A North East trainer king who turned over £1m in his first full year in business after graduating is now getting a further boost from department store chain Fenwick.
Ollie Simpson launched The Sole Scene and its website solescene.com three years ago, turning his rare trainer hobby into a business after buying and selling to his classmates ever since he was a teenager.
The Northumbria University graduate put his studies into practice throughout his three-year course, and spent the final months of his degree in Entrepreneurial Business Management juggling studies with growing the business - even bringing in sales of more than £500,000 while a final year student.
READ MORE: Go here for more retail news
Since graduating – with a first class honours degree – the 23-year-old has moved from his student flat in Heaton, Newcastle, to his home near Yarm, Teesside, where he has focused on growing the business, setting up new offices in Middlesbrough and taking on his first members of staff.
Now The Sole Scene has its own pop-up concession in Fenwick where 25 of the firm’s top models are currently on display for sale. Mainly Nike, they start at £200 a pair and go up to as much as £950, for the very rare off-white Nike Blazers.
Mr Simpson said: “Fenwick got in touch with us. One of our customers has a concession in Fenwick with their jeweller’s and he put us forward.
“We’ve got around 25 of our top models and means customers can go in and purchase all the limited edition sneakers everyone wants to get their hands on, it’s a chance for customers to pick it up, feel it and try it on which they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do with an online business.”
The young entrepreneur was initially among the trainer enthusiasts camping outside of End. in Newcastle, ahead of the release of sought-after limited edition trainers.
Thanks to growing his own contacts, he now gets access to some of the rarest trainers on the planet, some of which go for in excess of £10,000 a pair - and he’s more likely to be found personally delivering trainers to his player customers at clubs.
Former England and Chelsea captain John Terry was an early customer, and current loyal customers include top-flight football players including Newcastle United winger Matt Ritchie, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson, formor Boro player Ben Gibson, who is now at Norwich, and Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
In the last year The Sole Scene has seen its brand awareness rocket, helping to grow its UK customer base. And in his first full year of trading since graduating, the business brought in more than £1m in sales.
He said Brexit and the introduction of trade fees has priced out many overseas markets, but he has a good market in Dubai as well as customers in the US.
He said: “In the last year or so we’ve just got bigger and better. We’re no longer operating from a bedroom and have offices and warehousing in Middlesbrough, and I’ve had to take on two more staff too to help. Our customer base is already national but we’re now growing on a bigger scale and growing the brand name.
“Even if we don’t make lots of sales at Fenwick it will be huge for the brand and is just great for brand awareness. This will boost our online sales and will be good for our customers to see us partnered with Fenwick and it just adds that extra layer of legitimacy to the company when there are so many replica products in the market that are that expansive, it helps to show you’re a reputable company."
The pop up can be found on the ground floor of Fenwick Newcastle.
