The process
Seven steps from a photo on your phone to a restored pair back in your hands. You approve the price at step four — before anyone collects anything.
Six angles from your phone. The app runs a sharpness, exposure and framing check on each shot before it accepts it — a bad photo produces a bad grade, so we stop it at the camera rather than downstream. The last angle is the tongue label: we read the style code off it and pre-fill the model, colorway and year for you to confirm in one tap.
Four attributes — sole wear, creasing, discoloration and structural integrity — each scored 0–100 against a written standard. The overall score is weighted arithmetic on those four, not somebody's impression, and it maps to an A–D grade. You see every score and the photo it came from.
Your photos and grade go to vetted Chicago shops. They bid on the actual pair. The grade is an aid for them, never a contract term — they're quoting on what they can see.
You see the bids and pick one. Nothing is charged and nothing moves until you accept a price.
We come to you in the Chicago metro. Your pair goes into a numbered tamper-evident bag in front of you, and the sealed bag is photographed with its serial visible. Every handoff after that repeats the same ritual — seal state recorded, serial in the frame, both people confirm. Property never moves on a timeout — only money and photo approval do. Pickup and return is part of the quote you already approved — no surprise line at the door.
Your payment is held rather than paid out. The shop does the work and photographs the result.
You approve the finished photos first. The pair is sealed in a fresh numbered bag, and the shop is paid when that sealed bag leaves their hands. You check the seal on delivery and the job closes.
The four attributes
One number for a whole sneaker can't be argued with and can't be acted on. Split into four weighted attributes, every part of the score points at a specific thing a shop can do something about — and at a photograph proving it.
Each attribute has written anchors for every band of its 0–100 scale, so two different graders looking at the same pair land in the same place. The four are weighted and combined into a score out of 100, which maps to A, B, C or D. We measure that agreement rather than assuming it.
30%15%25%30%The awkward case
It happens. A photo can hide a split seam or a soaked insole. The shop can request a re-quote — but they have to show you why, with evidence photos of what they found.
This is deliberate. Grading will never be perfect, so instead of pretending it is, we built the workflow so an imperfect grade costs you nothing.
And if the grade says a pair really is past saving, you find that out too — a low grade points you to Re•Fuse, and you can hand over the whole pile: wearable pairs get donated, the rest get recycled properly, not landfilled.
We're starting in Chicago. Leave your details and we'll tell you when we can reach you.