GOAT's overseas sneaker-resale bet folded — Hong Kong, Japan and UK facilities shut

In July 2019, GOAT Group moved its sneaker-resale operation offshore, opening a distribution center in Hong Kong and a designated office in Shanghai. Co-founder and CEO Eddy Lu framed the expansion as deliberately local: 'We know China is a unique market and if we use the same strategy as the U.S., we'll likely fail. We are building this product with a local team.' The international footprint later stretched to facilities in Japan and the UK.

Six years on, the document went out to sellers. In late September 2025, GOAT told sellers it was making 'operational changes' at several international facilities and shifting how it stored product in certain regions — in practice, ceasing operations at its facilities in Hong Kong, Japan and the UK. Products listed on Alias, the group's subsidiary resale platform, were shipped back to their sellers in early October.

GOAT declined to comment to Complex, which broke the story after Sole Retriever's initial report. The group kept its core marketplace running and launched a discount offshoot, Sneakers.com, the following March — but the 2019 thesis that local teams in Asia and Europe would carry its growth had been wound down by a single memo to sellers.