We recently chatted to Sneaker Planters founder Lewis Earle about his expansive sneaker collection, and how his passion for shoes has translated into his unique business.

In the seven years since Lewis Earle started his collection, he’s accumulated an impressive 170 pairs of shoes. His firm favourite – the Air Jordan 1 – makes up for around 40 of this number, with his first and most prized model being the first edition AJ1 ‘Shattered Backboard’. Of his love for the AJ1, Lewis explained ‘there’s just so many different colours and different textures which is great… it’s nice to see how much can be done with a single model.’

He also talked us through some of his weird and wonderful finds, with one of the more unusual additions being the first colourway Nike HyperAdapt 1.0. Lewis is ‘a big fan of self lacing shoes in general, as I really like tech’, and this one certainly stands out as it is self-lacing thanks to a built-in motor in the midsole. We also saw the Nike Air Force 1 made in collaboration with Stussy, which Lewis bleached, then dyed pink and added cream laces to create something completely unique.

Other silhouettes we encountered included everything from the JJJJound x New Balance 992, Nike SB Dunk Low x Ben & Jerry’s ‘Chunky Dunky’, Nike SB Dunk Low x Travis Scott, to Air Max 1 x Parra and Air Max 1 x Patta. Definitely a fan of custom shoes, Lewis also had 10 Air Force customs designed in lockdown, with one being fashioned on the legendary  Jordan 1 ‘Bulls’ colourway.

Lewis has transformed his love of footwear into his very own business – Sneaker Planters. It came about when he encountered concrete and candle sneaker silhouettes online and noticed a gap in the market, which led him to creating 3D printed plant pots of some of the most recognisable silhouettes out there.

His favourite to print is – of course – the Air Jordan 1, which takes almost a full day of printing to complete. ‘I really enjoy printing the Jordan 1’s. They take the longest out of all the planters, they take around 21 hours, 22 hours each.’

Check out Sneaker Planters here.

Discover more ?collections on our blog here.