Soletron was a social networking and ecommerce platform in lifestyle retail verticals. It is headquartered in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

and holds offices in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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, and

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. Their revenue model is similar to

Etsy Etsy, Inc. is an American e-commerce company focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor and furniture, toys, art, as well as craft ...

Formation

Soletron was founded in September 2010 by former Merrill Lynch bankers A.J. Steigman and Shane Robinson with the goal of becoming a social networking and ecommerce company. In March 2011 they launched their blog and their app debuted in October 2011. Their ecommerce platform was established in December 2011. Soletron Founders

General information

The Soletron platform is designed to facilitate the interaction between consumers and independent brands. Soletron has a structure similar to Etsy as it does not hold any inventory. Sellers sign up through the website to post their inventory online. Soletron brings a social element to retail as users can create profiles to follow brands or other members. They can also favorite products and share them with the online community. Soletron features a lifestyle blog meant to keep their visitors up to date on sneakerhead trends. Soletron is known for launching the first ever

sneakerhead Sneaker collecting is the acquisition and trading of sneakers as a hobby. It is often manifested by the use and collection of shoes made for particular sports, particularly basketball and skateboarding. A person involved in sneaker collecting is so ...

comic book as part of their marketing efforts and have been deemed a source of authority for the community. They cater mainly to sneakerheads and streetwear consumers, that are between the ages of 15-25. In November 2012, the company transitioned into a full content platform for the youth community. Soletron was acquired in July 2014, by its industry leader and the world's largest global streetwear retailer

Karmaloop Karmaloop is a streetwear e-commerce company. It was founded in 2000 by Greg Selkoe and purchased by Shiekh Shoes in 2016. History Karmaloop was founded in 2000 by Greg Selkoe in his parents' basement in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of Boston, ...

, for an undisclosed amount.

Statistics

Soletron hosts as many as 300,000 unique monthly visitors and makes 9,000,000 impressions per month. This company has an online presence in over 200 countries. As of February 2013, the company had over 200,000 Twitter followers and 100,000 Facebook fans.

Brands

Nooka and Dunkelvolk are two among dozens of brands featured on Soletron's e-commerce platform. Through these brands, they currently have over 1,200 products available on the site.

Advisory board

Soletron's advisory board consists of the following individuals: *

Bruce Chizen Bruce R. Chizen (born 1956) is an American technology executive. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Adobe Systems from 2000 to 2007. Education Chizen earned a B.S. from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) in 1978. Career ...

(Former CEO of Adobe Systems) * Santonio Holmes (Super Bowl

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

and current member of the New York Jets) *Tom Austin (Founder of

AND1 AND1 is an American footwear and clothing company specializing in basketball shoes, clothing, and sporting goods. AND1 was founded on August 13, 1993. The company focuses strictly on basketball and is a subsidiary of Sequential Brands Group. It s ...

) *John Friedman (Founder of Easton Capital) *Bob Rice (Founder of Tangent Capital and

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ...

Contributor)

Press and accolades

Soletron has been highlighted in CNBC, Reuters, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and Bloomberg TV.

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida