ghostwrite, the first true collectible brand, launches August 13, 2024 with its first publicly-available product release. Founded by Josh Luber, visionary co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, two of the fastest-growing and influential companies in the burgeoning Hype Economy, ghostwrite sits at the intersection of culture and commerce, with the aim of elevating collectible toys to the same level of relevance achieved by sneakers and trading cards.

The Product

Founded in 2022, ghostwrite spent nearly a full year designing and perfecting the toy itself. Over the last 14 months, they have created a series of Friends and Family and promotional ghosts that tell the story of partner brands, including Eastside Golf, adidas x Clot, Jackson Wang, Mike Amiri, and SSENSE. There are currently ghosts on display at a number of boutiques and leading cultural spaces, such as Zero Bond, Urban Necessities, and Toy Tokyo. Now, with their public launch, collectors can buy ghosts for the very first time.

ghostwrite toys are called ‘ghosts’. Like other “platform toys”, all ghosts share a uniform silhouette that is built specifically for collaboration. ghosts have no name, face, or gender: rather, they are a platform for storytelling.

“Our figure isn’t a character. It’s a canvas. ghosts tell stories. Some ghosts tell our own story, but most ghosts will tell the stories of the artists and brands that we love – the stories that matter in culture today” – Josh Luber

In the coming weeks and months, ghostwrite will launch a series of collaborative releases with brands on the leading edge of culture, including Rocky’s Matcha, Eastside Golf, the NBA, WNBA, and MLB

Pictured above are the first three public ghostwrite releases

The Vision

The company’s vision goes far beyond storytelling and collaboration. ghostwrite draws on insights and innovation from the broader Hype Economy to create products and tell stories that are truly collectible, with the same relevance now enjoyed by sneakers and trading cards.

The vision that animates ghostwrite is the same vision that animated Luber’s previous two companies: StockX, the leading current culture marketplace, and Fanatics Collectibles, the leading trading card manufacturer. ghostwrite is backed by many of the same investors, including Michael Rubin, Mark Wahlberg, Scooter Braun, along with Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund (led by Steve Case, and including Ted Leonsis) – all of whom were early investors in either StockX, Fanatics Collectibles, or both. Leading figures in the culture/commerce space – like Rocky Xu (founder of Rocky’s Matcha) Gabe Whaley (founder of MSCHF), Gary Vaynerchuk, and Jackson Wang – have also invested in ghostwrite.

From Day 1, StockX will serve as the official resale partner of ghostwrite, with the goal of providing a seamless integration of primary and secondary markets. When a new release sells out on ghostwrite, it will be immediately available to buy and sell on StockX, and the two companies will deepen their integrations in the near future.

The Goal: Make Toys As Big As Sneakers and Cards

Over the last decade, the sneaker and trading card markets have experienced spectacular growth, and ghostwrite believes that by applying the lessons learned from those booms, collectible toys can be elevated to a place of equal relevance.

At a macro level, the trends that propelled the sneaker and trading card booms are already manifest in the collectible toy space. Today, collectible toys are sold at sneaker and streetwear boutiques; card breakers open blind box toys right alongside cases of basketball and baseball cards; the products are authenticated by the same grading companies, resold on the same secondary markets, and treated as alternative assets by the same generation of collectors. ghostwrite will both harness and accelerate these already-existing trends, leveraging technology to create the first true collectible brand.

This begins with ghostwrite’s Blind Dutch Auction pricing platform, which allows the forces of supply and demand to set a fair market price for new ghosts. “At StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, we pioneered the use of the Blind Dutch Auction model, believing it was the ideal way to sell high-demand, low-supply products like sneakers and trading cards. Now, at ghostwrite, we will use a Blind Dutch Auction platform to sell ghosts”. – Josh Luber

Pictured above is the ghostwrite “No. 2 Pencil”: a Friends & Family ghost that sold via Blind Dutch Auction in May (clearing price: $417).

ghostwrite knows that collectibility doesn’t begin and end at the point of sale: it also depends on how the product sits within the broader ecosystem – from authentication to grading to resale. And so, ghostwrite has designed a product that fits seamlessly into that ecosystem.

All 400% (11”) ghosts feature a built-in NFC chip, allowing collectors to easily verify the authenticity of their ghosts. ghostwrite packaging is designed to be easily graded, and ghostwrite has further integrations planned with major grading companies.

“Everything about our toys – from design and distribution, to authentication and resale, to how we manage and communicate scarcity – is intended to maximize long-term collectibility and value. As a collector myself, I know that the words ‘collectible’ and ‘limited edition’ and ‘rare’ are used so often they’ve become practically meaningless. Yet, ghosts really are all those things. They are Uncommon” – Josh Luber

Over the last decade, sneakers and trading cards have achieved unparalleled cultural relevance and scale, and by applying the lessons of their success, ghostwrite will not only build a great brand, but also elevate the collectible product category to the center of culture.

For more information:

www.ghostwrite.com

@_ghostwrite_