Trainer collector turns his passion into a career

A man who has collected nearly 1,000 pairs of trainers said his love of sports shoes has helped him make a career.

Morgan Weekes, from Woking, Surrey, bought his first pair when his mother sent him to buy a pair of school shoes but he spent the money on trainers instead.

"I obviously got told off greatly when I got home" he told BBC Radio Surrey, "but that started the fascination with sport footwear."

He now runs a business dedicated to collectible trainers, and has appeared as an expert on BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow.

He said the trade in collectible shoes has taken off in the last decade.

"Trainers how we would know them today came about in the 80s" he said, "but even as close as 2012 we've seen huge leaps in popularity, with people not just collecting trainers, but actually selling them and creating whole businesses off the back of it.

"I was on Antiques Roadshow as one of their experts, so I had to showcase some of my collection, some of the more high value and harder to find pairs.

"That was great, to share my passion and interest with such a wide audience."

Diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD, he said he struggled at school, but turned his passion into a profession.

"We tend to go a bit of a different route with our careers and it really helps if there's something you love and you can focus on," he said.

"I started out running footwear events for people to buy and sell shoes and that led to a job consulting for brands, talking about upcoming trends and archiving and documenting footwear.

"I cover everything from old shoes, boat shoes, and the latest performance footwear."

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