A 21-year-old Aberdeen entrepreneur who runs city sneaker reselling business Overhype will open a new shop in June.
Despite his young age, Samuel Rattray has operated the Overhype store for four years.
It sells sought-after trainers and clothing, much of which sells out instantly upon release and quickly rises in value.
After gaining tens of thousands of social media followers while a pupil at Bucksburn Academy, he turned down offers from city universities to set up a physical retail premises.
He was based at Galleria Shopping Centre in Bon Accord Street for a year before moving to the Green in November 2020.
Overhype sells sought-after brands like Nike, Supreme and Stone Island.
While pairs of sneakers in the shop typically sell for between £150 and £500, he once sold a particular rare pair of Nike trainers for £10,000.
Yeezy start of sneaker reselling career
Samuel has come a long way from making his first shoe sale when he was just 14 years old.
He purchased a pair of rapper Kanye West’s Yeezy trainers then realised then sold them for a healthy profit after they increased in value.
“At the time I had a paper round that paid £20 a week,” he said.
“When Kanye West came out with the Yeezy line, I purchased a pair for £150. I sold for more than £600.
“As a teenager I was really into Stone Island and my friends at school would ask where I bought them from and wanted to buy my old clothes.
“I started selling some of my old clothes to pals and then buying them back from them later. That’s how it started off.”
By the time he left school, he had more than 10,000 Instagram followers – but he wanted a physical premises to continue his business.
Being aged just 17 he couldn’t get a business bank account and had to make his father a partner in the business until he turned 18.
Overhype break-in
The shop buys, sells and trades items, with goods also sourced from contacts Samuel developed while attending sneaker conventions in London.
Two weeks after opening Overhype’s current premises in the Green, the shop was broken into. Stock worth around £50,000 was stolen, with the majority later recovered. Thief Alexander Evans was subsequently jailed for two years.
“I was gutted,” Samuel said. “December is when retailers make their money and we had to close for three weeks.
“We had ordered security equipment but due to Covid they had been delayed. In hindsight we shouldn’t have opened.
“Now we’ve got steel doors, electric shutters, alarms and 16 security cameras.”
A year later, Samuel lost his mother Claire to multiple sclerosis at the age of just 48. He describes as a “difficult period which affected the business”.
He also faced criticism in online reviews for slow payments when purchasing shoes, which he has now resolved by paying cash when people trade goods in.
Sam said he has also felt the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. The average customer spend has dropped from £130 to £85.
Despite the business challenges, he is targeting making £1 million in sales in 2023 and will open a shop in Edinburgh’s Rose Street in June to help achieve this ambition.
He is also increasing the amount of space to display trainers in the Aberdeen shop and has a new £25 sneaker cleaning service.
Sneakers as an investment
Samuel said his customers desire items that can’t be bought in other shops and are prepared to pay a premium.
He now has more than 50,000 followers across his social media platforms, which help promote items for sale.
He said summer was a particularly busy period as people buy clothes and shoes for holidays and festivals.
In the past he has supplied celebrities such as YouTuber KSI and rapper AJ Tracey.
Many of his customers are investors, who speculate that some pairs of shoes will rise in value. Samuel said he had a personal collection of more than 70 pairs.
“The longer you keep a paid of shoes in mint condition, the more the value goes up,” said Samuel who also runs a social media company called Social Wave.
“People might wear out one pair and want another. Over time there are fewer and fewer new pairs in existence.
“One of my customers bought a pair from me for £280 three years ago and sold them back to me for £850 at the start of the year.
“I’m excited by what the future holds for Overhype. There is no reason this business model can’t work in other cities.”
Conversation