Estate agent, 26, has spent £20,000 and the last seven years of his life building his 200-pair collection of designer trainers now worth £50,000

• Dave Castle, of Woodford Green, east London, has collection of 200 trainers
• The estate agent, 26, has spent seven years amassing sneakers worth £50,000
• He spends hours every day scouring social media to stay in touch with trends
• His most expensive pair cost him £1,200 to buy. His most valuable now is worth up to £6,000  

An estate agent has spent seven years amassing a 200 strong collection of designer trainers worth up to £50,000.

Dave Castle, 26, of Woodford Green, east London, forked out £1,200 on his most expensive pair, a Parra x Nike Air Max 1 Amsterdam design.

Buying a new pair every few weeks, he spends hours a day scouring social media to ensure he is on top of all the latest trends and knows when limited editions are released.

He has spent £10,000 on limited edition sneakers, with the most valuable being Parra x Patta x Nike Air Max 1 Cherrywood trainers, which he bought as part of a collection two years ago, now being worth £6,000.  

Single Mr Castle, who displays half his collection on wall holders in his bedroom, while the rest spill into his living room, said his obsession was triggered when he was just 19 and spotted a man wearing a pair of Nike Air Max trainers in a hair salon.  

Estate agent Dave Castle has spent seven years amassing a 200 strong collection of designer trainers worth up to £50,000

Mr Castle displays half his collection on wall holders in his bedroom, while the rest spill into his living room

The most valuable trainers in Mr Castle’s collection, the Parra x Patta x Nike Air Max 1 Cherrywood trainers, which he bought as part of a collection two years ago, now being worth £6,000

He said: ‘I think they are worth about £50,000 altogether. 

‘I would say I’ve spent around £10,000 of my own money on them, but if I include the money I’ve made from resales, which I put back into buying more, the overall amount I’ve spent is around £15,000 to £20,000. 

‘The most I’ve spent on one pair is £1,200 on a pair of Parra x Nike Air Max 1 Amsterdam three years ago. I’ve got 200 pairs altogether. 

‘Half are in the wall holder in my bedroom and half are in the living room, as it’s nice to have them all on show.

‘My favourite type is the Nike Air Max, 90 per cent of my trainers are in this style.’

Mr Castle (right) , said his obsession was triggered when he was just 19 and spotted a man wearing a pair of Nike Air Max trainers in a hair salon. Pictured right: The collection of trainers in his house

A collector of football boots as a kid, checking out what the Premier League players had on so that he could look his best on the astro turf, he graduated to trainers in his late teens. 

He said: ‘I was 19 and at the hairdresser when I saw this guy wearing a pair of Nike Air Max 1 Milano sneakers and knew I had to have them. 

‘It was not like me to go up and speak to someone, but I had to ask him where he got them.

‘I loved the colour and the ‘pop’ of the infrared. The man told me there were only 10 pairs available in the Size? store in London.

‘Luckily, my brother was on Oxford Street at the time, so I was straight on the phone to him and he managed to get me some for around £110.

Mr Castle is sharing his story as part of a campaign with sneaker website The Sole Supplier, which works with retailers to provide up to date release information on footwear for sneaker fans and is on a mission to find the UK’s biggest sneakerheads. Pictured: Mr Castle with The Sols Supplier CEO George Sullivan

The Nike Air Max 1 OG. Mr Castle says next year he is going to be on the look out for Air Max 90s, as the design is celebrating its 30th anniversary

Comme des Garcons x Nike Shox TL. Mr Castle spends hours a day scouring social media to ensure he is on top of all the latest trends and knows when limited editions are released

‘When I got home I started looking online at websites like The Sole Supplier and found this whole new world. I joined all the buyer and seller groups on Facebook and that triggered my interest in collecting.’

Now, whenever Mr Castle has a spare minute, he scrolls through social media looking at trainers. 

‘I found that people were selling pairs for a lot more than they were retailing at,’ he said.

‘You could have a limited edition Nike Airmax retail for about £130 and within five minutes they were selling online for £300 to £400. It was ridiculous.

‘On eBay especially I found lots of old pairs in all different colours. It became a fascination for me.

Mr Castle said his collection started when he was 19 and he saw someone wearing a pair of Nike Air Max 1 Milano sneakers (pictured) and knew I had to have them

And his rarest are his Nike Air Max 1 OG ‘Varsity Red’ 1987 trainers (pictured) which are in perfect condition, despite being 32 years old. He was recently offered £1,000 for them, but says that is ‘too little’

‘I find out about limited editions through following sneaker companies like The Sole Supplier and shops online, especially on Instagram and in Facebook groups, where there are people in the know.

‘I’m in WhatsApp groups with buyers and sellers, too, which can get a bit heated if people are trying to get hold of the same pair, but they’re mostly really friendly. It’s a real community and there are a lot of people out there willing to help you track a pair down.

‘The best thing is when you open that box and feel the material and get that new shoe smell. I love it.’

Mr Castle explained how limited editions are classified according to ‘tiers’ – meaning if there were only 24 pairs in the world, that would fall into ‘tier zero’ and so on.

‘My first thought when I see them is, ‘How am I going to get hold of a pair?’ he said. ‘Quite often I will enter a raffle to try and win a pair. There is a tight community of collectors and sneaker companies will hold competitions for collectors. 

His favourite pair are his Bespoke Nike Air Max 1s, which were handmade in Shoreditch, East London, from pony hair and ostrich leather and cost around £750

Alexander McQueen Oversized Sneaker. Mr Castle says his collection is worth up to £50,000 

‘You might win a pair and have to collect them wearing another pair you’ve won, so they know you’re not going to just try and sell them on.

‘I only enter a raffle if it’s a pair I really want, though, as I think they should only go to people who value them. I always wear mine first rather than selling them on straight away.

‘If there’s a pair I really need to have I might sell a couple of pairs so I can afford to buy them.

‘There aren’t many that I like seeing the back of, though. I’m getting down to the last few that I would actually get rid of.

‘I do look out for limited edition releases and celebrity collaborations, too, as they continue to generate value over time.’

Mr Castle’s Nike Air Force 1 Velcro Swoosh pack in ‘Sail’ sneakers

Showing how valuable some designs can become, Mr Castle cites his Parra x Nike Air Max 1 Amsterdam trainers, which he paid £1,200 for worn two years ago and are now worth around £1,600.

‘But my most valuable pair is a Parra x Patta x Nike Air Max 1 Cherrywood,’ he said.

‘These were part of a collaboration with Dutch artist Parra and are signed by Tinker Hatfield, one of the world’s most legendary sneaker designers and currently Nike’s Vice President for Design and Special Projects.

‘I made sure I kept the box for this pair. Without the signature, they’re worth around £2,000 to £3,000, but the pair I’ve got with the signature is worth around £6,000, but I’ve no plans to let them go.

‘I got these about two years ago as part of a collection of 100 to 120 pairs of rare trainers which I paid a fair bit for.’

His favourite pair are his Bespoke Nike Air Max 1s, which were handmade in Shoreditch, East London, from pony hair and ostrich leather and cost around £750.

Mr Castle said Mr Sullivan (right) the CEO of trainer website The Sole Supplier, came over to see his collection and was ‘impressed’

And his rarest are his Nike Air Max 1 OG ‘Varsity Red’ 1987 trainers, which are in perfect condition, despite being 32 years old.

‘I paid £300 for them, but their value has increased a lot,’ he said. ‘I was recently offered £1,000, but they’re a collector’s item, so I wouldn’t let them go for that little.’

Buying a new pair of trainers every few weeks, most of his wages go on his sneaker collection.

But his estate agency training has also made him a canny dealer.

‘Quite often you will pick up pairs on eBay for £20 to £30, because people don’t realise the value of what they’re selling,’ he said.

‘I bought a pair of Nike Air Huaraches for £120 and managed to sell them for £200. I do a get a buzz when I do it.

‘I usually plan what I’m wearing around my shoes, because they are the most important part of the outfit.

‘It gives me a buzz to go out with something nice on my feet and I like to see people’s reactions. Quite often I’ll catch people looking down at them.

‘When I’m in the US people will often comment on them. I was in New York recently and people were coming up asking me where I got them from. It’s a nice feeling.’ 

He says he visits the US regularly on holiday, and will regularly visit trainer shops. 

He said: ‘There are quite a lot of exclusive pairs you can only get over there, so if I can pick some up while I’m there I will do it. If there was a raffle for a pair in America that were incredible I would probably go especially for it.

‘I make sure to take care of my trainers, too. I’m very conscious of them when I go out and won’t step in puddles or anything like that. I also give them a bit of a clean when I get home.

‘Some of them, like the suede ones, need a bit more care, so I have special brushes for those ones.

‘I think I’ll always be a collector. In the community, you see mums and dads in their 50s who are big collectors. At first, I thought it was a teenage thing but it really isn’t.

‘Next year I’m going to be on the look out for Air Max 90s, as the design is celebrating its 30th anniversary, so I expect there might be some exciting limited editions available.’

His enthusiasm for his collection has rubbed off on his nearest and dearest, as he says his friends and family have started picking up special trainers too.

‘My uncle was always into his trainers and I remember thinking it was really cool as a kid. He would let me wear his even though he was a size 10 and I was a size six,’ he laughed.

‘I don’t think my parents understood my passion for them at first and thought I spent too much money on them.

‘Now, though, they know I love my collection and even my mum has a few pairs. She’s been out and teenagers have said, ‘Cool trainers,’ to her. She was quite excited about that.

‘I’d love to see the collection in a museum one day. Sneakers are definitely having a moment.’

Mr Castle is sharing his story as part of a campaign with sneaker website The Sole Supplier, which works with retailers to provide up to date release information on footwear for sneaker fans and is on a mission to find the UK’s biggest sneakerheads.

‘I’d been following the website for a while and they put a shout out for sneaker collectors. The CEO George Sullivan came over to see my collection with a new pair for me to unbox,’ he added. ‘I think he was impressed!’

For more information visit thesolesupplier.co.uk or search @thesolesupplier on Instagram. 

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