A veteran has told of how he turned his hobby into success after he lost his job right before the pandemic. Steven Spence, who was previously in the Irish Guards, worked in maintenance for a Royal British Legion hotel that served as a respite place for serving and ex-personnel.
The 31-year-old, who is obsessed with Adidas trainers, was made redundant just before the pandemic hit in February 2020 and struggled to find work. He started cleaning trainers for friends and family and began creating customised designs.
His work caught on - and now he’s producing customised kicks for customers around the world, including Hattersley-raised boxer Ricky Hatton. “It was so hard to get a job when Covid hit, no one was employing,” Stevie tells the Manchester Evening News.
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“I was shoved to go full-time. Before, it was a weekend hobby for myself and friends. But because I had so much time I just put all my eggs in one basket and went full pelt.”
For the past 10 years, Stevie has been adding to a prized collection of Adidas trainers and has always kept them in pristine condition. He's too scared to count, he admits, but Stevie estimates he owns around 50 pairs.
The father-of-one had no formal training in restoring trainers but watched hours and hours of YouTube videos to learn how to do it. “This was my only source of income so I had to make it work,” Stevie adds.
Named Sneakers Reborn, his business was formed. Stevie made his own website and social media pages to promote his work, and interest started to grow.
A turning point was when he created a trainer to raise money for NHS Charities Together - at a time when people were clapping every Thursday for ‘NHS heroes’ for their efforts in fighting the deadly virus. “The first big likes and shares were when I did a pair for the NHS and raffled them off to raise money,” Stevie explains.
“It gathered so much traction and so many different customers. Everyone was sharing and liking, then saw my other things.”
Common personalisation requests include designs dedicated to sports teams, bands, and famous sitcoms. Sometimes, customers will just want their old trainers sprucing up with a good clean or Stevie will create his own design to sell to the masses.
Among the trainers shipped off across the UK and across the world, from Australia to America, Stevie has produced a pair for the World's Strongest Man winner, Tom Stoltman, who is a size 17. He created an Only Fools and Horses pair for Ricky Hatton and just this week has completed a new design for the Hitman, incorporating his Manchester gym logo.
Stevie also produces special sneakers of sentimental value, having produced a black Manchester bee pair to honour the 22 lives lost at the Manchester Arena bombing. On Facebook, customer Scott Hendry said of the design: “Can’t wait for these to arrive, my 4th pair from you as a gift from my wife but these by far the most special.
"I was at the concert with my daughter and cannot help but feel lucky and wanted to acknowledge the memory of the 22 that we will never forget”. Meanwhile, the parents of George Thompson - the teenager who tragically died in an incident at Gatley train station last year - asked Stevie to create a custom pair to ensure their son’s memory lives on, which included his beloved Stockport County getting promoted and a tongue print portrait.
“They are absolutely perfect. We will treasure them," mum Caroline Thompson wrote on Facebook underneath a photograph of the pair. “People come to me with ideas and I make it happen,” says Stevie, who does all the design work and printing from a spare bedroom at his home in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
“I’ve had to get it wrong so many times to get it right,” he laughs. Although the trainer enthusiast feels he had no other option but to become self-employed, two years on, he says the job doesn’t even feel like work.
On the flip side, it’s all-consuming. "If I had a normal 9-5, I could switch off, go on holiday, but with this it’s impossible," Stevie says.
“I’ll see something on TV and then think ‘that would be a good idea’ or I’m always in calls or emails to customers. But it doesn’t feel like a job because I enjoy doing it."
Prices range widely for Stevie's expertise and depend on shipping costs, design, or whether they simply need bringing back to life. For enquiries on trainer restoration with Sneakers Reborn, head to Sneakersreborn11 on Facebook.
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