DOWNEY - Although popular, there are not many hobbies more competitive and expensive than collecting shoes. Downey resident Jaden Andalon is trying to help that.

It was an idea thought of while the 23-year-old was lying in bed, watching a similar raffle event.

“I started Pluto Sneakers just a month ago. It’s basically a raffle sneaker page that I started on Instagram for people who don’t want to buy sneakers at the high resell price, which ranges anywhere from $200 to thousands of dollars,” said Andalon. “I buy sneakers and I raffle them off. It’s a 10-person raffle system.”

“I’ve been into the fashion / sneaker game since high school, and I’ve been following pages. I would be watching in bed, people doing these raffles, and people paying anywhere from $100 to $160 per slot, and I though I could do a better price for that. I was laying down in bed, looking at my shoes, and I was like ‘I need to start something.’ So, the next day I started a sneaker page, I raffled off a pair of my shoes I never wore, and from there I started buying more shoes and raffling.”

Andalon watches trends and websites to determine which shoe styles to target. Once he has a shoe for the Pluto Sneakers page, hopefuls pay $40 for one of 10 spots. When raffle time comes, Andalon goes live on Instagram and spins a wheel on his computer to determine a winner.

While he admits that participation is a gamble, he says that those who participate have fun while potentially winning a pair of nice shoes for a steal of a price.

“You can buy the shoe for $400, or you can win a pair of shoes for $40,” said Andalon. “If you’re on the Instagram live, I promise you’re going to have a lot of fun. I’ve gotten plenty of responses in my DM’s saying, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, your attitude and you as a person makes me want to go in more.’”

“I’m doing it more for the people that love shoes but don’t want to buy it for a high price.”

In fact, he’s really not making much profit himself, putting in around $2,000 of his own funds and profiting only about $700 so far. And for now, that’s okay.

“I’m not making too much money right now, but it’s all for fun in my eyes,” said Andalon.

Pluto Sneakers can be found on Instagram at @pluto3sneakers.

Downey resident raffles sneakers at a bargain