MY BRILLIANT CAREER
Love of takkies gave him a foot up in sneaker business
Zaid Osman is the founder of Lost Property and Sneaker Exchange
What is a sneaker expo, and what motivated you to start one? Sneaker Exchange is an annual event hosted in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, where like-minded individuals come and exchange sneakers as well as knowledge, but also to have an overall good time. I had a lot of personal sneakers to get rid of, so I decided to start an event where I could sell and trade some of my own sneakers. A few years in, my partner Tebogo Mogola jumped on board, and we took it to the next level and have been growing Sneaker Exchange ever since. Where does your love of takkies come from? Ever since I was young, I have loved sneakers. My elder brother and his friends were always into sneakers, so I definitely got it from them. We would go to stores in the US, where I lived at the time, and camp out for sneakers and swap them online, as well as hustle at the outlets for good deals. How did you end up doing what you do today? I went with my gut feeling. When we moved back to South Africa, people saw t...
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