#TeamOutsole

Sunny Batens Outsole

Sunny Batens (intern)

Bas Honders (enthusiast)

“It started for me when I was about 11 years old. At school I saw many older boys walking on Nike Air Max Classic BW’s and I thought those are dope immediately. Directly after school I ran to my parents to beg for that pair of sneakers. Unfortunately I did not get the answer I hoped for: ‘No way’. They said I would need another new pair of sneakers every two weeks, since I played football all day long. A few months later a friend of mine helped me to purchase a pair of Nike Air Max 1’s from USA. I felt in love right away! When I was 15 years old I got my first side job, consequently I got the chance to buy more sneakers. This was the moment my sneaker addiction started. I read more about sneakers and started to do research through forums and social media. Besides that I learned a lot from Frank. In the meantime, I started buying and selling sneakers to ensure that I could afford and enlarge my own sneaker collection. I practise what I wanted to do for a long time: running a large sneaker collector’s items company, together with Frank and Dennis.”

Tom Verhoeven (enthusiast)

“In 2008 I saw the Nike Air Max 1 Miami Pack at the Footlocker in Apeldoorn. A basic sneaker with a popping sole. 140 euros was a lot of money, but I had to own this special pair of sneakers. My mother thought it was too expensive, so we agreed to split the payment. I was so in love that I put them on my feet in the shop right away. This turned out to be the beginning of my sneaker addiction. However, I beat each pair completely and I didn’t really collect at that time. That came years later. I met a few more people with the same passion for sneakers and saw huge AM1 collections. That’s what I wanted too! Therefor I had to take more care of my sneakers. Besides, I had to find my way to fund new sneakers. I started trading and selling sneakers. Everything to get the pairs I wanted in my collection. I met Frank in secondary school and occasionally helped him with a sneaker event. It didn’t stop there. Besides being good friends, we also share our vision of sneaker game. That made us start working together. I am really proud to have been able to join team Outsole.”

Olivier Wolsink Outsole

Olivier Wolsink (intern)

Dennis Wegereef (designer)

“Compared to Frank and Bas, I am a newbie in the sneaker world. I have always loved to wear sneakers, but I’m not really a collector. Therefor my story is a bit different. I visited Sneakerness Amsterdam 2013. Impulsively, I even bought one of my grails: the Nike Air Max 1 Atmos Elephant. Not as collection piece, but just as the best possible colorway to rock. I bought them from Frank, where I met him and Bas for the first time. I added Frank as friend at Facebook to ask him all about the sneaker game. He has taught me so much. Frank also told me about starting a sneaker webshop called Outsole. Meanwhile I learned a lot about coding and visual web design during my study. Stubborn that I am, I got annoyed by certain details of his web site and offered him to fix it and help him out. Also Bas joined the team. The three of us (Tom joined in 2021), together as a team, has been a perfect match. All in all, it’s an amazing experience to take Outsole to a next level and to apply my passion for web design. I continue to learn more about sneakers and I can’t get enough of that.”

Bram Kappenburg (enthusiast)

Lars Konst Outsole

Lars Konst (intern)

Frank Klerks (owner)

“After being raised with great mountain boots and sandals, I used my 12th birthday money to buy my very first Nike Air Max 1. Back then there was no Nike AM1 Hype yet. Most of the other kids wore Puma Race Cat’s or K-Swiss, so I was not that cool at all. Nevertheless, my Nike Air Max gave me a huge ‘wow feeling’ and I had to buy more AM1s. Starting with two pairs a year, to two pairs a month and eventually I bought two pairs a week. Ridiculous! Of course I had to sell other pairs from my sneaker collection to afford my addiction. The combination of selling and buying is exactly what I still do, but things have just gotten pretty out of hand. I started Outsole as a legitimate platform to sell 1000+ sneakers; nowadays we’ve become the largest in Europe. Of course I also continue expanding my own sneaker collection, as long as my girlfriend permits it. I run Outsole with my best friends. Besides Bas, Dennis (aka Frits) and Tom, we have an amazing team to support us at sneaker events. That makes that Outsole still feels as my sneaker hobby that started in 2006.”

nike air max 1 team outsole dennis wegereef bas honders frank klerks