A teenage entrepreneur makes more than £200,000 a year selling vintage boots to Premier League football stars that he delivers to their front door himself.
Will Amis, 18, launched his money-spinning business when he was still at school and has sold classic boots to players from Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham and Manchester United.
His clients include England star Declan Rice, Arsenal’s Ainsely Maitland-Niles and even former England captain John Terry.
Enterprising Will has also sold his vintage boots to Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira, who is currently on loan at Brazilian side Flamenco, as well as Nottingham Forest’s Lyle Taylor and 20-year-old West Ham youth player Dan Chesters - who is a close friend of Will.
Will, from Eltham, south east London, launched his boots business called Classix Collection last August and has a store in Lewisham Shopping Centre.
The 18-year-old said his hobby of searching and collecting classic boots while growing up then became a full-time job.
He said that he wanted to get into the football selling business rather than carry on with education.
For most big orders Will personally drives the boots to the customer and in the case of Andreas Pereira he took the product directly to his house when he player for Manchester United.
He said the midfielder texted him at around midnight and Will was at his door by 11am the next morning with his footwear.
Will said: “It’s crazy, I collected vintage boots and it all started with me just posting them on Instagram and people messaged me asking to buy them and it just spiralled from there. It would have been silly of me not to go for it.
“I always went to school and tried my best. I wasn’t the most talented, so I decided to give myself another option.
“My parents were massively supportive when I decided to get into the football selling business.
“My dad is the one who got me into football as I wore his first-ever pair of boots. Because of him, I realised I liked classic boots, and then from there I started my own collection.
“I started posting photos of classics on Instagram and it took off from there.”
Will sold his first pair of football boots when he was 15 years old after being contacted through Instagram by people asking to buy his boots he posted online.
So many people were contacting him asking for his vintage wears, that by 2018 he decided to turn his hobby into a full-time business opportunity.
After appearing on Channel 4 ’s How to Get Rich programme, Will said his turnover in under a year is more than £200,000.
Will added: “The first professional footballer I’ve sold to was Lyle Taylor and my first Premier League client was Declan Rice.
“Since then, the whole business has just grown. I’ve sold to other players such as Maitland-Niles, John Terry, Marcelo Flores [Arsenal U23 midfielder], Rodrigo De Paul [Athletico Madrid player].”
Will revealed that the most expensive pair of boots he has sold were the Nike Mercurial 1998 for £8,000.
He was also approached by a sports company called Number 10 in Abu Dhabi last year and now sells to the company which then sells his products to players across the globe.
Will said he now wants to grow his business, adding: “I take every day as it comes so I don’t make any future plans.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I’ll keep what I keep doing. See how it lasts.”
Will said he is addicted to football and travels the UK and Europe watching matches, but does not support any one team.
As he also now runs a sport agency, Will is visiting France next week to watch Ghana v Mexico under 23s to scout upcoming talent.
Will advises other children to try their best in school but to explore different ways if “things don’t work out”.
He said: “Try your best in education, if it doesn’t work out there’s always other paths to take.
“Just try your best and that’s all you can do. If one thing doesn’t work, don’t give up and keep going, then try the next thing.”
