Meet the entrepreneur from Hampshire bringing new life to worn out old trainers

Luke Tench and his partner Naomi Wilson were struggling through the pandemic after Luke was furloughed and then made redundant in the first lockdown.

Luke has always had a love for footwear and from childhood has worked hard to keep his own trainers looking like new, so when he had an abundance of free time on his hands he made his passion his work and he started cleaning and restoring trainers.

His friend of 15 years Kev Thorne and his partner Carrina Whitwick, from Drayton, could see the potential in Luke’s idea so joined him to create a business called Tenchy’s Tredz.

Luke’s business partners have also always had faith in him and his business.

Kev said: ‘What Luke does is incredible. Whether it is a tired looking pair of Gazelles or a luxury pair of Prada, Luke can work his magic.’

Luke began playing around with styles on his own trainers over lockdown, but when he shared his work to social media, he quickly had messages from others asking him if he could help them out.

‘I started off doing favours for people, and then it went mental from there,’ he said.

‘I thought, there’s something in this, I’m going to go for it.

‘It was a hobby, I had always looked after my footwear in my spare time then when I was furloughed in lockdown I started doing it a bit more and it’s grown from there.

‘It’s been hard throughout the past year, I was made redundant twice, but this new business venture has helped me to keep busy and hopefully we can push on through things.

‘I have been really really busy. The support around Southampton and Portsmouth has been brilliant. There are a lot of trainer enthusiasts out there.’

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Luke, from Lordshill, does anything from a standard clean to full refurbishments. He also offers customisations and can change the colour of a pair of trainers.

Tenchy’s Tredz are also fully stocked on deodorizing and disinfectant sprays, so if he gets a pair of particularly smelly shoes, he can easily send them back fully clean and refreshed.

Whilst Tenchy’s Treds is based in Southampton and the south coast, Luke has impressively had trainers sent to him from Scotland, Wales, Brighton, and other places around the country and is happy to accept footwear from anywhere.

Luke said: ‘I’m proud at the moment of where it is, there’s lots of room to grow and get bigger and expand.’

For more information go to tenchys-tredz.com or search Tenchy’s TREDZ on Facebook.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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