A young entrepreneur has combined his studies with a £500,00-a-year business that developed from his love for rare trainers.
Ollie Simpson has recently graduated with a first class degree in entrepreneurial business management from Northumbria University in Newcastle.
He combined his degree with setting up and running The Sole Scene, which sources rare trainers and sells them to clients that include Premier League footballers.
Former England and Chelsea captain John Terry was an early customer and he has also sold trainers to top-flight football players including Newcastle United’s Matt Ritchie, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
In the 12 weeks of his degree he worked around the clock to complete his dissertation and keep up with orders, all from the confines of his student bedroom in Heaton, Newcastle.
Last month alone he celebrated a record-breaking month, bringing in sales of £116,000 and a sizeable profit he can now use to celebrate his first class degree.
Now, he is moving back in with his parents in Yarm, Teesside, to plot his next move, which includes plans to create a North East base and take on staff to help grow the business and its reach.
He said: “June was a record-breaking month for the business, with figures I could have only dreamed of when I started the business out of my bedroom in university halls in Heaton.
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“I’ve been buying and selling since I was in school – I was that kid who sold sweets and chocolate at break time – and I started trading trainers when I was about 14 but it was always just to fund my own personal collection. At college it was just for beer money.
“It wasn’t until I started university in 2017 when I branded and created Solescene.com, set up social media accounts that I started taking it seriously, and then created the website in 2018.
“The business has had sales of over £500,000 in the last 12 months. £200,000 of that was over the last 10 weeks, which made for a very stressful dissertation. I was working on my dissertation from 7am to 9am, then working on the business until 7pm, every day.”
When starting out, Ollie was among the trainer enthusiasts camping outside of End. in Newcastle, ahead of the release of a particuarly sought-after limited edition trainer.
Now, he’s more likely to be found personally delivering trainers to his player customers at clubs.
“I used to queue at End. in the early days, but now it’s not worth it because you can only get one pair per customer,” he said.
“I once queued for a week for a special release. Now, I have contacts in the industry so can get a lot more pairs of a particular release - I’ve been involved in trainers since I was 13 so I’ve built up a lot of contacts in that time.
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“They can go for more than £10,000. I’ve just got some yesterday - a Nike and Dior collaboration - and they start at £10,000 a pair through me. That’s a very special case.
“I’ve also sold a pair of Adidas Paris trainers released some years ago, one of only 20 pairs ever made, which go for more than £2,000 now.
“People have never been more bothered about what’s on their feet. Every year I think the sector can’t get any bigger, but it does. There are groups on Facebook with thousands of people who can’t get enough of it.”
After celebrating his degree mark, Ollie is now focusing on growing the business.
He added: “Now I’ve finished the degree I’m moving back in with my parents in Yarm, which makes sense because I can save money to use on the business.
“At the moment the business is run solely by myself and it can be really stressful during busy periods, although I’ll be soon be in a position to employ someone.
“I’d like to be able to grow to a substantial size where I’m able to employ numerous people and contribute to the local economy.”