” Sapiro said. “I think reselling kind of sparked my love for fashion.”

  Throughout middle and high school, Sapiro has used his style as a means of expressing himself. Sapiro sells his own articles through his business and uses the profits to adjust his wardrobe. Since Sapiro rarely wears the same outfit twice, his closet is a revolving door of outfits.

With the threat of scammers and unprotected websites, Sapiro’s parents had concerns about their son’s participation in the reselling business. But their doubts have since vanished, said Saprio’s mother Susan Delle Donne.

“We’re really proud of what Noah has been able to do with reselling,” Delle Donne said. “It’s incredible to see how passionate he’s become for fashion and how much success he’s had through it.”

Around school, Sapiro is known for his stand out fashion sense. Most high school students, Sapiro explained, wear athletic clothing from brands such as Nike or Adidas. Sapiro’s outfits, however, distinguish themselves from traditional teenage fashion.

“He’s always wearing the craziest things,” junior Zak Owen said. “But even when he wears a bizarre outfit, he pulls it off.”

A typical Sapiro outfit might consist of an expensive pair of boots, ripped jeans and a flashy button down shirt. His outfits are anything but ordinary for a highschooler — but that’s his intention.

“I never liked the norm for clothing, so I chose to dress differently,” Sapiro said. “But when you don’t fit the norm, you tend to stick out from the crowd.”

Sapiro has grown accustomed to standing out, but this wasn’t always the case, he said. In eighth grade, Sapiro wore an expensive Supreme shoulder bag to school. He spent months saving up money for the bag, but when he decided to wear it to school for the first time, other students weren’t as appreciative of the choice as he had hoped. Throughout the day, Sapiro’s style drew mockery and snide comments.

“Nice purse!” one student said sarcastically as they walked by Sapiro in the hallway.

Years later, Sapiro still thinks about that day, one of several times he felt uncomfortable and even embarrassed because of his sense of style.

“There have been countless times where I’ve felt pressure to fit in and wear something less attention-grabbing,” Sapiro said. “I even had friends telling me, ‘Oh, I’d never wear that.’”

No matter how discouraged Sapiro feels, snide comments have never stopped him from continuing to express himself through his attire. 

“I eventually just realized that I like what I’m doing and I’m gonna stick with it, so why should I really care what people think?” he said. “Having that mentality helped me get through the hate.”

In December 2018, the designer and creator of the clothing brand Ivan Kirzonov, Nick Ferguson, reached out to Sapiro to model for their newest collection. Although Sapiro was hesitant at first, Ferguson eventually convinced him to participate in the photoshoot. 

Ferguson, along with a professional photographer, brought Sapiro to a construction site where they spent hours trying on different outfits, shooting from different angles, and walking Sapiro through his first modeling expereince. Sapiro was mesmerized with the results, and gained a new perspective of the fashion world he had yet to explore: photography. 

“Since that photoshoot, I’ve started taking pictures of myself and having my own photoshoots,” he said. “I really took a lot from the fashion photography and implemented it into my own shots.”

Sapiro encourages other teenagers to explore different clothing styles. At a stage in life where many are concerned about what others think about them, experimenting with new styles and designs both fosters self-confidence and creativity, he said. 

“I think it’s important to be able to express yourself however you want,” Sapiro said. “I think a lot of people could appreciate streetwear or other fashion styles if they just gave it a chance.”