LACES

Photos by JOHN BURNS

(Standing) NELSON JONES, Partner; BRANDON LUARKS, Sneakers Restoration; CANON FIELDS, Partner; (Front) CHRIS WHITE-READY, Partner

In the spring of 2022, lifelong friends and high school basketball standouts Chris White-Ready, Nelson Jones and Canon Fields were watching sports and discussing their next steps in life when they landed on the idea of opening a high-end sneaker store in their hometown.

White-Ready, a former assistant manager at Champs in West Ridge Mall, had long been a fan of sneaker culture and apparel, especially Michael Jordan footwear.

“We’d been living our lives and raising kids and doing what we had to do, but we were all at a point where we had some savings and wanted to invest in something together,” said White-Ready. “We noticed a lot of activity on social media with people in the area selling sneakers direct. We all had our own collections of shoes and thought that would make a nice foundation for our business.”

Sneaker manufacturers and retailers often use raffles to build demand for limited edition styles or rely on social media apps for controlled distribution.

Laces’ flagship brands include Jordan, Nike Dunk, Nike Air Max and Adidas Yeezy.

“Sometimes you have to work with multiple apps to improve your chances of getting a pair of shoes you want and even then, there are no guarantees,” said White-Ready. “If you wanted to take your chances in a store, you had to go to Kansas City.”

Their conversations about creating a local source for sneakers became more serious, culminating in a lease on a location at 250 SE 29th St. in May 2022.

“All the partners tackled an aspect of the business from different angles, which made everything easier,” said White-Ready. “We all know a lot of people and that was a blessing to have friends and family pitch in. I called on my connections through Champs. My uncle powerwashed the building and another owner’s best friend did the flooring work. Those contributions and others were really helpful to us.”

The partners installed turf and basketball flooring, painted the walls bright colors, filled shelves with shoes in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes and ordered apparel and hats in preparation for Laces’ grand opening on August 7.

“That day was ridiculous,” said White-Ready. “The whole parking lot was full, and it felt good to have that support. It reassured us that we’d hit the nail on the head with our idea.”

Within six months, customers from area small towns and metropolitan areas like Junction City, Manhattan and Wichita had discovered Laces through social media and local advertising.

Basketball goals at different heights cater to customers of all ages and occupy younger shoppers while parents make their selections.

“The parents are usually ready to go before the kids are,” said White-Ready.

Laces’ flagship brands include Jordan, Nike Dunk, Nike Air Max and Adidas Yeezy.

“Demand for these shoes trickled off the court to become a fashion statement,” said White-Ready. “The biggest consumers aren’t just basketball players but people who want to look good. If you’re wearing a Jordan 12, you can look up the history of that style and see what games Jordan played in those shoes. The scarcity factor of a high-quality shoe also ups the prestige associated with it.”

In addition to shoes, Laces sells sports team hats, gear and shirts from brands like Polo, The North Face and Timberland.

Laces sells new shoes as well as trade-ins and authenticates the merchandise through a third party, Legit Check.

“Authentication is especially important in this business since the people who make replicas are getting so much better at it,” said White-Ready. “Our first week of business we realized we’d sold a replica and rectified that right away. Now with the Legit Check app we’ve become a security blanket for people who want to resell or who just want to make sure they own the real thing. We want all of our customers to be satisfied.”

Laces also features apparel created by current and former Topekans, including Brandon Evans’ Get Right or Get Left shirts and Rick Easter’s RLamar clothing line featuring popular players.

“It’s important to us to give locals a platform,” said White-Ready. “We saw a void in sneaker and fashion culture and wanted an opportunity to invest in things we’re passionate about and give back to a place we’ve all been attached to since birth.”

Collaboration is a key component of Laces success, and White-Ready credits “sneaker head” Eric Patterson Jr., a marketing consultant with WIBW and an artist, for assisting with a project to provide Highland Park varsity basketball players with customized shoes.

“We collaborated with Eric to create a unique design incorporating Highland Park’s colors and we gave the team the shoes at Christmas,” said White-Ready. “We’ve been in those players’ shoes and wanted to help them feel confident, motivated and supported on the court. We want to do that for other high school teams, not just for basketball but other sports too.”

White-Ready said he and his partners were so excited to start their business that they moved too fast to benefit from resources and incentives they could have received through the Washburn Small Business Development Center.

“We’d already spent our own money to get started so if you’re considering opening a business, check with Washburn first,” he said.

Although they were unable to take advantage of Washburn’s offerings, the Laces partners were able to benefit from entrepreneurial resources provided through GO Topeka, including business plan support and loan opportunities.

“No dream is too big,” said White-Ready. “If there’s something you think people can benefit from that you can provide, then just go for it. The worst thing that can happen will be that you fail and even then, you’ll learn a lot for the next idea.”