Kingsley Earl, 29, a director from Woking, Surrey, has turned a university side hustle into a business generating more than £100,000 in monthly sales on eBay. What began as buying, restoring and reselling pre-loved trainers to fund his own shoe collection has grown into Kings Kleans, a live-selling-first business with a total online following of more than four million across various platforms.
From side hustle to six-figure sales
In four months of selling on eBay Live, Kingsley has generated about £300,000 in sales, grown Kings Kleans from a one-person operation to a team of eight and is now making six-figure monthly sales, with his highest so far being £127,000. He streams three times a week to thousands of viewers and offers free giveaways, with one pair of shoes – Off-White x Air Jordan 1 Chicago trainers, worth £3,500 – selling for £450.
Kingsley said the savings are “insane” and he now wants to continue growing the business and help more people access premium items that might otherwise be above their budget.
'No-brainer' approach to pre-loved shoes
“When I first started, there was a stigma about wearing pre-loved shoes and no-one wanted to do it. It was almost frowned upon,” Kingsley said. “I felt that was ridiculous because I know I can clean them, make them look almost no different from the new pairs and they’re 80% less in terms of price, so it’s a no-brainer to me. I just want to put everything into the business because it’s almost my baby, in a way… I just want to share that passion with everyone.”
Kingsley has “always loved fashion” and started collecting shoes when he was younger, describing himself as an “obsessive collector”. While studying media production at university, he wanted to expand his shoe collection and soon realised he could buy cheaper pre-loved pairs and revamp them himself, learning how to restore them to an almost-new condition through his own research, social media and YouTube tutorials.
How he got started
“It just started from always wanting the expensive shoes, these premium pairs that I’d always seen people wear, but never been able to afford,” he said. “So, I started to find out that I can buy them online for cheap, more used, but clean them up, make them look new and then be able to enjoy them myself.”
With a desire to earn some extra cash to help with university rent and everyday living, he started buying shoes in sizes other than his own, restoring them and selling them for profit. He said he wanted to help “combat fast fashion” too, and give others the opportunity to buy expensive shoes at lower prices.
Initially, Kingsley said his side hustle gained attention through “word of mouth” before he started selling on platforms such as Instagram and Depop. He also started sharing “educational-style” content on shoe restoration before launching his own shoe-cleaning service. After several months, he said he did not envision himself solely as a shoe cleaner – and this prompted him to set up Kings Kleans on eBay in March 2026.
Expectations blown away
Kingsley said he was initially worried that his followers on other platforms would not make the “jump” to eBay, but it has “completely blown (his) expectations” and he now has a total of 4,013,366 followers and subscribers across four platforms at the time of writing. “It showed me the power of that community as it doesn’t matter where you are, the people who love what you do will always show up, no matter where it is,” he said.
Kingsley has started doing eBay Live streams, where he sells items in real time in an auction format, with auctions starting at £1 with no reserve and customers determining the final selling price. He does three regular livestreams per week, ranging from three to five hours on average, and enjoys doing giveaways with free postage, with 30 or more happening on a typical livestream.
“It’s not just people coming for the great deals, they’re coming for the bigger picture of the community,” he explained. “We’ve got people from every background, every location, and it’s nice that it brings people together.”
Kingsley said eBay shoppers can buy everything from £4 clothing to rare designer collaborations, along with shoes – and so far, his highest monthly revenue has been £127,000. He said his long-term vision is to have a 24-hour live streaming service on eBay, with even more categories for products, and he is soon planning to move into a larger venue. He wants to create a “legacy” and would advise other young entrepreneurs to try setting up their own side hustle or business, as he said “now is a better time than ever”.
