Meet the Leeds entrepreneur who founded rare trainer store King of Kicks when he was just a teenager

Theo is the founder of King of Kicks, an e-commerce shop specialising in rare trainers.

The son of a market trader, Theo started buying and selling when he was nine years old and both his brothers are entrepreneurs.

He always hoped to follow in their footsteps and after selling eggs at his dad’s market stall and dabbling in scrap metalling, he began to buy and sell shoes from outlet stores.

It was something he was passionate about and his brother encouraged him to take the business full time.

Theo told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I locked myself away for a few years and I was constantly buying and selling - reinvesting everything into the business.

“I was stacking stuff in my room at the end of my bed.

“It started with four boxes of shoes, then it went to eight, then 12. Then that pile started falling over, so I started a new one.

“There was a point where I had a path from my door to my bed, with stuff on either side.”

Theo moved his business into his parents’ spare room, then the basement, before taking on his first office in Bradford when he was 19.

He’s since outgrown two further offices and now runs the business from a “top dog” headquarters in Leeds.

Theo said: “This market is absolutely huge, but the amount of ‘proper’ sellers is very small.

“People think that just because they’ve got something that’s worth £400, they can sell it however they want to sell it - if it’s late or the box is damaged, it doesn’t matter to them.

“People are spending a lot of money and you need to give a good item that's hard to find, as well as offering proper returns and payment plans, and better customer service.

“I think people feel the difference with us.”

King of Kicks specialises in rare trainers, including Yeezys, Air Max and Jordans, as well as offering clothing for men and women.

Theo is constantly refining his online store, down to the smallest detail, and hopes to make the shopping experience to the standard of “top level retail”.

He has just one member of full time staff and it’s a round-the-clock commitment as he grows the brand.

Theo added: “You’ve got to be game for it, your full life changes. It’s not something you can put on pause.

“You have to live a certain way when you run a business that’s so demanding. It forces you to live better, to be a better person.

“You’re more conscious of your time management and habits.”

Theo shared his advice for other budding entrepreneurs.

“The key to getting ahead is starting now,” he said.

“Everybody who starts a business doesn’t know what they’re doing straight away. Everybody has produced work that they’re embarrassed about early on.

“But they just started and kept going. You have to get obsessed with it.

“It’s satisfying to see something grow and look back and think, ‘I created that’.”