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Lunch with Sumiko
Being scammed led two Hwa Chong boys to set up sneaker marketplace now valued at US$80m
In 2018, Mr Richard Xia and Mr Chris Xue founded Novelship to connect buyers and sellers of rare sneakers. Mr Xia tells Executive Editor Sumiko Tan how being victims of scams led to their start-up.
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Richard Xia co-founded sneaker and streetwear e-marketplace Novelship in order to allow people to safely buy limited-edition apparel online. So far, it has raised US$23 million in funding, and rapper Snoop Dogg recently became a partner.
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Mr Richard Xia was not the most studious of students at Hwa Chong Institution.
Instead, he was wrapped up in the world of rap, in particular the music of Kanye West and Eminem. He loved their music and he loved their style. “I was asking myself, ‘What’s that T-shirt they’re wearing? Looks so cool, man,’” he remembers.
