UK Sneaker and Lifestyle brand Fresh Laces have made some incredible steps in the independent business world. From starting their Sneaker events brand back in 2013 to working alongside luxury department store brand Harvey Nichols on events and concession spaces in-store, to now opening a flagship sneaker consignment store in the heart of Shoreditch. The team made up of Nathan Louis and Elisha are truly deserving sneaker loving peeps that are pushing the boundaries for what can be achieved by UK startups. We went to visit them a week before they opened their store to follow up on our last interview with them in our printed issue, check it out below.
What are your thoughts on the sneaker culture in the UK now?
It’s getting much better, so many things are going on, the culture is healthy right now in the UK. We don’t look to other places as much as we used to such as America or mainland Europe, we have our own unique, core style and think a lot of people worldwide look at us fro inspiration now. So it’s very healthy.
Fresh Laces is an independent UK-owned business. Is that a big deal in today’s culture?
To get a foothold in this culture you have to go independent, the corporate companies / brands are jumping on those who are making a name for themselves for their own gain.
They have bought out most of the oldskool family owned business and don’t support independent creativity so we are bringing the independent UK business formula back, So it’s definitely important
What are some of the barriers that you and your team faced when you were growing your brand?
There’s a weird barrier in the UK where people think that building your own brand is a niche which has created an inner circle, over the the last two years doing your own thing has become mainstream and hype but before it was very closed. Trying to break into that inner circle was difficult It should really have been a community but it wasn’t, which we don’t think benefits the culture at all.
When does being passionate about something, in your case sneakers, become motivation to create a business?
When we started we just wanted to do something dope. We’re all sneakerheards. We collect. So we wanted to create a place where like-minded people could all come and enjoy an exhibition or event. We transitioned into a business by getting support.
From our first event, we gained contact with Harvey Nichols and two events in we worked together on an event in their London Flagship store. That power move pushed us into thinking “Hey we could turn this into a proper business”.
You have done various events in Luxury Department store Harvey Nichols stores across the country and now have boutique departments within the actual stores themselves, how did your first event with the department store brand in 2013 come about?
One of my cousin’s friends worked for the Harvey Nichols PR team and she came along to our first event. She really liked what she saw and the atmosphere that our event created and went back to her bosses at Harvey Nichols to see if they could replicate that atmosphere with an event in-store. We were then contacted by the Harvey Nichols team and invited to their offices for business meetings to crash out the details and the rest is history.
Do you think the influencers and brands within the UK sneaker culture embrace new businesses as much as they should?
Overall from an up and coming perspective yes, the other UK entrepreneurs that have started their own thing have jumped behind the brand as well as Instagram shout out pages and media outlets such as yourselves have supported but the big corporate brands they haven’t really supported the scene.
What goes into making an idea a brand?
Love; If you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re not going to be as motivated and it’s as simple as that. You also need a supportive crew around so that when things go wrong they’ll motivate you to dust yourself off and go again.
Courage; you can have an idea and a passion for something but you need the courage to take action and risk failure. You can’t be afraid to fail. So many people have loads of ideas but there are those who act on their ideas and there are those who don’t.
People don’t see what goes into a business. We’ve had downfalls in our business like every business, when they happen you need that courage to keep going. You might not even make money to pay yours bill today but you need the strength to say “F**k that” and keep on going. Even when people say “why don’t you get a proper job?” or when you’re not feeling any love. You just have to have faith.
You held an event called Fresh Art in August 2014 at the 5th Base Gallery in Brick Lane East London. How did the idea for that come about?
Through our Instagram page, we saw a massive surge of customs and sneaker art. We thought it was a dope aspect of the culture and some of these guys were super talented. We just wanted to provide a platform for these artists to get their work out. You see art exhibitions but not sneaker art exhibitions so we thought it would be a good twist.
The brand has been growing and expanding over its two year lifespan and you’re now moving into retail with a flagship sneaker consignment store in the heart of Shoreditch. What do you bring to the sneaker retail industry that’s unique?
People always say there’s a different vibe about Fresh Laces. When you go to sports shops such as JD or Footlocker it’s a whole different atmosphere. If you come to a Fresh Laces event, people spend the whole day there. It’s not just buying dope kicks. You wanna come and meet the editor of Trapped Magazine, or someone from King of Trainers. You want to integrate with brands and do more than buy trainers. I don’t know a place that exists as a retail space where you can do that. We don’t want our customers to just come and go. We want to show that we have a genuine passion for the culture and not just the product.
What can we expect to see at the Fresh Laces flagship store when it opens up next month?
Hella dope ish, dope UK independent streetwear brands such as Ghetto Geek, Statemeant, Deep Firm and more, headwear, backpacks laces and all sort of sneaker related accessories and of course racks on racks of sneakers from the OG stuff to the current exclusives all DS and with a great range of competitive prices.
Having held sneaker events worked with Harvey Nichols and now about open a retail space what other projects would you like to tackle as a brand?
We don’t want to leave events behind because that’s where we started we’re just gonna push what we’re doing because you never know where you can go, Fresh Laces started as an event and is now turning into a store. The retail side is a new and exciting part of the journey. We could end up with multiple stores throughout the UK. One thing that would be a dope thing for us would be to collaborate with a reputable sneaker brand on a silhouette.
Photography: Sacha Tabois, Nicholas Sandzi, and Gordon Sheppey
Look out for our visit to the fresh laces flagship store video recap coming soon…
The Fresh Laces Flagship store is at the Boxpark in Shoreditch at:
Boxpark Unit 17,
2-10 Bethnal Green Road,
London E1 6GY
