Senior Mason Tilghman has been selling clothes, shoes and other popular goods since late 2020 on his apparel reselling site, TopCopSneaks.

Tilghman started his entrepreneurial endeavor when he realized he could make money off of reselling Sony PlayStation 5’s (PS5s), which were rapidly increasing in price on the market. He then expanded his product options to include popular and high end streetwear brands.

”In 2020, I really wanted a PlayStation 5 for Christmas and they had just been released so they were very hard to acquire at the time,” Tilghman said. “After I got my own, I noticed that people were reselling them on Facebook Marketplace. I then started to buy them consistently since I was selling them to people on that platform. After that market came down, I’ve been reselling clothing and sneakers.” 

Tilghman sells his items on many different platforms including Facebook Marketplace, GOAT, Stockx, Ebay and Instagram. Tilghman mainly sells online, but he also sells in person to many local resellers.

“I move different inventory more [when using] various sites so I like not relying on one site,” Tilghman said. 

Tilghman maximizes profit by researching fashion trends and buying the product in bulk before popularity spikes. He then turns a profit when he sells the product to a retailer or online.

”With clothing, I’m at a point where I’ve built relationships with different suppliers,” Tilghman said. ”Initially, it was tough finding good prices from a reliable supplier, but I eventually found a few that I buy from consistently. Buying in bulk consistently helps maintain the good relationships I have with my suppliers.” 

Although he began by selling PS5s, Tilghman now focuses much of his effort on shoes and clothing.

“After selling [PS5s] for months, I branched out into sneakers in late 2021,” Tilghman said. “From then, I built relationships with clothing suppliers in early 2022 and have been scaling my clothing reselling since then.”

Tilghman has a wide range of apparel he sells and is mostly committed to a streetwear catalog, with many big name fashion brands selling for hundreds of dollars for a single unit of the product.

“The [brands] I tend to sell the most are Essentials, Bape, Sp5der, Bravest, Travis Scott apparel and Eric Emmanuel,” Tilghman said. “I’ve found these brands to be the most profitable for me.” 

Shrewsbury High School junior Tony Gao purchased a black Essentials hoodie from Tilghman in January 2023 and spoke highly about his purchase.

“I received my package quickly, the hoodie was in perfect condition and I also thought I got the hoodie for a pretty good price, considering what they are selling for now,” Gao said.

Tilghman is committed to the University of Tampa as a business major and hopes to continue reselling in college to cultivate his entrepreneurial experience.

”While reselling clothing isn’t something I want to do for the rest of my life, I do plan to continue in college,” Tilghman said. “It allows me to function similarly to a small business and I find it more meaningful in that it teaches me what it is like to operate a small business.”